Victor M
Senior Clinical Research Associate, MD *Want to launch a trial in Eastern Europe? www.trials.at.ua
What do you think about buying an extraterrestrial property?
I came across one site claiming to be a "lunar embassy". This site offers real estate on the Moon, Mars, Io and even others solar bodies (except for the Sun and the Earth though :)
I have almost bought 1 acre on the Moon for 119 US Dollars, but I was lucky enough to find another website selling the same for 19.99 US Dollars and warning about other "fake" resourses.
Buying a real estate somewhere in Solar System seems to be quite cheap - but is it worth the price? Consider pride ("hey, I've bought 10 acres on Venus recently..."), potential gain to grandchildren (what if they find any gold there?), investment - you name it. On the other hand, is it legal to buy property anywhere outside the Earth? Who authorises the (re)sellers and what are they guided with?
Hm... in what category should i put htis question? Anyway, I expect quite a few responses :)
http://lunarembassy.com
Clarification added August 19, 2007:
I mean I didn't buy any extraterrestial property yet, but I'm seriously thinking about it. 20-50-100 dollars is not much of a sum, however, if I buy something for grandchildren I want to be sure thay may benefit from that rather than to find myself being in derision (hey, you bought that at such (or the other one) ridiculous site? They just robbed you! It's not on sale yet!)
Clarification added August 20, 2007:
Well, guys selling that stuff seem to become millionaires :)
Good Answers (8)
David Collett (
C# / ASP.Net Web Developer
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It's a very similar idea to buying property in VR worlds - like Second Life.
There's an idea in post modern theory called the similicrum - where over time concepts become paradies of their original intent. It seems that the idea of land ownership/transfer - which once was the cornerstone of feudal society and also liberalism (the right to own/dispose of property) - has become a similcrum - in no way related to the original intent, but transformed into a hyper-real activity.
(This is an over simplification of the similicrum idea - but I only read the pictorial introduction to post modernism.)
Links:
Clarification added August 19, 2007:
Luca Ubertini: I saw you were selling parts of Great Britian. How much do you want for Inverness?
Since noone owns the moon, all you are buying is a poster of a random moon piece. Many companies is making money by claiming they own the moon and they can sell it... just because they woke up a day and told "the moon is mine". This is ridicolous, in the same way as if tomorrow i'll go out and yell "I own Great Bretain" and then open a website and start sell scottish acres for 20$ each. I will send you a sky photo of the area you buy, and a bill of propriety that have the same exact value of those you can buy of the moon.
Those companies says that they can sell moon pieces because no government owns them. Well, then if someone else goes up first and build a space casino on your acres, what kind of tribunal will you protest to? If someone build an house is a french terrain you own, will you ask the China tribunal to enforce the law?
I've spotted a company, among the others, that claim that they will use the money they are collecting by selling moon land to pay a space mission to go on the moon and phisical claim the land, than build up a moon government. Very sci-fi, but lot more honest than other... then, looking deeper in their site, they claim that moon propriety will be assigned to "moon citizen only". How nice...
Carlos G
Headhunter - MRINetwork MRIWW :: Open Networker :: Now Hiring: Brazil, ANGOLA, Portugal.
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My best advice is: don't buy it before visiting it by yourself together with the seller. And take 3 local witnesses as well as a good surveyor with you to mark the piece of land!
;-)
Christine K
Software Developer at Twitli
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"We had a hard time selling our house. We were renting." (quote from comedian I heard in Las Vegas).
Before you buy, make sure the seller is the legitimate owner. On Mars, they are green and little, on the moon, they are microscopic, if any. But then, it has happened before, that people sold and bought land without bothering about the native inhabitants.
My advice to you is to only buy property on a planet where there's a sound system of property administration. That requires intelligent life and culture. There are millions of such planets in our universe. You will need a warp speed space vehicle to get there. I'll be happy to build you one, down payment is surprisingly low. Like in "less than 12 figures".
My brother bought a nice piece of land ( coast of the Sea of Tranquillity), which he is happy to rent out for vacations etc. The views are great (apparently) and he has no problems with the neighbours (so far). He's a bit worried about any noise (not that he will hear it) that may occur though when they start building outposts on the Moon.
Couldn’t the extraterrestrial land ownership topic find parallels to international law regarding Antarctica? Many countries have claimed ownership to portions of Antarctica, but have never enforced those claims. Unless countries are willing to go to war over Antarctica, these claims to ownership will probably never be enforced. The signatories of the Antarctic Treaty have sworn to a peaceful land share of the continent. I would suspect that similar scenarios will play out for the Moon and Mars until such time that a country could logistically stand to go to war over intra-solar law. Another related example could be the various star naming registries. So far, little coordination has occurred between any of the registries to ensure that stars do not have multiple names or “owners.” Furthermore, with no support of the International Astronomical Union, its just a “money grab”, not a land grab.
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I am staying out of this market until I understand the zoning laws (i.e. do they allow prefab homes? Can you keep the wheels on your home or do you have to take them off and put it on concrete blocks??). I have been caught off-guard before and don't want to pay some out-of-this-world amount to get in compliance.
Jon B
Owner, Circulation Service America, Inc. (and others) Brochure, Newspaper, and Magazine Distribution.
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You can't buy a piece of land - anywhere - until someone puts a government on it. That's why it's called Real Estate. Not because it's "real" and tangible, but because Real (ree-al) means "Royal" in Spanish, and you're being allowed to use the land as longs as you pay "the royals" a tax. If you don't believe me, stop paying your taxes and see who comes and tosses you off your land.
Until some government has control over the moon, or Mars, or whatever, you won't be able to really "buy" it. And then, it's only so you can pay taxes on it.
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Wojciech S
Sales Coordinator at Tokai Rubber Industries TRI(Poland) Sp. z o.o., Business-Person, Material Engineer, Web-Developer
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Mates, may be I am crazy as you are ;) but... I am going to buy some piece of Mars ;)
Honestly speaking while I was creating whatryoudoing.com I did not predict such answer ("I am buying extraterrestrial property" ;) sounds ...weird
Cheers
p.s Victor are you sure this is safe to buy online on lunarembassy? Is it not a fake site to grab your Visa details?
Eddie T
Head of Foreign Exchange (FOREX) & Account Executive for Futures, Options, Stocks, Bonds, Commodities & CFD's
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I wouldn't go for the Moon - no atmosphere :))
Interesting, my thought is that property rights have to be enforced through systems of laws at the state level. See DeSoto, book title: The Mystery of Capital. Now this area of extraterrestrial property lends itself to drawing out the hypocrisy of modern nation-states. Who determined what state should occupy what piece of land. It would seem to me that only when a constitutional democracy is established through just elections could any form of deed and transfer be affected. Therefore, when the Martian’s have a vote we can buy their property.
By the way I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'm looking to sell...
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Mykel de W
Test & Process Consultant Squerist
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A time-share without a highway to get there?
Nnnah, I'll pass for now
mykel
Karla P
Director of Workforce Development & Human Resources
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Here is an excellent article from an independent source, Space.com. In my own opinion, it is a fun novelty making a few individuals very wealthy. Not unlike owning anything else you really can't do anything with...
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Eileen B
IT Professional, Information Security Quality Assurance Operations & Administration / President, CMU SEI LI SPIN
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I have some land in Florida for sale where, in just the *right* light, it looks exactly like the surface of Jupiter. ;)
Anyone interested in buying the Cousseum? It is a real bargain....99.99 dollars if you call in the next 20 minutes.
Nancy D
Administrative Support Specialist II at City of Philadelphia
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i wouldn't do it.
i did have a star named after my son tho.
Remember the 3 most important rules of Real Estate...
Location, Location, Location
Sandra V
Realtor, Michael Saunders & Co ; Founder & President,The South West Educational Foundation
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...a true sellers market! Without disclosure or clear title –finally swamp land in Florida gets a respite.
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Ravi D
Risk & Retail Industry Professional
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Please beware I have not authorized any individual or any party in the from the - Terran System, also known as the - Sol System in the Alpha Quadrant of the Milky Way, which is part of the Virgo Super Cluster, to act on my behalf or represent me or members of my family to perform any kind of real-estate transactions relating to any celestial property except for the 3rd planetary object commonly referred to as planet Earth.
The Ferengi have been appointed as the sole representatives on behalf of my family and myself for any real-estate transactions involving all celestial bodies of the Sol / Terran System, except for the one commonly know as planet - Earth.
Please ensure you are dealing with genuine Ferengi's.
Some people still have more money than sense.....................
Uh... yeah, ok. Maybe you can sell it on Ebay and make a profit? I remember people saying the had the lost Mars Rover on there way back when :o)
On a side note, doesn't the guy who invented the Segway also own his own island off of Maryland and have his own currency (which he named Pi?)
I also am planning to get myself cryogenically frozen so and invest equal money in Google and Apple so that I can have cash when I am unfrozen 200 years later.
Hernan C
Managing Partner - New York Commercial Office, Inc.
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There is a tale in my country about a guy that went to the Property Agency in my country, paid the fees and taxes, and registered the moon as his property. The tale continues stating that the United States, when sending the Apollo Mission to the moon, sent the guy a courtesy notice asking permission for landing. You are a property lawyer and you may found if this is true or not. Whatever, the problem with these real states in places without know sovereignty is that you may lost or win big time. Isn't the same with the Artic and Antarctic territories?
IANAL (I am not a lawyer for non-slashdotters), but it seems that the only true right to posses a piece of property is your ability to keep others from taking it from you. While our modern notion of nations and property rights make it seem like you actually can pay money to "someone" and you now can legally possess something forever, it is really just an illusion. I think of many people who's country is invaded and the new country gets to decide who owns what.
As there is no-one who claims to posses Mars, you could probably camp out there with a x-wing fighter and do whatever you want.... However, if the USSR shows up with a Star Destroyer, you might be in a bit of trouble (sorry for the Star Wars reference).
I bought a lovely lot on the sea of serenity a few years ago. I felt that the moon was a little more tangible than mars.
According to the faq's, which quote several treaties, these are the legal sites. I haven't verified any of the faq's, but it was a cute thing to buy for $30 anyway.
Links:
This just in....
Despite the falling stock prices on earth; Countrywide has decided to revamp their extraplanetary loan processes. The Extraterrestrial COO was quoted saying " If everything is possible in heaven, imagine what we can do in space?".
Millions of terrestrians will benefit from this revamp, with loans starting in the mid $5.00.
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Thought I would share this piece of information I got from Mr. Nostradamus : )
Luis E. (Lucho) O
Social Alchemist working as International Coordinator of the Markets and Livelihoods Programme at Practical Action
Nonsense... but Carlos Governa really made me laugh like crazy!!!
By the way who is the seller? The US gov? That would not be a surprise.
Or even worse: What if the landlords spend their time between Beijing and Harare?! If so, I would think twice before building a house there...
