I am thinking of getting some cash by selling shares of my house. Can I sell shares of my house in an IPO to raise some cash for myself? It would be super cool to ring the opening bell during the IPO and be the owner of an exchange-listed house! Is it possible?
4
-
Is it a really expensive house? How Do Companies Get Listed on the New York Stock Exchange– Mark PlotnickCommented Oct 13, 2020 at 15:31
-
Why would anyone buy "shares" of your house? (Also, in case the above link isn't obvious - your house would have to be worth at least $400 Million)– D StanleyCommented Oct 13, 2020 at 15:39
-
@DStanley If I made each share really cheap, say $0.01 per share, then some people may be interested. All I need to do is sell a million shares at $0.01 to raise $10,000.– David RoyCommented Oct 13, 2020 at 15:42
-
This makes as much sense as trying to buy shares of AAPL at the Motor Vehicle Bureau.– Bob BaerkerCommented Oct 13, 2020 at 15:50
Add a comment
|
3 Answers
No, it is not possible.
An Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the process in which a privately-held corporation becomes a publicly-held corporation and gets listed on a stock exchange. Your house is not a corporation of any sort. It is not a business.
You could, theoretically, start a corporation that owns your house, and then sell shares of that corporation to investors. You would then have to start paying rent to your corporation. You will have trouble finding anyone gullible enough to buy shares of that corporation, and you would need a lot more holdings than just one house before you could even dream of being listed on a stock exchange, as the stock exchanges have minimum capitalization value requirements.
answered Oct 13, 2020 at 15:42
-
Isn't there a special place called the "pink sheets" where I don't have to follow all these rules? I learned this from reading some financial news. Can I sell shares of my house using "pink sheets"? Commented Oct 13, 2020 at 15:49
-
@DavidRoy Even being listed on the pink sheets requires an actual corporation with multiple shares and investors: securitieslawyer101.com/2015/otc-pink-going-public-lawyer Commented Oct 13, 2020 at 16:00
I think an alternative answer is that, it is absolutely definitely possible. There are some legal and technical issues you may have to take into account, but there are precedents of such in other IPOs and public companies.
The real matter at hand is that the cost to go public, including legal, audit, exchange, and other fees, would be so high, it would almost never make economic sense.
-
I would be interested in seeing a precedent for a private homeowner launching an IPO for his own house. Commented Oct 20, 2020 at 17:04
-
I meant there's a lot of precedents for public offerings for businesses that don't look like a traditional corporation. One example that is popular right now is the blank check investment vehicles (SPACs). Another example (although not on a public exchange, at least not yet) is Masterworks, which offers individuals to buy shares of artwork. Commented Oct 21, 2020 at 13:16
This question had me curious if single building REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) are possible, and it turns out there have been several attempts at a single-building REIT with the one that got furthest planned for a $53M IPO listed as ECAV in 2014.
answered Oct 13, 2020 at 17:45
