Indonesian widow’s pitch: Buy my house, I will marry you

Forty year-old Wina Lia, a beauty salon entrepreneur, has become an instant online sensation after she advertised her house on the Internet and offered an unusual bonus: She would marry the buyer.

“The bid of the century!” the advertisement proclaims. “Buy a house and marry the owner [terms and conditions apply]. For serious prospective buyers only. No negotiations.”

Many initially doubted the ad but kompas.com reported it had personally met Wina at her house, located in Kalasan, Sleman, for confirmation.

Wina, a widow since 2001 who is raising children, said she meant business because she badly needed the money to survive.

One non-negotiable condition is that the buyer must be a devout Muslim who can be an imam for her family and can teach her how to properly wear a hijab.

She said that a friend, Dian, a property broker, had given her the idea.

“She saw me and took pictures of the house the other day. She offered me the wording for the ad she would place online, ‘Buy a house and marry the owner’. I like it because I’m really looking for a husband,” she said.

Wina was surprised by the overwhelming response to the ad, as she had expected that Dian would advertise her home to a limited audience via Facebook or BlackBerry Messenger instead of on a property business website.

Wina has placed a Rp999-million (around P3,354,937) price on her 523 square-meter home. She refused to say if a serious bidder had emerged. While many have reacted to the development with facetious comments, others have cautioned against the woman’s true motive.