As the doom and gloom of the slowing economy descends and the possibility of a housing market crash loom large on the horizon, online investors and entrepreneurs are turning to the virtual property world to cash in.
Street Deeds, in both the UK and USA, offer unique opportunities to own and manage the virtual deeds to your own street. Apart from the obvious fun and novelty value each and every deed can be bought, sold and traded like any other commodity - virtual or otherwise. They can be used as high impact advertising and marketing tools with a specific and targeted audience in mind.
The idea is the brain child of Marcus Cicero, a young entrepreneur from England who set up the site and is behind all the latest developments and the big plans for the future.
Early investors, particularly from the UK, seem to have predominately been from the property and real estate sectors and the UK site has seen a massive influx from London and big city based property companies. However, there are many individual investors who have seen a great short and long term investment opportunity and who are keen to get in at the ground level.
Many of the popular tourist streets and iconic locations in the UK and the USA have already been snapped up - Downing Street, Oxford in the UK and Wall Street and Fort Knox in the USA. Corporate type names have also gained popularity recently; Budweiser Court and Firefox Drive in the USA and streets such as Amazon Street and Ericsson Close in the UK.
Aside from the serious potential offered by owning and managing your own deed there is also a definite fun aspect to the site, with deeds such as Marriage Hill, Elvis Road, and the always memorable Farfrompoopen Road offering a great chance to buy names with the laughter factor!
Recent big sales on the site have included Empire Way in London, England being sold on for £6,200 and the world famous shopping mecca of Bond Street selling early in the life of Street Deeds for £300.