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With property prices being sky high, it may be cheaper to reach for the skies in a quest for affordable real estate in a quiet area these days.Two UK entrepreneurs are giving you the chance to buy a plot of land on the moon.
At £15 per acre the price compares very nicely with central London (where you could pay £50 million per acre)
And the neighbours include John Travolta, Harrison Ford and Ronald Reagan.It may not carry much clout in the diplomatic world, but Francis and Sue William's title is likely to provoke conversation at receptions.The Cornwall-based entrepreneurs beat off 100 competitors to become lunar ambassadors to the UK from the moon's self-styled American owner.
Businessman Dennis Hope took advantage of international loopholes to lay claim at the United Nations to the moon and 20 other solar systems. It is a big leap from marketing musical systems to becoming the moon's ambassador to the UK.
But when Francis and Sue William's daughter Angela spotted Dennis Hope's lunar embassy site on the internet they bought parcels of land and applied to become ambassadors four years later. Hope's website had created a craze in the US - with nearly 300,000 people buying plots of the moon - and he wanted to take the idea overseas.
Buy a plot of land on the moon and you or your descendants may end up the owners of the lunar equivalent of Mayfair - at least in theory.
"You could get lucky", says Francis Williams "All our plots of land come with mineral rights."
Only the light side of the moon - the side which faces the earth - can be purchased. With more than 1 billion acreas available there is enough land to meet demand.
Should you become the proud owner of part of the moon, forget trying to find out if it was where astronaut Neil Armstrong landed. Sites like those where the first men on the moon stepped in 1969 and other sites of scientific interest are not up for sale.
Nor is the moon's north pole - it's been leased to an American company which charges people $2 million to have their ashes scattered there.Ex US presidents Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter are among the owners of extra-terrestial real estate.
Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeves and many of the cast of Star Trek are also amongst those who have invested since the moon went opn sale in 1980.
So what is it like being the UK's only interplanetary estate agent ?
Francis Williams is phlegmatic "Well it is a bit of a giggle but there is a serious side to it. The whole concept of owning the moon is very cool, especially when it is so affordable.For Francis the sky is the limit - he is considering setting up a computer on the moon to act as an other worldly business address and tax haven.
Thinking of digging into the lunar property market ?
Go to Francis and Sue William's website at:or call 0800 034 6102 (this is a toll-free number within the UK)
Buyers receive a package including a title deed and a map pinpointing your property on the moon.
The fee of £15 also includes land registration and postage and packing.
But a chance to go and see your own little patch of heaven at first hand is likely to cost a little more.
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Credit: Teletext C4 Page 492 "Technology in Focus" 9th September 2000
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