Man offloads Detroit dump and gets iPhone 6

An Austrian man who advertised trading his Detroit investment property for an iPhone 6 has sold the crumbling dwelling for a cash payment – and received a donated iPhone 6 to boot.

Andreas Gindelhuber bought the foreclosed bungalow on Detroit's east side for $47,000 in 2010 in the hope he could make some money off it as a rental property.

But the Detroit market continued to plummet, and when Mr Gindelhuber's tenants left seven months ago he was left owing $6800 in property taxes.

When dropping the price to $3420 still failed to attract any takers, Mr Gindelhuber and local agent Larry Else had a brainstorm.

"I’d be willing to trade it for an iPhone 6 or an iPad 32 GB," Mr Else remembers Mr Gindelhuber telling him.

"[I said] "if you’re serious about that, I think that’s a really good idea that would make this listing stand out"," Mr Else said.

Mr Else said he knew the bungalow would be a tough sell, despite boasting city views, three-bedrooms and one-and-a-half bathrooms.

On top of the hefty tax bill, the place was smoke damaged and missing all its doors and windows. But the listing caught the internet's imagination and the house has now sold to a buyer who lives on the same street.

Mr Else wouldn't reveal the final selling price but said it was less than $1000.

But Mr Gindhulber still did not have his iPhone 6, until an email arrived from a German man who read the story in a German magazine.

"I’m not interested in this villa, but I wanted to donate my iPhone 6 to the seller of this house," the man wrote in an email.

"It’s brand new...the advertisement touched me somehow."