Maine Company Offering ‘Free’ House if You Buy a Dozen Whoopie Pies

Now that the holidays are over, frugal shoppers are headed back into stores to scoop up deals that were left behind from the Christmas rush. Many retailers are slashing prices in January as they try to move inventory in preparation for spring. But it was one particular winter special in Maine that caught of the eye of a Redditor: a business in Ellsworth offering a 'free' house with the purchase of a dozen whoopie pies.

Like so many businesses, Wicked Munchies in Ellsworth, Maine, allows you to order ahead on their website. Amongst their regular, everyday menu is an additional tab that offers wicked winter specials. That menu is filled with wildly overpriced offerings from a pulled pork BBQ pizza for $12,580.99 to a buffalo chicken ranch melt for the low price of $10,870.50.

Wicked Munchies lists a 'free' two bedroom, one bathroom house in the small town of Mariaville as part of the transaction if you buy a dozen whoopie pies for $199, 055.88. That's only about $16,500 per whoopie pie, plus you get an entire 900 square foot house to boot. So what's the deal with all these crazy winter specials?

The answer is in the murky side of operating a business while trying to move to a new location. Wicked Munchies details to unfortunate red tape in a Facebook post. As they attempt to move their business into a larger location, they must stay open at their current location until a new tenant is found. So if you've got to offer something on the menu, it might as well be overpriced and include a house.

By the way, if you're genuinely curious about the house gimmick, a quick real estate search of Mariaville shows only a handful of actual houses for sale in the area. The closest house that matches the description of the one on the Wicked Munchies website is listed for $100,000 more, so perhaps they're not a match. It's possible you can't be the first person in history get a free house by buying a dozen whoopie pies. Bummer.