Anyone looking to buy a home in today's real estate market knows that finding a good deal is tough. That's why I was shocked to learn that New York City has been sold for just $18,000! (Click the picture at left to enlarge.) What's the catch?

Well, the money is real. Repeat: The money is real. The property is virtual, however. It's part of a new site called Weblo, a combination of Monopoly and eBay, where users can buy the virtual equivalent of real-world cities, states, and countries. The $18,000 that was paid for New York might seem high; after all, the Dutch paid only $24 for Manhattan, and they bought real land. But the founders of Weblo say that owners can earn profits from their properties, and charge rents to other Weblo citizens who decide to live there.

Virtual property isn't the only thing for sale. Weblo is also selling domain names, so if you missed out on cyber-squatting opportunities a decade ago, you can now get in on the ground floor. (I checked, though, and trademarked domains such as Walmart.com and PCMag.com aren't available.) Even stranger is the ability to "own" your own celebrity; you can build their Web sites and somehow make real money with them. I'm not sure the designers convinced the various celebrities to take part, but the idea almost makes me happy I'm not famous!

Will people really want to spend this kind of money to own stuff that isn't real? It'll be interesting to see how Weblo fares.

Post by Gearlog contributor Peter Suciu