Buy property, get iPad

Trying to take a bite out of sour loans on the books, Community Bank of Manatee is falling back on something that always sells: Apples.

Like most Gulf Coast financial institutions, the bank is swelling with non-performing loans and wants to move a bunch of foreclosed properties off the books.

So William H. Sedgeman, Jr., chairman and CEO at Community Bank of Manatee, created a plan to give away a free iPad to each buyer, and the buyer's agent, when a bank-owned property is purchased.

“We want to strike deals in April and May so we thought that giving away Apple iPads would be a great way to publicize what we have available,” he explained in a release.

Marketing gimmicks aside, tech nuts looking for an easy way to obtain a product that will likely sell out quickly should note the fine print: “Subject to availability from Apple,” the release notes.