Asset Recovery: The US Treasury's far reaching hands

For example, a 2778 square feet "residence" in Jakarta - if this is an apartment, it's not cheap. If it's a house, it's very expensive for Jakarta is, despite being a city of immense poverty, is also a city where property prices are far too high.

Or how about 78.5 acres of commercial land in Bangok? Both are listed on the State Department's website linked from the Treasury.

There are office premises in Ecuador, Ivory Coast ( Cote d'Ivoire ) Nicaragua and Uzbekistan for the adventurous businessman.

And whilst we are not absolutely certain, and if it is so, then it's clearly not seized, what we think are US Embassy buildings in Turkey are for lease, not sale.

With sizeable plots of land for sale in Brazilia, the mix of property for sale around the world is surprising.

But it's back in the Good Ol' US of A that things start to get really interesting. Some property is sold via third party auctions - but some is sold by internet auction directly by the US Government.

This is some of what we found:

1 EACH BOAT, BOSTON WHALER, 21' W/149 HP REVENGE, MOTOR INOPERABLE, HULL LEAKS, TRAILER IN- OPERABLE, ALL ELECTRONICS INOPERABLE. REPAIRS MAY BE REQUIRED OTHER THAN WHAT IS LISTED IN THE DESCRIPTION,

Someone has bid USD475 for that. Trust us, you can see that it's in horrible condition from the photo.

The current bid on an interesting bit of kit is USD35. But if you are not a US citizen you won't be allowed to go to where it is stored to pick it up.

ONE LOT CONSISTING OF SPARTAN BRIDGE ASSEMBLY, SN 002, MFG ORBITAL SCIENCE CORP. (1 EA); HHM, LOW BOY CRADLE, SN 001, MFG ORBITAL SCIENCE CORP, MDL G4-60015. (1 EA); SPARTAN BRIDGE ASSEMBLY, SN 002, MFG ORBITAL SCIENCE CORP. (1 EA) -USED-

USD25 for a piano? ONE EACH MEOLID GRAND SPINET PIANO. THIS PIANO CANNOT BE TUNED PROPERLY. REPAIRS ARE REQUIRED.

Less amusing are the farm properties for sale. There are surprisingly few but all are under a government farm loan scheme. One, in Colorado, is a small ranch of around 60 acres, sold with some scrappy buildings demonstrating that the farmer lived a tough life. It's appraised at USD120k. It was due to be sold by sealed bids but there is no notice of sale.

One of the more interesting features is the house sale: for example, a property at 40906 Westwood Way, OAKHURST CA 93644 (MADERA county) is listed not for auction but for sale for USD200,000. Although it is listed for sealed bids, bids close at midnight each day. But there have been a lot of days since the property was valued at USD200,000. It was valued on 19th December, since when prices have fallen across most of the USA. The government has many residential properties across the US - but it is competing with mortgage sales and desperate homeowners for purchasers.

Although there was a slight increase in both volume and prices in the US in December, according to industry figures, there remains a huge property overhang and some commentators think that there was just a kind of holiday-season confusion with people buying property just because it had gone down and they thought there was a bargain to be had. It is not widely expected to be the start of a trend.

But if you think seized etc. vehicles are going to be a good buy, then you need to think again. Look at the pictures: crashed cars feature very prominently.