Want an unsolicited lunch date with the owner of the second largest U.S. brokerage?

In case you missed it: we're talking about Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices

Warren Buffett. (Credit from back: Tristan Ferne, White House)
Warren Buffett. (Credit from back: Tristan Ferne, White House)

Want a sit-down with Warren Buffett? It could be arranged, but it will cost you.

A private lunch with Buffett is auctioned off online every year (on eBAy of all places) and this year the price tag attached was $3.3 million, according to the Associated Press — and that’s not even the all-time record. In 2012 and 2016, the winning bidders paid about $3.4 million for the privilege of a little time with Buffett.

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Though the 2018 winner is anonymous, if the bidder was in real estate, there would be plenty of fodder for conversation: last month Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, bought out Brookfield Asset Management’s stake in its brokerage, HomeServices, for $130 million — a deal that comes amid HomeServices’ increasing expansion into markets like New York City.

The annual auction is part of Buffett’s charity work for the Glide Foundation, which works to address homelessness in San Francisco. Over the 18 years, Buffett has been running the lunch auction he’s raised over $26 million. [AP]Erin Hudson