The Community Action Marin 2nd Annual Dream House Giveaway winners have been announced and the winning ticket was held by Susan and Brad Wells. Winning the raffle was bitter sweet for the couple as Mr. Wells lost his job just one week prior, so winning a sweet, $2 million house sounded like luck was turning around. That was before they realized that they may not be able to afford to pay the taxes for the prize…
Dream House Give Away [SF Schtuff]
Dream House Winners [SF Schtuff]
2nd Annual Dream House Raffle [SF Schtuff]
Dream House Raffle [Community Action Marin]
Filed under: Ggold, events, news, real estate, video , dream house, events, news, video
Take the $1M!
Yeah, I would likely take the cash prize as well. In this housing market it would probably buy a pretty nice house anyways, or at least make a nice nest egg, vs being house poor.
House raffles seem to be the event du jour up here…just heard this morning about another one going in the city with yerba buena center for the arts at the helm: http://www.nbcbayarea.com/around_town/real_estate/Bad-Housing-Market-150-for-an-SF-Dream-Home.html Not a bad idea, I suppose, to get folks excited in the housing market again (although I think all the raffles so far have ended with the winners taking the cash).
There are very few times where taking the non-cash prize makes any kind of sense, pretty much ALWAYS take the cash.
I would take the house if I could get a mortgage to pay the taxes. The house is in a super prime area of the Bay, so it is unlikely to lose much value. Buying $2 million for $600,000 is a lot better deal than taking $600,000 (what you would get after taxes of the cash option). If you take the house, you essentially end up with a net gain of 1.4 million – about twice the value of the case option. The equation is not too complex and hard to beat.
Then of course, there is the issue of property taxes and maintenance. But, I would probably still take the house.