Man Can't Afford To Live In $3 Million Dream Home (He Won The Home)

[matcom]

<snip>

Cook won a $3 million-plus house in HGTV's Dream Home promotion in April. While the 5,700-square-foot house was free, Cook has to pick up the tax bill.

He said taxes on the North Carolina lake house run $19,396.64 a year, plus maintenance costs.

“It’s a dream that anyone would love to have — owning a house like the Dream Home,” he told HGTV. “But then reality sets in.”

He said the electric bill on the dream home is more than 10 times what he currently pays.

The state auditor from West Virginia plans on living in his dream house for a few weeks before selling. He likes the area, though.

Cook said he'll use the money from the sale of the Dream Home to buy a place a little more his style in the area. He plans on retiring next month.

The home overlooks Lake Lure in Rutherford County, W.Va., and has been assessed at $3,015,100.

Although HGTV has given away 10 Dream Homes, only two winners have used the houses. One winner in California used the South Carolina Dream Home as a vacation home for family and kept it for eight years, according to HGTV. Another man has lived in his Dream Home in Tyler, Texas, for about a year, according to The Asheville Citizen-Times.

Cook was one of 40 million people who entered the Dream Home contest.

http://www.wftv.com/money/9818933/detail.html

[Broken_Hero]

1. well I guess its time to sell the house

before the IRS takes the home away...:)

[Wally101]

2. I'll take one...

I'd be more than happy to rent it out and hire someone in the area to be the property manager.

[Midlodemocrat]

3. And the thing that sucks the most about that is that I didn't win it.

I had litter boxes all ready for you and DS1.

[LostinVA]

4. This is wrong: "Lake Lure in Rutherford County, W.Va."

Lake Lure is in NC. It's also where they filmed "Dirty Dancing."

[ileus]

6. Dirty dancing was filmed at Mt. Lake in Va

It's only around 45 minutes from where I live.

http://home.comcast.net/~patrick.swayze/dancing.htm

and: It looks like they confused where the man lives with where his new home is.

W. Va. man wins N.C. dream home
4/30/2006 1:02 PM
By: Associated Press


The Lake Lure home has an estimated retail value of $2 million.
RALEIGH, N.C. -- A 56-year-old utility analyst from West Virginia was the winner of Home and Garden Television's 2006 Dream Home contest Saturday.

Donald Cook of Alum Creek chose the winning key for the 5,700-square-foot traditional-style house overlooking Lake Lure in Rutherford County. The prize package also included a "Doggie Dream Home" and 2007 GMC Yukon sport-utility vehicle.

The three finalists were chosen at random from more than 53 million entries. The other two, Deanna Bains, 59, of Fairport, N.Y. and Julie Free, 29, of Blackwell,

[electricmonk]

8. Actually you're both right.

Filming Locations for
Dirty Dancing (1987)

Grove Park Inn - 290 Macon Avenue, Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Lake Lure, North Carolina, USA

Lure Woods, Lake Lure, North Carolina, USA

Mountain Lake Resort - 115 Hotel Circle, Pembroke, Virginia, USA
----------

I'll be at Mountain Lake in 2 weeks for an annual camping trip.

[LostinVA]

9. It must have been filmed in both, then

Because I know someone who was on the crew.

[idgiehkt]

5. I'm so fucking confused.

How can a house in NC overlook a lake in West Virgina? I just pulled up a map and looked at it...if this is me sorry, geography was never my strong suit. Lake Lure is in NC, it's where parts of "Dirty Dancing" were filmed.

[anarch]

16. maybe it's a very tall house?

Very, very tall.

[idgiehkt]

19. LOL

no, I think it's just a typo, he lives in W. VA but the house is in NC. Kind of funny...

[meegbear]

7. Glad now I didn't win ...

I would go to their site and do an online entry everyday. Lucky me.

[Midlodemocrat]

10. But think about this. If the house is valued at $3million, you could

get a home equity line for say $1million and pay the taxes, maintenance from that.

When you sell the house, your profit is a little bit less. Big deal. You won it in the first place.

That's what I would do.

[meegbear]

13. That's true ...

good idea.

[Sapere aude]

11. If you didn't have a mortgage why couldn't you use that money to pay

for everything else?

[Left Is Write]

17. The monthly tax bill is about $1616, based on the annual figure

given in the article. That's more than many people pay for a mortgage payment, plus adding in the cost of utilities and maintenance, which will be much higher on that house than a smaller, less expensive home.

I can certainly see why someone wouldn't be able or willing to take on $1616 + expenses every month.

Personally, I would sell the house, buy something smaller, and invest the rest of the money from the sale.

[Phentex]

12. He deserves pain and misery!...

because *I* was supposed to win that house. I planned to sell the SUV that also came with it and me and my liberal buddies were gonna have a big party!

[LisaM]

20. No! I was going to that!

And I was going to rent it out 10 months of the year for a few years. Either that, or write my prize-winning novel in the first year (while living off the sale of the Yukon) and then be able to easily afford it year round after that. I actually needed the house, because my partner's family has a house nearby that is used for family vacations and it's not quite big enough, so last time, we were forced to sleep on the floor in the basement. I was going to lord it over all those people who made me sleep in the basement for a few months (sending them home to their crowded house after lavishly entertaining them in the big one) and eventually relent and let some of them stay with me, showing how I was a nicer person than any of them were.

[kwassa]

14. but if he sells it now he walks away with all the cash, minus capital gain

[lildreamer316]

15. OH !! That house is BEAUTIFUL!!

I drooled over it on tv.
Maybe I'll have to take the two hour ride up there to look at it....hmmmmm....

[Blue-Jay]

18. I'd just sell the fuckin' thing and buy a nice little place in the country

You could live large on the difference.