Sunday, August 15, 2010

Would You...Enter A Contest For a House?

Lately, I have been having daydreams about getting out of debt, starting life over a bit and finding a home that isn't going to take a life time to fix up and a lifetime of savings & has more room for the grands.

You see, our home has only wood heat (bad, bad for people with Asthma) and it is difficult for me to bend and keep the fireplace stoked in the winter time....forget splitting wood, last year when hubs was stranded out of town, I had to have someone from church come help me!

We had oil heat, but the tank leaked, so we removed the unit and I felt oil wasn't healthy for any of us, let alone the environment..we won't go there!

We have zero, zilch, nada for insulation in the master bathroom and talk about cold....in the midst of winter, we keep the doors shut...electric needs rewiring to put insulation in the attic, the kitchen is small...I can go on!

However, if someone owned this home and had no house payments, they could do a lot with it...we could if I inherited a small fortune. The bones of this house are strong and have held up for 84 years now, so she is allowed a few flaws. We have given her new windows, doors, paint, roof, some plumbing, some new flooring, lighting, etc. I could show you pics...maybe later!

With the economy, I keep thinking, I should give my home away in a contest and one that would bless not only our family, but the winning family. I would love to be able to have a contest and give this home away to some lucky family and not just the house, but most of the stuff inside of it...appliances, kids furniture, most of the furniture and as a bonus my van!

During the contest, we would continue to repair and take care of the house, however, the winner would still inherit a home with some problems and have to fix them...but just imagine winning a home and never paying a house payment again.

With the money collected, our home would be paid off & so would the rest of our bills and we could breath and find a single story home....

So, would you or have you ever joined one of these contests? Would you? Why or why not?

Of course this would be totally legal...I would have a licensed broker, bank to hold the money, perhaps get the local college or schools to help chose a winner....I just might do this to see what happens.....




4 comments:

Peggi said...

I'm confused - you say "with the money collected" but where does this money come from? How would your bills get paid off?

free indeed said...

Guess I don't understand where the money that comes in is from....is it a raffle you would hold? I really doubt I would do this not knowing if their were toxins in the well, soil, paint etc. So many homes can be had for the back taxes or by auction if you are willing to move.

My house is very much like yours it sounds...ours is over 100 yrs old. We heat with only wood..no heat upstairs. The stove is wood/propane and ancient! But I love her! Living in northern Maine has been a wee bit chilly at times, but extra layers of clothing is usually enough to take that chill off. Much needs renovating here as well...oh well...

Quiltingranny said...

Sorry for the confusion ladies, I am not actually having a contest...but if I did it would probably be a literary write with judges...an entry fee would cover paying off the house, so it could be owned outright. Of course one would have to check state regulations, etc. I was talking in generalities if you had a chance to win a home by paying lets say an entry fee or raffle fee of between $100-$300 would you to own something outright?

free indeed said...

That's what I thought....nope I wouldn't enter...it would feel like throwing away that fee to me...of course I'm the frugal sort :)
But who knows, there may be people who would....then again, the economy being what it is and the hard time people are having all across the country....I don't think many would enter...just my opinion...