Laura Martin, the 2014 contest winner of a mountain house in Lake Tahoe, explained the house comes with a hefty price tag. "Uncle Sam makes it a little difficult to take ownership," Martin said. According to Vocativ the grand prize is usually a cash award of $250,000 in addition to a car and the home, which is worth over $1 million. That means the federal income-tax you'll have to pay is a whopping $700,000. Meanwhile, Don Cruz won the contest in 2005 and was determined to live in the fancy digs with his family, as reported by KLTV. He lived in the home for nearly two years before his dream house went into foreclosure.
So, unless you're already wealthy and can afford to pay the enormous taxes, it's best to choose the cash option and forego keeping the house. Either way, Dream Home general manager, Ron Feinbaum, explained that winning will ultimately alter your life dramatically. "Winning one of these homes is life-changing in that recipients either pick up their things and move or they suddenly have a large savings account," he told Country Living. "The outcome depends on the individual winner but the overarching theme is that, if you win, it's life-changing."
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