BlkBimM3r said:It was amusing how ignorant some people can be, but also sad because someone who could have used this windfall better (like FW'ers) didn't win it.It's not all bad, at least they pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the economy.

What would you have done if this happened to you?

a.) Sell the house
b.) Rent it out weekly as a vacation rental

I could see them wanting to keep the house. Everybody wants what they can't have. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them. Of course they had no clue of what it would cost to keep up a property like that.
I have a question for anyone to answer. If you decided to keep the property and rent it out, what would you charge? Monthly? Weekly? I think for me I would charge no less than $10,000 a week amd that would be just to rent the main house. But is the location of the "dream house" a popular vacation spot?

GretaBaretta said:What would you have done if this happened to you?

a.) Sell the house
b.) Rent it out weekly as a vacation rental

I could see them wanting to keep the house. Everybody wants what they can't have. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity for them. Of course they had no clue of what it would cost to keep up a property like that.Wrong. They were provided with a financial advisor as part of the prize package, but of course they ignored the advice. There's a reason every other winner ended up selling the house.

Does anyone think its too creepy how he watches the boy with a video camera???? eek!

lol especially a ten year old boy about to go through puberty. lol

dcwilbur said:ChauncPeppertooth said:Does anyone think its too creepy how he watches the boy with a video camera???? eek!A little weird, yeah, but have you looked at the floor plan for the house? The master suite is literally a separate building from the rest of house. I wouldn't be comfortable with my kids in that kind of arrangement either.

And, considering that you weren't comfortable with that set-up, you, as a rational person, would sell the place and live in a house that you WERE comfortable with, right?

Since the parents are NOT living in the Master Suite (which is actually a separate house), and the dad is "obsessively" watching the kid (age 10) via a closed circuit system, I think he is more than concerned, a nutcase is more what I would call him.

Check out the dad's web-site. Its rather interesting, has links to HGTV; an ad for the house, and priced at 4.9 kk; the realtors name, phone, etc.; a request for offers (in writing) directly to him (bypassing his realtor?); links to his friend's web pages; a place selling junk jewelry; etc. The site is much like what I expected from the dad, so screwed up and incoherent, unplanned, disjointed, etc. that a potential buyer would be turned off by it. (Some of the pics do not load as the pic files are corrupted, the descriptions are "weird" when paired with the pics, etc.) Its definitely worth a look-see.

Dad's web site.

WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LOAD THIS SITE WITH DIAL-UP!!!! The 1st pic is 14.7 MB and others are even larger! Small pics are about 5 MB.

If only he knew about FWF, he wouldnot have been in this mess.

I've decided that this lazy POS Don Cruz needs to be soundly beaten. Any FWers live in his Chi suburb?

Mickie3 said:Check out the dad's web-site. Its rather interesting, has links to HGTV; an ad for the house, and priced at 4.9 kk; the realtors name, phone, etc.; a request for offers (in writing) directly to him (bypassing his realtor?); links to his friend's web pages; a place selling junk jewelry; etc. The site is much like what I expected from the dad, so screwed up and incoherent, unplanned, disjointed, etc. that a potential buyer would be turned off by it. (Some of the pics do not load as the pic files are corrupted, the descriptions are "weird" when paired with the pics, etc.) Its definitely worth a look-see.

Dad's web site.

WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO LOAD THIS SITE WITH DIAL-UP!!!! The 1st pic is 14.7 MB and others are even larger! Small pics are about 5 MB.

This should be in the running for worst web site ever. Do yourself a favor, don't even try to load this page. I wish I hadn't.

ArbolLoco said:Nothing better for this forum than a little bit of schadenfreude.

Isn't that what the Finance forum is for? After looking at that retarded website, I feel like getting some more skadeglädje by peppering him with lowball offers.

marketingmike said:
He'd still have income of the value of the prize, which could be partially offset by the charitable contribution deduction. really? I know thats how it would work if he decided to donate it at this point, since he took it for himself first...

But I thought if you "refuse" the prize upfront and designate it to go to charity its not considered income at all? Or do you just have to refuse it outright?