Are you a moving writer? Win a house worth 316,000 dollars!  

There was an article about this house written in a newspaper serving Northern NM. I've seen it everywhere! On Ebay, in Preservation Magazine and on Old Houses dot come. http://www.oldhouses.com/...

Apparantly, its legal in New Mexico to run a raffle like this even if you're not a non-profit - in many states its illegal. However, there are states that allow it, and real estate companies often facilitate that. This one does have a listing with a local Realty company.

You can win it, with a hundred dollars and an essay, short story, memoir (spelling!) that catches their attention - you don't have to be a great writer - its what you have to say - not how you say it. They want writers to speak from the heart.

This discussion is multipart. First do you participate in sweepstakes (which requires no money) and contests like this one (that you've researched thoroughly of course). And if so, have you won anything?

I've been seriously sweeping since mid-july and have won several - about 18 sweeps. Most small prizes - bloggy wins in fact - where bloggers research products themselves, review them and get to keep one for themeselves and giveaway more. They direct readers to the site of the sponser thus marketing the product further. The prize value is lower - usually 200 dollars or less (my biggest win was a 150 dollar prize) but the odds are much higher.

The second part, would you try to win a car or a house, given taxes? With a car, I'd sell it right back to the dealer as some other winners I've met on forums. With a house, I'd either sell it for a small profit I wouldn't have made without it. Or, with the case of this one which is worth a little over 300,000 I want to live there so I'd be creative. I would first have it reassessed as the market here in NM is down, then I'd take out a mortgage of 100,000 to pay for taxes which would be less then our current rent. I would receive certain breaks because I'd add solar panels and energy efficient windows - which would be double - break for home improvement and a break for alternative energy. And other thing which would help in that area.

Also, I would have them hand it over to me after the first of the year so I'd have a full year in it without taxes, and perhaps I'll have a nice win in the meantime in a sweepstakes. At the very least, I could live in it for a year then sell. But I'd prefer not to sell it. I love that house. Go check it out for yourself.

Besides the questions I've asked, feel free to discuss the house itself and what you think of it!