Just got this email from Donna Luce Neitman and she mentions the dream home giveaway that is located in my town, Sonoma - hope you win, girl!
Hi Cathy,
I was reading your story about the SS Catalina and I remember touring it on one of my cruises that went to Ensenada. It was in the early 90's I believe and we got to go on board. I think they were trying to get funding or donations to refurbish it. I don't think that ever came about and I'm not sure what happened to the 'ole girl'. Probably broken down for scrap metal and buried at sea! Anyway, just wanted to share that with you.
P.S. I'm trying to win the "Dream Home" from HGTV in Sonoma, so we can have the next reunion there!! I really am dreaming. It's beautiful, have you seen it? Wish me luck, ha!!
Love, Donna Luce
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Dream Home Details:
Thursday, Feb 19, is the deadline for entering the 2009 HGTV Dream Home Giveaway. This year's house in Sonoma, Calif., is a two-story farmhouse with 3,600 square feet of living space, three bedrooms and 31/2 baths. Highlights include two bedroom mini-suites and a master bedroom suite with luxury spa-inspired bathroom and its own sitting room. The winner also receives a 2009 GMC Acadia. The total value of the package is more than $2 million. To enter, go to http://www.hgtv.com/.
90 Second Tour of Home
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Downtown Sonoma
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FEB 17, 2009 UPDATE - SEE MY 2 MIN VIDEO OF THE DREAM HOME I TOOK TODAY!
Even in the rain, it's a beautiful home and this afternoon, I stopped by the Dream Home...
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LAST 2 DAYS TO VIE FOR THE 2009 MILLION-DOLLAR HGTV DREAM HOME IN CALIFORNIA’S BREATHTAKING SONOMA WINE VALLEY
Deadline For Entries: THIS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 19 at 5 pm ET (2 pm PT) —
Winner to be Unveiled in HGTV Dream Home Giveaway 2009 Special on March 15
Only TWO days are left to enter the 2009 HGTV Dream Home Giveaway to win a new, 3,700-square foot fully-furnished custom-designed Victorian-style home in the wine valley of Sonoma, CA, a 2009 GMC Acadia and much more.
Top HGTV designers used their unique talents to create many of this year’s rooms, including Kim Myles (Kids’ Room), John Gidding (home study) and Monica Pedersen (outdoor tablescapes.)
People can enter once a day at http://HGTV.com/dreamhome
Other cool features:
-- patio area with outdoor kitchen and garden vineyard
-- front and back porches with gorgeous vistas
-- 3 bedrooms and 3 1/2 bathrooms
-- home office with a fully stocked wine closet
-- gourmet kitchen
-- two-car garage
-- even a Doggie Dream Home!
Check out HGTV.com’s Dream Home Central (http://HGTV.com/dreamhome) to access a room-by-room 360 degree virtual tour, photo gallery, blog, exclusive videos and much more.
The winner will get a surprise knock on the door and be revealed in a half-hour special, “HGTV Dream Home Giveaway 2009” on Sunday, March 15 at 8 pm ET/PT.
March 13, 2009 UPDATE
Sonoma Dream Home mystery winner revealed soon
HGTV's Dream Home in Sonoma
By MEG McCONAHEY
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
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Published: Friday, March 13, 2009 at 3:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, March 11, 2009 at 12:56 p.m.
Someone, somewhere in America, got the lucky news last week that they will be moving to a fancy dream house in Sonoma.
Or at least, they will have the opportunity - if they can pull together the taxes and upkeep on a $2.5 million “farmhouse,” professionally decorated and fully equipped with stocked wine cellar, “petite vineyard,” large screen TV and matching dog house.
The winner, picked from among 39 million entries in a drawing on March 3, will be disclosed during a 30-minute TV special, HGTV Dream Home Giveaway 2009, airing on the network at 8 p.m. Sunday.
The winner will be chauffered by limousine on April 17 to their new home. At that time they will get a tour, which will be filmed for a future broadcast, and be presented with keys to the property.
The wannabes include many people from Sonoma County and even Sonoma itself who were hoping to upgrade to a 3,700-square-foot home or simply to cash out their earnings.
“I entered. But I was just in it for the money, frankly,” laughed Karen Gardner, a dental hygienist who already has a nice spread on 50 acres in nearby Glen Ellen. “I figured maybe I could give it to one of my kids. I’d have had to take out another line of credit if I had won. And then I would have sold all the furnishings on eBay.”
Leslie Vaughn of Sonoma said she entered twice every day — using both her own name and e-mail and her husband Kevin’s. She was really hoping to win for her niece, who lives in Henderson and wants desperately to move back to the Sonoma area where her mother lives.
“I have been doing positive affirmations,” said Vaughn, who said she figured the taxes alone would be $2,000 a month — more than her current rent. “I’ve driven past it a zillion times. And when my niece came into town, the first thing she wanted to see was the Dream House. I do feel that if by some miracle I won, it would be for them.”
The network’s newest Dream Home, built by Santa Rosa General Contractor Bruce Lee with Sonoma developer and hotelier Steve Ledson, is set on the perimeter of Armstrong Estates, a luxury subdivision of custom-built fantasy homes that Ledson has been developing for some 20 years on Sonoma’s pricey east side.
Ledson said 4,253 people paid $20 apiece to tour the house over the last two months, raising $85,000 for his family charity, the Ledson Harmony Foundation for Children. The nonprofit organization grants wishes for children undergoing personal or family hardships.
Emily Yarborough, a spokeswoman for HGTV, said both electronic and paper entries had an equal chance of winning. Every entry, whether by mail or e-mail, was assigned a bin number. Balls with all the bin numbers were then put into a large drum. Network president Jim Samples pulled one ball from the drum to determine which bin he would draw the winner from. Then the winner was chosen.
This is the 13th Dream Home, each picked for its fantasy getaway location, that the network will give away. In truth, a combination of crushing taxes and upkeep costs combined with the faraway locations has forced all but two winners to quickly sell off their winnings. And the other two have subsequently sold.
Don and Shelly Cruz, who won a 5,500 square foot barn-style mansion in Tyler, Tex., complete with two-story boathouse in 2005, tried desperately to stretch beyond his means to live in the lakeside house. But, unable to pay the property taxes and teetering on foreclosure, they auctioned off the home for $1.3 million in January, less than the assessed value of $1.8 million.
Ledson said he’s prepared to buy back the Sonoma Dream Home if it doesn’t pencil out for tonight’s winner.
“Whatever I would ask for it, I probably would be lucky if I got my money back because people just aren’t spending money now,” said the developer, who said it cost about $2.3 million to build. “It’s a very nice house. It’s got a lot of amenities. And in time the values are going to come back. Will they be as high as they were when the bubble burst? Not for awhile.”
Ledson, who also has a winery and the luxe Ledson Hotel on the Sonoma Plaza, recently sold a house down the street from the Dream Home for $2.3 million. But it had been on the market for over a year. Another one also several doors down that he built but no longer owns, is on the market for slightly under $1 million.
The hoopla has brought a lot of publicity to Sonoma, a nice boost in a flagging economy. HGTV has promoted the charms of the historic wine country town on its Web site. And many people have trekked to Sonoma to either tour the house or view it from the road. Most came from the greater Bay Area although a few diehards, said Ledson, flew in from other states.
“People thought it was exciting,” said Kirsten Stewart, co-owner of Deuce Restaurant on Broadway. She said a number of customers asked for directions to the Dream House eight blocks away.
Vaughn said the giveaway has been a bright spot in a gloomy winter of bad economic news.
“People could get their hopes up and be excited about something,” she laughed. “Live the dream. It was a fun thing.”
Comments
rebob says...
March 11, 2009 5:13:08 pm
No I didn't win and wasn't even aware of the drawing.
This is however a minor symptom of our slipping into 3rd world economic status.
Promote the extreme luck of a select few as a means to distract the general public from the current economy. Paging Kurt Vonnegut.
GeezerBill says...
March 12, 2009 6:57:51 am
I wasn't going to 'fess up just yet,.....but, yes, I WON, and you are all invited to my open house bash this Sunday. There will be limosine service, a complete catered lunch (caviar will be served in large tureens), your choices of the best red and white wines that Sonoma and Napa counties have to offer, a complete bar, and balloons for the kiddies. On-site massages will be offered by lovely masseuses, and a beautiful $3,0000,000 Bugatti Veyron automobile will be auctioned off, with the money donated to the Bernie Madoff legal fund. Music will be provided by the San Francisco Boys Choir, sponsored by the North American Man-Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), with parking-lot security from the junior chapter of Gay Youths for Hitler.
The entire Santa Rosa City Council will welcome you, answer questions and shake hands. In the spirit of the Stimulus Program, the event will conclude with an air show by the Blue Angels---compliments of Nancy Pelosi. Barrack Obama was going to make the scene, but his teleprompter is still having problems, and the new one won't arrive until next week. Not to worry. Arnold Schwarzenegger will arrive with a complete set of weights and will attempt to top the world bench press record while making a surprise announcement that Warren Buffett has donated his entire fortune to help with the California bailout.
Of course, I will be there to sign autographs.
sophieSEA says...
March 12, 2009 1:06:50 pm
I don't understand why HGTV has to build such extravagant homes where the people who win cannot even afford to live there. Why not build something modest instead of home in the most expensive development in Sonoma???? No, of course they won't because that makes sense.
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