Don Cruz

Today I want to talk about Don Cruz.

In January 2005, Don sat down in front of his computer, double-clicked the internet explorer icon on his desktop, and typed http://www.hgtv.com in the address bar. He did this nineteen times. On March 1st, he found out he was the winner of the 2005 HGTV Dream Home in Tyler, Texas.

The Home was a sprawling estate with over 5,000 square feet of living space built to provide casual comfort and Texas hospitality. It included a swimming pool, a guest dock house on the lake, a honeymoon suite connected via breezeway, and other lavish amenities like an in-house elevator.

Along his wife Shelly and his nine-year-old-son Donny, Don packed up his stuff, sold their house in Batavia, Illinois, and moved to Texas to live in their new Dream Home.

But know this: Don was only the second Dream Home winner to actually move into the house. Every other winner with one exception had either taken the cash option or quickly sold the Home. Know that federal taxes on your $2 million worth of winnings is $630,000. Know that that money is due the same year you won. Know that property tax on $1.75 million dollar house is tens of thousands of dollars every year. Know that heating, cooling, and maintenance for 5,500 square feet is not cheap. Know that neither is moving all your belongings 800 miles across the country. Know that paying for all this while living paycheck to paycheck because you're unable to work due to arthritis is near impossible.

The Cruz family came up with a plan to turn the house into a B&B to earn money, but local regulations forbade it. Even more, it turned out they didn't even own the land - they just had a 30-year lease on it. Don took out a mortgage on the house to pay the taxes and help cover his expenses. A portion of this money ended up going towards his wife's brain surgery and father's cancer treatment.

In 2006, Don lists the Dream Home for sale with an asking price of $5.5 million.

In 2007, four months behind on mortgage payments and $430,000 in debt, the Dream Home is scheduled for foreclosure.

In 2008, the Dream Home is sold at auction for $1.3 million.

I'll leave you with a quote that HGTV officials said to the 2003 winner John Groszkiewicz:

“The dream’s not so much the house. The dream is what happens after you sell the house.”

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