Comments on: What Happens To Those New Home Winners When The Cameras Shut Off? Well, They Slowly Go Broke And Lose Those New Houses!

By: Bronwyn Merritt

Bronwyn Merritt — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 01:19:04 +0000

My real estate clients bring these points home for me every day. The wealthiest clients, buyig the biggest homes, consider and complain the most about the high cost of upkeep and high taxes. They KNOW the devil is in the details. My first-time buyers are the ones I have to remind about the costs of these things, and caution about getting all those monthly expenses figured out before they sign.

By: r jones

r jones — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:45:07 +0000

I enter contests all the time. If i won my dream home and I never miss an entry It would be sold before the paint dried and i would buy my real dream home a modest cabin on a lake. anyone living above their means in any fashion has no sympathy from me.Same with cars, you sell the “Denaili” back to the dealer when it comes in for cash. He deducts wholesale from retail and gives you the difference. You pay your taxes, take your 17 thousand or so and go buy a reasonable car or a good used car or pocket the money. This is not brain surgery. When you are blessed you are grateful and make the best of it. Woe is me is so “entitled”. Pay your taxes and shut it.

By: Jett

Jett — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 15:45:11 +0000

Let get it straight, everything that is being done, like people who won prizes from game shows or anything, to being the lucky winner of prizes… Everyone should know that, this is when TAXES owns you and your life, either way, they found a way to get back at you and they will always have the right of way… They can put you in jail if they want too. To me, every prizes people won, you got stuck in there trap. Like people say, “my insurance cost more then my car”, but what happen to all of the money, if you never got into an accident. It goes all to taxes and other people cars. The same goes for, first time winner, never won before, got the money, but taxes takes over. The Federal, State, and the Government will ALWAYS WIN…

By: uglychart.com » Blog Archive » Congratulations, you have won a $672,000 tax bill!!

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 04:48:43 +0000

[...] This is pretty funny (in a sad way). Don and Shelly Cruz won “$250,000, a GMC Denali SUV, and a gigantic, fully furnished, barn-inspired mansion on an acre of lakefront property in the East Texas town of Tyler.” And this is what happened: Don, a stay-at-home dad, and Shelly, an administrative assistant who’s gone back to school to become an accountant, are quickly running through their winnings as they struggle to pay thousands a month for electricity, household help and other outsize bills for their outsize home. [...]

By: Wednesday Linkdump: compost fires, the coolness of tap water, the five best ways to go Net Zero, and more! « Blog Archive « Planetsave | Free Email and Green News

Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:31:44 +0000

[...] • What Happens To Those New Home Winners When The Cameras Shut Off? Well, They Slowly Go Broke And Los… [...]

By: kimwim

kimwim — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:12:36 +0000

2 years ago I won a “$10,000″ kitchen makeover from a local radio station. The installation was a disaster. When they tried to stick me with a $10,000 1099 for taxes is when I went ballistic. I got estimates for the kitchen from a big box store, wrote to the station, and said I wanted a revised 1099, I refused to pay taxes on what it was not worth. They relented. My “$10,000″ kitchen was really worth $4500, and that’s what I paid tax on.

By: MG

MG — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:10:41 +0000

Very true. There is a mansion here in Ahwatukee that is “non-conforming”. If it were in a more prominent neighborhood it would be worth much more, but much like what you mention and much like the Cruz’s mansion, location greatly reduces the market price for it, as well as the buying audience.

That’s so funny you mention that makeover shows, when I’d watch one I’d always say how tacky some of that stuff looked. To know that they add insult to injury by taxing you for it… YIKES!

By: Kath

Kath — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 14:12:40 +0000

Try being on one of them crappy makeover shows.

Sure, we got 3k worth of stuff, but aside from being taxed on that, it took several months of work plus more money to fix what the “designer” did.

Those people who get an entire house re-built for them have it even worse; often they were poor to begin with & they don’t get any cash to help pay the bills, and the house is in a not-so-great neighborhood, so it can’t sell for as much.

By: Obbop

Obbop — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 04:19:06 +0000

Interesting how the unearned income of the commoners is taxes at such high rates while America’s elite class and its IMMENSE amount of unearned income has a plethora of tax breaks and hidey holes.

By: Dave Myers

Dave Myers — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 00:20:23 +0000

A close friend of mine won $250,000 in prizes for coming in first on a season long, elimination round style game show several years ago. After consulting with his accountant, he signed papers to forfeit all of the prizes since they were valued at their full retail price, and the taxes on them alone were more than they would actually cost if you did some comparison shopping.