Step through the front door and you’re greeted by a split level foyer with stairs leading down to a fully finished basement or up to an open floor plan with a beautiful living room and furnished kitchen.
“It’s got a lawn. It’s got appliances, a finished basement and a garage, so it’s a sweet house. It’s not a dream house, but it’s brand new,” Dahl Art Center Assistant Director Darla Lerdal said.
With a sweet price tag. For just $100, you can buy a raffle ticket for a chance to win a new place to lay your head.
“Win a sweet nest, or add to your nest egg. So if it’s someone who wants to just increase their investment property, it’s good for that, too,” Lerdal said.
The house is being given away as part of a fundraiser for the Rapid City Arts Council and the Dahl Art Center. It’s the first raffle of its kind in South Dakota. In the first week, nearly 150 tickets have been sold.
“Let’s do a raffle house. Let’s have some fun with that. Let’s get some people in the subdivision and let’s get out and do something different,” Copperfield Vistas Developer Bob Drew said.
Drew says when picking a charity to support, the Dahl was an obvious choice.
“You know they’re doing some good things for the arts and the community. That’s good for development. That gets people to move to Rapid City,” Drew said.
He says the buzz from giving away a brand new house for close to nothing will help bring attention to his development, as well.
“It’s a big win. Big win for the community, we have a lot of fun giving away a house. For Copperfield vistas it’s a lot of exposure, it gets people out somewhere maybe they haven’t been. You know, maybe they haven’t seen this part of town, so we’re excited about it we think it’s going to work,” Drew said.
In order to give the house away, they need to sell a minimum of 3,000 raffle tickets. The maximum they’ll sell is 5,000, but if they don’t make the minimum amount, they’ll give the money back to everyone who entered. The cost of the house, $215,000, will be deducted from the money earned in the raffle. The rest of the money goes directly to the Arts Council. That’s a benefit Lerdal says will have a lasting impact.
“We stand to make $250,000. That will help our operations for years, so this is really a wonderful opportunity for us,” Lerdal said.
And a wonderful opportunity for any homebuyer.
“If they win this house, they have a one in 5,000 chance to win it, they could do a lot of things with it. They can sell it, they can live in it, they can turn it into a rental property. It’s up to them, so they’ve got a lot of options they can do with this house if they win it. That’s where the fun is,” Drew said.
Fun that’s mutually beneficial to the area – and the arts – the new owner will ultimately invest in.
“And there could be an ongoing effort here that could raise money long into the future for the Dahl which would really be fun, so once you get one done successful maybe you could do another one,” Drew said.
A hope there may be more sweet home deals in South Dakota.
Since the contest is considered a lottery, the winner will still have to pay taxes on the home. Officials estimate that will end up being around $25,000. Click here to enter the contest.
