Oct
14
We Have Our HGTV Dream Home Super Fan
We’ve chosen a Super Fan, and she’s already getting her feet wet at the job site in Sonoma. You can help by sharing your questions on what you’d like to know about the HGTV Dream Home so our Super Fan can get down to some super sleuthing. Share your questions below and I’ll make sure she gets them, then look for her first report coming in the next few weeks.
In other news, our compatriots over at HGTV Pro continue to add to their behind-the-scenes coverage of the building of the 2009 HGTV Dream Home. They’ve got an interesting report on what it’s like to build a custom home with a TV crew watching your every move, all the while keeping disturbances to the neighborhood to a minimum. You can read the full story here.
Yours,
FC
I happened to be in Sonoma, CA in September, 2008 and drove around. I can only guess where the house is. I love the town and area. I did not realize there was a super fan. I think we all are super fans. I can’t wait. I would live in almost any house in Sonoma.
When can you enter the sweepstakes for the Napa dreamhome?
Today Gail(super-fan)was filming in front of Steve Ledson’s house, so,of course, Bo and I had to say hello! I guess filming will be winding down the end of this week, so that will be a disappoitment for BoBo and me. It’s been a kick having all the excitement of the DH09 for these past several months, but I’ll still be walking by everyday, film crews or not! Whomever wins this home is one LUCKY person…I hope it’s my son or daughter. Ingrid from Sonoma
Hello Super Fan, where are you? Thought you would have given us some info about the Dream Home by now. We've been asking a lot of questions and no answers yet, so what's up? Is there another page we need to refer to? Please tell us something, at least answer one of the questions above, come on throw us a bone :-] we're starving for info here. We've known about you for 2 whole weeks now, so could you please give us just a tiny bit of info?
Will Harding get his wish for a pool?
So, Gail [Super Fan], are you gonna talk to us or what? Thanks for responding [soon I hope].
Cindy
Ingrid in Sonoma, are you Danish or Norwegian or Swedish? If single, are you interested in having a live-in tradesman on the premises who can speak Danish and understands some Swedish. A criteria, is that you would appreciate my 65# white poodle.
Will the house have a nordic sauna in the house, or out back? How about having an archway trellis into the back yard draped with grape vines? With my green thumb, could be your resident gardener, having trained at Marshall Field in Chicago area. Earthquakes do not scare me, but I have respect, having worked on the central coast years ago. John
Hi SuperFan,
I have 2 questions for you. Most homes in No.Calif. have virtually no storage – no basements or attics – so the garage is IT. How have the designers addressed that so the home can be a full-time year-round residence rather than a vacation home like last year’s DH and without filling up the garage with holiday decorations, etc. instead of cars? Second question is how much are the annual property taxes? It seems most winners have had to sell their DH’s because of the cost to keep them. I feel a lot of people want to win this house as a permanent residence, but will HGTV cover the closing costs and property taxes as part of the prize? Then it would truly be a “dream” home.
HAS THERE EVER BEEN AN AFRICAN-AMERICAN WINNER?HOW ABOUT AN ASIAN WINNER OR A HISPANIC WINNER?
I just wanted to say how excited I am that you choose Sonoma, California as the next Dream Home site. I was born in Marin County in the Fifties. My Father worked in home constuction for more than 60 years. My brother owns his construction business in the area. I moved to Wisconsin due to marraige in 1977. And I visit my family in Sonoma every two years. My Father lives on Brazil street, just a few blocks from Sebastiani Winery. My bother and four sisters reside in Sonoma County, and I am the only family member who does not live in California. If you have any history of the beginning of settlers in California, My great-great-great Grandfather was Joaquin Tomas Estrada y Vallejo. His family settled there in the 1760′s. According to Mission records, I am an 8th Generation Californian. I am very proud of my heritage and so glad that HGTV Dream Home creaters have put Sonoma, California on the Map. You can bet “I” will be entering in this sweepstakes, My dreamis to live there again.
The film crews have left, but there was a security guy guarding the home on Halloween.(no problems…this is a very safe neighborhood) To Cindy; there is no room for a swimming pool. To John; your blog made me smile…my father was born in Denmark, but I’m a California girl. Actually a girl happily married for 40 years to a firefighter!!! The rain has finally arrived (we NEED it),so I guess fall is officially here. Ingrid from Sonoma
Welcome & congrads to super fan. I have been waiting for this since the 2008 house was built, but just got my 1st email from HGTV today. Is the house in California or the Florida Keys?
How do I enter? I really need a home I can call my own. I hope the DH has a sunporch with one side windows only overlooking the grapevine, garden and pool. I haven’t seen grapevines in a backyard since I was a child and my grandfather grew them and brewed them in his basement. (I’m sure you get what I mean.) That was over 50 years ago.
Let me see if I understand this? Someone NOW expects HGTV to pay closing costs and property taxes on the DH09??? Are you so greedy that a free home,free furniture,free car,free dishes and knives and forks and NAPKINS are NOT ENOUGH??? Do you also expect HGTV to buy next years’ Halloween candy and to send your kids to college??? Well, if you can’t afford to live in the EXPENSIVE Bay Area, please don’t sign up for this house….and BE GRATEFUL to HGTV for this amazing opportunity. Ingrid from Sonoma
Where can I enter to win the 2009 dream home. (Starting Jan. 1, you can enter once a day online at HGTV.com or by mail-in entry.)
Dear Ingrid in Sonoma,
I’m assuming your last comments were directed at me so I’m responding accordingly. I have been a Bay Area homeowner and taxpayer for over 24 years. I am concerned about the property tax because from what I’ve read in the past, it seems all the winners of Dream Homes (at least prior to 2008) have sold the prize homes rather than living in them. (Feel free to correct me, fc, if this is inaccurate.) Many bloggers dream about winning without realizing the possible financial implications.
When you fall in love with a house and imagine living there, it would be heartbreaking to win it and then realize you can’t afford to keep it. In the early DH years, I believe part of the prize included funding to cover closing costs and taxes. Obviously you can sell the DH and still end up a financial winner, but I feel that defeats the purpose of “dreaming” about the house. That’s why I posted the question. I was only trying to be realistic. If I enter the contest in January, it will be with the hope of retiring to Sonoma (IF I should be lucky enough to win!).
It is a very attractive house, much bigger than my own, and there was no security in sight when I checked it out this Saturday in the rain!! Nice to see that all the landscaping is done and it appears to be in “move-in” condition. I’m really looking forward to the photos and video tour!
What I want to know is “CAN YOU PLEASE COME TO MY HOUSE AND HELP ME FIX MINE? We have been trying to do some remodeling and we are definitely amatures. There are so many beautiful rooms in all the dream homes it is hard just to pick one certain thing about the house. Maybe you should just take the best of each house and make a super dream home and let me be the super fan for the super house. Dream team keep up the good work and maybe you all will come to East Tennessee and visit the beautiful mountains here.