Million-dollar house up for grabs in raffle

WOODLAND PARK • The sprawling million-dollar custom home sits on 20 acres on the side of Pikes Peak with spectacular views, its own library, heated decks and prance-around-naked privacy — and it could all be yours for $100.

If you are lucky.

The house is not for sale. You have to win it.

And, of course, be able to pay thousands in state and federal taxes, closing costs, transfer title fees and about $5,000 in annual property taxes.

 Maybe the real winners are the charities who will benefit from ticket sales.

The raffle is a fundraiser by Pikes Peak Rotary Club, which hopes to raise $1million for the local animal shelter, food banks and other groups, club spokeswoman Dana Bincer said.

Even if you don’t win the house, every raffle ticket is eligible for periodical $10,000 cash drawings.

There are up to 39 chances to win with just one ticket, Bincer said.

Deadline to get in all eight $10,000 cash drawings, held every few weeks until July, is 11:59 p.m. Wednesday. The first $10,000 drawing, with prizes of $1,000 to $4,000, is Friday. Winners stay in the running for the home.

The drawing for the home will be July 9. That is, if all goes well.

Raffling a house isn’t like holding a drawing for a turkey.

Especially this house, a 6,300-square-feet mansion in rural Teller County, west of Woodland Park. The farmhouse style mansion has four bedrooms, four bathrooms, library, deck with heated floor tiles and it backs up to public land.

Unlike your average church raffle, tickets for the house can only be bought online at the club’s Web sites: pprcraffle.com or PikesPeakRotaryRaffle.com That’s also the best place to see photos of the house.

That’s because the house remains occupied and the owner doesn’t want lookers traipsing through. (And catching them naked on their heated decks?)

Bincer said an open house will be set for a later date. She said the home’s owner, who wants to remain anonymous, is a former Rotarian who has to move because a family member can’t live at high altitude.

“The club has a contract on house for an undisclosed amount,” Bincer said.

The raffle comes with a catch.

Bincer said a minimum of 18,000 of the $100 tickets must be sold for the raffle to occur.

If not, additional lump sum cash prizes will be awarded based on ticket sales. A maximum of 26,000 tickets will be sold, she said.

Not interested in owning or living in a house in the mountains? No problem.

“If the house winner doesn’t want the house, the club will sell it and split the proceeds 50/50,” she said.

The club is planning a nationwide marketing campaign in hopes of drawing out-of-staters vying for a piece of Colorado.

According to the Rotary club, the house has a $1.3 million market value. Its assessed value is a tad less.

“For the appraisal date of June 30, 2008, the assessor valued it $900,415,” said Mike Akana of the Teller County Assessor’s Office.

Bincer wouldn’t say how many tickets have been sold so far, but said the exact number of tickets sold will be disclosed at the end of the raffle.

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Call the writer at 636-0253.