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HomeVestors announces winner of The Ugliest House of the Year contest
By Monica Feid
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| Monica Feid | |
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| Greg Weinstein with Goldmine Properties, LLC in Sarasota, FL accepts first place in the Ugliest House of the Year contest | |
The minute Greg Weinstein of Gold Mine Properties saw the house at 1916 32nd Street in Sarasota, FL, he knew he had a winner.
"I told the person I was buying it from, 'You know, you're going to make me the winner of the Ugliest House of the Year contest.'"
He was right.
The house, a true eyesore, was the "Ugliest" of the "Ugly." At least that's what America thought when thousands of people voted online for HVA's Ugliest House of the Year.
Just hours after the announcement was made at the HVA convention in Orlando, the media also wanted the news.
But as Weinstein did his first interview with CBS Radio in Los Angeles, he was quick to point out that this was much more than an ugly house. It was one very ugly situation. And soon this contest had become another vehicle to educate people on how HVA really works to help communities.
The seller, a 27-year-old single mother, had inherited the property from her grandmother. But it came with more than $275,000 in condemnation fines that had compounded over the last five years. The condemned home also had drug addicts squatting on the property.
Weinstein had to enlist the help of local law enforcement to remove the tenants.
"This wasn't just an ugly house. It was a blight on the community," Weinstein said. "There were no windows. No copper piping. It was stripped of just about everything but the walls."
But it did have a bright future.
Weinstein worked his magic and went to the city to ask for permission to buy the house. The city reduced the fines to $375 and the home was on its way to a new life.
"I sold it in an hour," Weinstein said. And the real estate investor who bought it has already started rehabbing the place.
Like many houses in Florida, Weinstein pointed out that it was a concrete block home that could last forever.
"It costs more to tear down a concrete block home that it does to work with the existing structure," he explained. And soon the house will be a beautiful home for someone new.
"The end result is all positive," Weinstein says with a smile. "The seller got out of it with a check and no more burdens on her or her family."
Weinstein walked away with a check too. As the winner of the contest, HVA awarded him with a $100,000 interest-free loan with no closing costs towards the purchase of another home.
Wes English of Caliente Properties in Forth Worth, TX, came in second place and received a $50,000 interest-free loan with no closings costs towards the purchase of another home.
And Michael Ludlow of Home Again Properties of Phoenix, AZ came in third place and received a credit for four transaction fees.
All three of these franchisees also received $3,500 in additional prizes from HVA vendors.
America voted for houses in these cities in the following ugly order:
- Sarasota, Fla.
- Fort Worth, Texas
- Phoenix, Ariz.
- Salisbury, Md.
- San Antonio, Texas
- Dallas, Texas
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Montgomery, Ala.
- Detroit, Mich.
- Philadelphia, Pa.
"We are confident that the Ugliest House of the Year contest will become an annual event for HomeVestors. It will pick up more momentum each year, and generate more and more publicity for HomeVestors," said Mark Hagen, vice president of marketing for HomeVestors.
… Monica Feid is vice president of BizCom Associates, HomeVestors' PR agency.
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