The Boy in the Big Housing Bubble: Housing Bubble Spawns Housing Raffles In SoCal

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As I noted in a February post, the housing bubble has spawned yet another season of house raffles in Southern California, and, surprisingly, none of these contests have sold out yet.

In fact, one contest has had to extend sales and delay the grand prize drawing, which either speaks to unease about raffles, the housing market, or the possibility that no one really wants to live in the vanilla sameness of Ventura County. Not sure which of those applies, but the fact that the drawing was delayed highlights how important it is to carefully read ALL the rules of an individual contest before you enter.

Remember, California law says these contests are only allowed to be run for the benefit of charities, so their goal is to sell all the tickets. As a result, the prize you expect to win might not materialize in at least one of these contests if ticket sales don't meet expectations.

And so with those words of caution, I give you my roundup of info on some of the housing raffles going on right now:

Santa Barbara Contemporary Arts Forum

Grand Prize:$1 Million, or a home in Santa Barbara CA valued at $975,000, plus $25,000 cash.*
No. of other Prizes: 193
Range of Values For Other Prizes: $300 to $25,000.
Early Bird Drawing Date (PAST): Wednesday February 22, 2006, and Wednesday March 22, 2006.
Grand Prize Drawing Date: May 6, 2006.**
Approx No. of Prizes Remaining To Be Awarded: 180
Maximum Tickets To Be Sold: 18,000
Price Per Ticket: $150
Tickets Still Available: Yes
*Rules state that "if fewer than 15,000 tickets are sold by April 26, 2006 at 5 p.m. … the Home and the $1,000,000 cash prize will be excluded from the drawing and the GPW (Grand Prize Winner) will be awarded a cash prize computed as 50% of net raffle proceeds."
**Rules state that "To be eligible, ticket payment must be received by Wednesday, April 26, 2006 , or prior to 18,000 tickets sold."

Palos Verdes Art Center

Grand Prize: $1.5 Million cash, or a home in Palos Verdes, CA, valued at $1.6 million.
No. of other Prizes: 249
Range of Values For Other Prizes: $300 to $25,000
Early Bird Drawing Date (PAST): March 21, 2006
Grand Prize Drawing Date: May 2, 2006.*
Approx. No. of Prizes Remaining To Be Awarded: 235
Maximum Tickets To Be Sold: 25,000
Price Per Ticket: $150
Tickets Still Available: Yes
*Rules state "A minimum of 21,500 tickets must be sold for the Grand Prize winner to have a choice of the House or the alternate $1,500,000 cash prize. If fewer than 21,500 tickets are sold by noon, Monday, May 1, 2006, the raffle will be held as scheduled, and all prizes will be awarded as advertised with the exception that the Grand Prize winner will receive a 50% share of the net raffle proceeds."

Irvine Public Schools Foundation

Grand Prize: $600,000 in cash, or an 1,802-square-foot townhome in Irvine valued at $805,000. *
No. of other Prizes: Unclear. See "Approx. No. of Prizes Remaining" for more info.
Range of Values For Other Prizes: 2006 BMW 750Li provided by Irvine BMW valued at over $90,000 or $25,000 in cash.
Early Bird Drawing Date: May 11, 2006
Grand Prize Drawing Date: June 2, 2006*
Approx. No. of Prizes Remaining To Be Awarded: CONTEST RULES ARE VAUGE ON PRIZE DESCRIPTIONS. They describe 20 cash prizes ranging from $1,000 to $25,000 (note BMW choice above), but other prizes are only described in rules as "there are many other prizes (such as airline tickets, jewelry, vacation packages, and gift certificates)."
Maximum Tickets To Be Sold: 15,000
Price Per Ticket: $200
Tickets Still Available: Yes
* IMPORTANT: The rules state "If fewer than 5,000 tickets have been sold on or before 5:00 p.m. on June 2, 2006, the home will not be awarded as the Grand Prize. The Grand Prize would be a cash prize equal to 50% of the total proceeds of the ticket sales less expenses incurred by IPSF. All other prizes will be awarded as described. No substitutes for prizes will be made."

Conejo Jewish Day School

Grand Prize: $1 Million or 5bd/3ba House in Oak Park, CA
No. of other Prizes: 180
Range of Values For Other Prizes: $300 to $30,000
Early Bird Drawing Date (PAST): Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Grand Prize Drawing Date: End of April 2006*
Approx. No. of Prizes Remaining To Be Awarded: 140
Maximum Tickets To Be Sold: 18,000
Price Per Ticket: $150
Tickets Still Available: Yes
*This drawing has already extended its grand prize drawing once. See prior post.