Will the HGTV Dream Home winner move from New York to live on Anastasia Island, Florida?
Time will tell what Marie Fratta, a veteran elementary school teacher from Westchester County, New York, will do. Fratta, who was picked out of 130 million entries for the 2024 HGTV Dream Home sweepstakes, was notified by the home and garden television network of her epic prize, and HGTV announced the news May 22, 2024, months after the contest ended. Voting was from Dec. 22, 2023, to Feb. 15, 2024 on HGTV and Food Network sites.
Like others before her, Fratta has to choose whether to become a Sunshine State resident or to take the cash option. The Anastasia Island location is the latest Florida site for the HGTV Dream Home sweepstakes contests since it started in 1997. Over the years, there have been five HGTV Dream Homes in Florida, more than any other state. On the flip side, there have been only two people from Florida who won an HGTV Dream Home since the sweepstakes contest began. Still, that’s seven HGTV Dream Home ties to the Sunshine State.
Here’s more info about the houses here and the Florida winners.
2024 HGTV Dream Home on Anastasia Island, Florida
The 2024 HGTV Dream Home on Anastasia Island, Florida, was designed by architect Michael Stauffer and built by local builder Glenn Layton Homes. The home’s interior design was by Brian Patrick Flynn. The three-bedroom, four-bathroom home is about 3,300 square feet with views of the Matanzas River and the St. Augustine Lighthouse. Value of the total Anastasia Island HGTV Dream Home package was estimated at just over $2.2 million. In total, as winner of the 2024 HGTV Dream Home, Maria Fratta of Westchester County, New York, will receive:
- Keys to the fully furnished home, which, according to rules, includes home furnishings, fixtures, artwork and merchandise for an approximate retail value of $2,069,595
- A new Mercedes-Benz E Class sedan worth about $70,000, according to the rules
- $100,000 cash
If Fratta decides to take the cash option, she’ll receive $650,000 in cash, per contest rules.
2016 HGTV Dream Home on Merritt Island, Florida
FLORIDA TODAY reported David Rennie of Shelton, Connecticut, won the 2016 HGTV Dream Home on Merritt Island, Florida, along with $250,000, a 2016 Bryant Sperenza model boat and 2016 GMC Acadia Denali car. The 3,150-square-foot remodeled home had Indian River water views in its backyard. It was a three-bedroom, two-story home off South Tropical Trail. Features included water views, a grand staircase, luxury dog house, pool and private dock. It had outdoor lounging areas, Florida-inspired decor, bold colors, three bathrooms and two half-bathrooms. Rennie, HGTV said, was chosen from 127 million entries.
HGTV valued the 2016 HGTV Dream Home prize package at $1.7 million. Rennie chose the cash option, and the house was eventually listed at $1,530,000 a month after Rennie won, according to a 2016 story in FLORIDA TODAY. Real estate sites show the 2016 HGTV Dream Home on Merritt Island, Florida eventually sold for $1.3 million, FLORIDA TODAY reported.
Florida woman won 2009 HGTV Dream Home in California
Cheryl Smith of Lakeland, Florida, won the 2009 HGTV Dream Home in Sonoma, California.
Smith did not keep the three-bedroom, 3 1/2-bath home, and it was on the market for $2.2 million, according to a July 2009 SFGate.com story: “The Florida couple who won this year’s dream-home lottery sold the property to developer Steve Ledson, who is now reselling it. Ledson designed and built the home for HGTV on his Armstrong Estates, a new development built to resemble a ‘heritage neighborhood.’ Surrounded by century-old oak trees, the home resembles a Victorian farmhouse, with generous spaces and front and back porches. A large family room opens to a patio and outdoor kitchen. HGTV had valued the home plus its decorator-selected furniture and a new car at $2 million.”
2008 HGTV Dream Home in Islamorada, Florida
Stephanie Dee of Solon, Iowa, won the 2008 HGTV Dream Home in Islamorada, Florida.
HGTV notified Dee of her three-story “island oasis” grand prize in March 2008, and a family vacation to visit followed in June of that year. According to a January 2009 story on twincities.com, Stephanie Dee described the Islamorada home as “beautiful” and “amazing,” with an ocean view from every floor.
By August 2009, the HGTV Dream Home was put on the market and eventually sold.
Florida postmaster won 2007 HGTV Dream Home in Colorado, years after winning a Florida lottery prize
Robert O’Neill of Brandon, Florida, won the 2007 HGTV Dream Home in Winter Park, Colorado.
According to a March 2007 story on timesnews.net, O’Neill also won $13,000 from the Florida Lottery shortly after he retired in 1999. Eight years later, the story says, O’Neill won the Colorado HGTV Dream Home, which included the fully furnished 4,400-square-foot lodge-style home, a 2007 GMC Acadia, a matching “HGTV Doggy Dream Home” and $250,000 in cash for a total prize value of $2.5 million. Features of the four-bedroom, five-bathroom home included a wet bar, a kids “bunk room,” a loft, stunning views of the Rocky Mountains, rustic exposed beams, stone fireplaces, a hot tub and patio.
Though O’Neill beat the odds of 41 million-to-1, the retired postmaster put the 2007 HGTV Dream Home up for sale shortly after winning the contest. Interested buyers popped up from across the country, Dennis Saffell, owner and broker of Coldwell Banker Mountain Properties, said in a November 2007 Sky-Hi Daily News story. A pair of surgeons and their families from Denver eventually bought the dream home for about $2 million, the Sky-Hi Daily News story states: “We had a lot of people looking at it … for its fame of being an HGTV home. And it ended up selling to someone who had no idea it was an HGTV home. They bought it because they liked it,” Saffell had told skyhinews.com.
John Groszkiewicz of Erie County, Pennsylvania, won the 2003 HGTV Dream Home in Mexico Beach, Florida.
Features of the home include a great room, primary suite, bunk house, garden room and green house, as well as a private deck and zen-like spa deck. It also had access to the water and a boat house equipped with a fishing boat.
According to a 2006 article from the Pittsburg Post-Gazette, Groszkiewicz and his family visited the HGTV Dream Home several times before selling it shortly after Labor Day 2003 for about $800,000.
1999 HGTV Dream Home in Rosemary Beach, Florida
Belinda Brown of Kingston, Tennessee, won the 1999 HGTV Dream Home in Rosemary Beach, Florida.
According to HGTV, the house nicknamed “tropical retreat” had a tin roof that reflected heat, making it cooler inside the home. The home and garden network highlighted the Dream Home’s “wonderfully-livable outdoor room, called a loggia, from the Italian word for ‘living place.’ The loggia is furnished just like an indoor living space, with comfortable, inviting furniture and separate living and dining areas,” the HGTV blog post read.
A February 2018 countryliving.com story states Belinda Brown tried to rent out her Rosemary Beach, Florida, Dream Home, but she sold it after two years.
Contributing: Samantha Neely, USA TODAY Network-Florida
Sangalang is a lead digital producer for USA TODAY Network-Florida. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram at @byjensangalang. Support local journalism. Consider subscribing to a Florida newspaper.
