Most HGTV Dream Home winners historically sold their homes, with property taxes and ongoing bills cited as major reasons. But HGTV does not publish a verified, winner-by-winner record of what happened to every home. The clearest documented individual case is 2005 winner Don Cruz, who decided to sell after a rental plan was rejected and the home’s assessed value—and resulting tax burden—surprised him. For many other winners, the public record identifies who won but does not establish whether they kept or sold the house.
What is known about what happened to the winners?
HGTV’s annual Dream Home sweepstakes has operated since 1997. Its archive includes homes from Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1998 through Bluffton, South Carolina, in 2025, as well as the Lake Wylie/Charlotte-area home for 2026. The official archive and winner listings document the homes and winners, but they are not a complete history of what each winner later did with the property.
A historical summary citing contemporaneous reporting says most winners had sold their prizes, largely because of property taxes and bills. It also reports that, as of 2006, only two winners had lived in their Dream Homes. That is a dated count, not a current tally, and it cannot establish who lives in a Dream Home now.
HGTV’s Help Center, updated April 22, 2020, says that previous winners who sold did so for varied personal reasons and used the opportunity from winning to pursue their own projects. The available public sources do not establish a reliable total or percentage of winners who sold across the sweepstakes’ full 1997–2025 run.
What’s actually slowing this PC down?
Pick the symptom - the matching free tool is one click away.
#1 Best Overall
What happened to the winners whose outcomes are documented?
Don Cruz, 2005: planned to rent, then decided to sell
Cruz won the Tyler, Texas, Dream Home and initially planned to keep it while renting out the dockhouse and master-bedroom suite by the night. Tyler city government rejected that rental plan. Cruz then decided to sell after receiving tax forms that showed the home had a higher value than he expected. This is a documented explanation for his decision; the available account does not establish a completed sale date.
Tricia Smith, 2025: won the prize, later disposition not reported
Warner Bros. Discovery/Home Giveaways announced on May 21, 2025, that Tricia Smith, a special-education teacher from the Bronx, had won the Bluffton, South Carolina, prize package. The package was valued at more than $2.2 million and included a newly built, furnished home, a 2025 Mercedes-Benz GLC, $100,000 from Viva, and a five-year supply of Viva paper towels. She was selected from more than 118 million entries. The announcement does not say whether she kept or sold the home, or otherwise disposed of it.
Rank #2
- Binding : Hardcover
- Pages : 240
- Publisher : Hardie Grant Books
What is known about the other recent winners?
HGTV’s winners page names these recent winners, but the page does not provide a complete later-outcome account for them. “Not stated” means the cited public winner listing does not establish whether the person kept or sold the home; it does not mean the person still owns it.
| Year | Winner named by HGTV | Later home outcome stated in the listing |
|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Emily Muniz | Not stated (HGTV winners page) |
| 2019 | Beverly Fulkerson | Not stated (HGTV winners page) |
| 2020 | Susan O’Gorman | Not stated (HGTV winners page) |
| 2021 | Jeff Yanes | Not stated (HGTV winners page) |
| 2022 | Karey Wolstenholm | Not stated (HGTV winners page) |
| 2023 | Marie Davis | Not stated (HGTV winners page) |
| 2024 | Marie Fratta | Not stated (HGTV winners page) |
| 2025 | Tricia Smith | Not stated in HGTV’s winner listing; the May 21, 2025 announcement also does not report a later disposition |
Why do winners sell, and can they take cash instead?
Taxes and ongoing bills are the practical pressures most consistently identified in the historical account. A winner may also have personal reasons for selling, as HGTV’s Help Center notes. Cruz’s case illustrates how a plan to generate rental income can run into local restrictions, while an unexpectedly high assessed value can make the cost of keeping the property feel different from what the winner anticipated.
Rank #3
The sources cited here do not establish a general cash alternative or show which winners chose one. They support the conclusion that many winners sold, not that every winner had the same options or outcome.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Who still lives in an HGTV Dream Home?
The available public record does not establish a current list of winners who still live in their homes. The figure of two winners living in their houses refers only to reporting as of 2006; it should not be treated as a current count. HGTV’s public winner listings name winners but do not provide a verified, complete record of each person’s residence, sale, or sale date.
Quick Recap
Product prices and availability are accurate as of the date/time indicated and are subject to change. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon at the time of purchase will apply.
