Charity raffle features sweet Sunset digs
By: Tamara Barak Aparton
Examiner Staff Writer
March 5, 2009
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| Winner take all: From left, City Assessor Phil Ting, Yerba Buena Center Executive Director Kenneth Foster and City Treasurer Jose Cisneros stand in the living room of the Inner Sunset district home that will be raffled off. (Cindy Chew/The Examiner) |
SAN FRANCISCO — With $150 and plenty of luck, someone could become the proud owner of a $2.4 million, 4,000-square-foot Edwardian home steps from Golden Gate Park.
The Inner Sunset district home will be raffled off, with proceeds going to the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. If the winner doesn’t want the home, they can accept an alternate cash prize of $1.8 million. Raffle participants are also eligible for thousands of dollars in cash and other prizes, according to a press release for the contest.
The address of the home is not being publicized “out of respect to the surrounding community,” according to the contest organizers.
The homeowner, who also wants to remain anonymous, is allowing the house to be raffled with proceeds going to the arts nonprofit “out of a sense of civic pride,” said Charles Ward, director of development for the Yerba Buena Center.
“San Francisco has a long history of philanthropy and I think it’s in that tradition. It means a lot to us,” Ward said.
The home, built in 2008, was recently on the market for $1.79 million, according to listings.
A total of 37,000 raffle tickets will be sold, with the contest ending July 10, according to Ward. With the tough economy, the money from the raffle will help the organization in its mission to present artists and public programs.
“We feel like everyone else, though I suppose we’re in much better shape than smaller nonprofits,” Ward said. “We haven’t escaped what’s affecting everybody.”
Nearly 400 of the $150 tickets have been sold since the raffle began Monday, he said. Most buyers are from the Bay Area, but tickets have been sold to people in Texas, Massachusetts, Indiana and Ohio.
“It’s pretty apparent that San Francisco is one of the more desirable places to live, let alone own a home,” Ward said.
In addition to the four-bedroom, 4½-bath home, the property also includes a two-bedroom, two-bathroom guest house with a separate entrance across a private courtyard.
“Dream House” raffles have been held in numerous cities, including recent benefits in Watsonville, San Rafael, San Diego and Mesa, Ariz.
The San Francisco house is the most expensive property ever raffled in the state, according to a contest press release.
