end of contest

July 20, 2008

Well it has been over a week since I closed the contest. The email has been an eclectic response. Over 90% have been understanding, sometimes begrudgingly. Most entrants understood from the very beginning of the contest that the measure of success was to reach 3000 entries; the unsuccessful closing was not the end of the world. This was a contest. A contest has rules and conditions as had this one.

I had complaints that I continued to extend the end of the contest past a stated end date, regardless that there were insufficient entries meaning closure, and those who wanted the contest to go on to eternity. There is a rule referred to as the law of diminishing returns.

The other view was that I should ask the entrants to pony up some additional $$ to make the contest reach the financial goals.

The latter position is not a legally acceptable one. This is essentially a “bait and switch”, wherein when one condition is not met another, more expensive one is offered as the only alternative.

I have had, for the most part a reluctant understanding of the closure from entrants, in that this was the original condition for the contest. If it doesn’t work, you get your $$ refunded. You don’t win anything, nor do you lose anything either.

I conceived this contest over 11 months ago as an alternative when we had been unsuccessful in selling our home for over a year. Several newspapers and TV news stations documented this position. This was never a charity event.   

I have not called for the entrants to start sending me your SASE for refunds so please hold up for the official start. When you send your SASE your entry# should be enclosed.

I have had more than several entrants that have requested that their refunds be sent to some local charitable organization. When I was first setting the contest up the 2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes were to be donations to any local charity of the winner’s choice. The charities declined to “lend their name” to the contest. I will contact them again in that this is a different context.

Our two favorites are “My Sister’s Place” in Newport, a shelter for battered women and “South Lincoln Resources” of Waldport, a provide of support to those in need of food, clothing and furnishings. Nothing will be disbursed to any one other than an entrant until after all claims for refunds are satisfied, then after an announcement on the web site and a suitable elapsed time the remaining funds will be sent to the two above charities. A statement regarding this transaction will be aired on the web site. After that point the web site will be closed, the PO Box and the corporation shut down. All bank accounts will be closed and the books closed. I will post the closing bottom line for the corporation on the web site for those few who believe that this was a profitable venture.  

I have opened a checking account for refunds to facilitate the return of entry fees.

I have refunded several folks their fees today under special conditions. I will start with the people that entered earliest and then to the latter ones, sequentially.

I want to thank all of you who were so supportive of the contest. I have always sought your constructive criticism.

Ray

July 8, 2008
Yachats, Oregon

Today, I Ray Sinclair, the organizer of the win-this-home.com essay contest have closed the contest.

 The abrupt lack of entries and severely diminished web site activity since the end of June have triggered this decision. The contest had already been extended since the end of May without the significant results required to end successfully.

I regret the unsatisfactory end of this contest that had received entries from 48 states and 9 countries. The biggest disappointment will be for all those entrants that had their dreams and hopes to win the house across the street from the ocean in the village of Yachats, Oregon. I send my thanks for the support from all those who entered the contest and the hundreds of terrific people we met that visited with me and my wife, Sharon at all the open house events we held every weekend since January.

I will be working on an orderly process for returning all entry fees but it will take 90-120 days to get it completed. The delay is because of all the processes I developed and had in place for the contest one for the returning of fees did not get consideration. I have always stressed winning and did not address this ending.

For all those people that asked me to set a contest up for them. I have always said that America loves a winner, but.. Now everyone can see why this type of effort is so seldom done. I will have some postmortem thoughts regarding the contest on the web site at a later date.

The return process will be announced on the web site by the end of July and will require that entrants send a SASE for their refund. Please, not send your envelopes until I am able to get this organized. I will announce the start of the refund on the web site. This will require me to generate all the checks and that will be very time consuming even some assistance. I ask that all emails and calls be held to a minimum so we can try to get some semblance of order back in our lives. The mailing address will remain active for now but please remember the contest is closed.

We are putting the Yachats house back on the market as FSBO (for sale by owner), but we are considering either a lease (with option to buy), a lease or rental. If you want a great family home on the beautiful Oregon Coast we will consider all reasonable offers for the Yachats house.

Sharon and I want to thank all the media, Newspaper, Television, Radio and Internet News for their support and coverage. Most of all, to the many wonderful people from all parts of the country that entered the contest and sent their encouragement. Many thanks to the people of Yachats who were so very supportive in this venture.

There have been so many hundreds of thousands of people that now have heard of Yachats, Oregon!

It was an incredible experience, and thank you all.