The Seattle resident who last month won a fully furnished Portland home through HGTV’s 2020 Urban Oasis sweepstakes has put the house up for sale.
According to realtor.com, the three-bedroom, 2-1/2-bathroom home at 71 Essex St. in Nason’s Corner was listed on Feb. 25 for $599,000.
The asking price is more than double the $275,000 the home was purchased for in December 2019, according to Zillow.com. Its most recent assessed value was $267,200 in 2020, up 42 percent from the year before.
The sweepstakes received 74 million entries from Oct. 5-Nov. 25, 2020, according to HGTV. Elise Kaiser, a 31-year-old physician’s assistant, was announced as the winner on Feb. 11 and said via email on Feb. 15 that she was weighing whether to keep the house.
According to a July 2020 report from digital finance magazine The Verge, every Urban Oasis winner so far has either sold the home they won or accepted a cash option over possession of the house. The same report said every winner of HGTV’s Dream Home sweepstakes, a separate contest, has done the same.
Many winners, the report said, struggled to pay their new home’s property taxes and utility bills after winning.
The Portland home was designed by celebrity designer Brian Patrick Flynn. Construction was by Freeport-based Big Country Built, and Portland firm Briburn provided architectural services.
Zillow indicates the sale is being facilitated by Cindy Olsen of Locations Real Estate Group, which has offices in Portland and Falmouth. A virtual tour of the property is available on the website.
A representative of HGTV did not immediately respond to a request for comment.