HGTV Home Winner Turns Down Huge Prize Package After History-Making Win: What Happened?

When HGTV announced in early April 2025 that Anna Bublitz of Overland Park, Kansas, had won its stunning Urban Oasis home in Kansas City, social media videos showed her overjoyed about her big win, which marked the first time in history that an HGTV giveaway champ won a home in the same town where they lived.

But on May 29, 2025, the Kansas City Star reported that Bublitz wound up turning down the HGTV prize package, featuring the “Scandi-modern farmhouse” designed by HGTV personality Carmeon Hamilton, and the renovated home just sold to a buyer for $625,000.

HGTV Oasis Home Winner Entered Sweepstakes Twice a Day, Hoping to Win

Although she’d never tried to win one of HGTV’s home giveaways before, according to a press release, Bublitz said she and her husband entered the sweepstakes twice a day, every day, hoping to win the fully-furnished, three-bedroom home located just 20 minutes from their house.

“I never imagined I would actually win,” Bublitz said in a statement. “I thought, ‘Why not enter?’ But when my best friend Aubree picked me up for brunch and drove me to the house, I was completely shocked. I literally stopped in my tracks and blacked out—it felt like a dream!”

The prize package, valued at over $700,000, included the house, furnishings, fixtures, art, and a $50,000 cash bonus, per the Kansas City Star. In mid-April, Bublitz wrote in an Instagram story that she and her husband were “blown away by @hgtv’s generosity, @carmeonhamilton’s incredible design skills, and the kindness of each person we have met through this process!”

However, the couple never moved into the home, likely due to the tax implications of winning the high-priced package, per the Kansas City Star. Relying on SmartAsset’s income tax calculator, the outlet said a single person winning that prize package would have to “pay approximately $263,000 in income taxes on the house alone.” That sum didn’t include taxes on the cash bonus or a person’s employment income.

Rather than moving into the home, Bublitz decided to take the cash option outlined in the fine print, instead, which said the winner could opt to receive a lump sum of $250,000 plus the $50,000 cash bonus, the outlet reported.

Although about a third of the $300,000 cash option would be due in taxes, the Kansas City Star reported, it could be deducted from the prize money upfront, bringing Bublitz’s winnings to about $200,000.

HGTV Oasis Home Real Estate Agent Says Half of Network’s Sweepstakes Winners Never Move In

The house that HGTV bought and fully renovated for its 2024 Oasis Home giveaway, meanwhile, went back on the market in late April.

Real estate agent Sarah Legg, who appeared on a special show about the house that aired on HGTV in October, told the Kansas City Star that after seven offers came in from potential buyers, the house sold for $625,000 on May 27.

She also told the outlet that whether HGTV home winners move into the houses they win or take the cash option instead is about “50/50.”

In an Instagram post about the experience, Legg wrote, “It was a fun and interesting year and a half working with the network and production on this home, and I feel fortunate they found me (right here, on Instagram!) and to have this opportunity!”