Woman holds essay writing competition for her £1m home in Canada

The owner is leaving her home due to ‘poor health’

Olivia Petter
Wednesday 23 January 2019 10:21 GMT
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Woman holds essay writing competition for her £1 million home in Canada

A woman is holding an essay writing contest for her lakefront C$1.7m (£1m) home in the Canadian countryside.

Alla Wagner decided not to put her lakefront mansion on the market because of the "slow" economic climate in Alberta, which is where the property is located.

She was inspired to launch the “write a letter, win a house” competition after hearing about similar stories.

Writing on the contest page on Facebook, Wagner describes the home as a “writer’s or artist’s paradise” and explains how she has “great memories” of her family’s time there.

“I love watching flocks of geese and ducks traveling to and from the pond,” she adds, “seeing the open skies, starry nights, wildlife, and views of the snow-packed mountains.

“No matter which window in the house I look out of, the view is beautiful.”

Wagner explained she is choosing to leave the home due to her “poor health”, which she says has worsened in the last six months.

“Being confined to only one (upper) floor is becoming unbearable and it is taking a toll on my work and life in too many ways,” she writes.

The entry fee for the contest is C$25 (£14), which requires entrants to respond to the question “Why would moving to this lakefront dream home change your life?” in no more than 350 words.

The competition will be open for at least three months, but this might be extended to six months if the entry fees don’t surmount to the home’s listing price of C$1.7m.

Wagner explained she was inspired by a similar contest in 2015 held by the owner of an Inn in Maine.

“It was such an exciting idea that for a long time the story and the event was the subject of my admiration."

“Understandably there is opposition to this new trend in the real estate market,” she continues.

However, much like ‘sale by owner’, this contest has it’s challenges yet it is, in my opinion, a most incredible way to find a truly exceptional reason to bestow your treasured home (not just for $$$ but for sentimental reasons) upon someone that can skillfully and creatively convey to me and a panel of judges how this spectacular home would change or improve his/her and their family’s’ life.”

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