This.
I don't think there is a cash alternative for the house that a winner can opt for instead. I do think people when selling are greedy, I think it was the Kent house that was put up for MORE than the Omaze value! Selling just after a draw is likely to be difficult. I'm surprised that more people don't take advantage of the fact that there has been a lot of publicity for the house and let it out as a holiday rental for at least part of the year and do that for a few years (or just use the cash lump sum for maintenance for a few years), then sell up with a track record of holiday lettings and having the story for buyers that although they've enjoyed the property, their circumstances now mean they're selling.
I think unless the property you're letting is in a town that's well set up for holiday lets, like Whitby or places in Cornwall, then holiday letting is really quite hard these days. In Whitby you've got about four full service holiday let agencies who are vying for your business and will do everything for you, from advertising the place on yorkshirecottages to the weekly cleans/changes, any maintenance that comes up, deal with keeping deposits from customers that break things, maybe even help wth tax and accounting issues. Outside of towns that have made holiday lets a massive industry and have those agencies, you've got to arrange all that yourself, on top of keeping good accounts etc. Don't underestimate just the weekly cleaning part, they need holidays and sick cover too.
Again these are random people that win these properties, if you're not the kind of person that is good at finding decent cleaners, maintenence people, bookkeepers etc then running a successful holiday let isn't easy.
You also need a load of money to furnish the place, I am not sure if it is true but I read that the furniture you see on the Omaze pictures is just rented, so when you get the property it is either empty or they give you an (expensive) option to carry on renting the furniture that's been put in. You cannot just head down to Ikea or the British Heart Foundation second hand furniture shop to kit out these luxury properties.
The best bet if you win is just to get shot of it as soon as possible and before the maintenance/security/council tax bills start racking up, and enjoy whatever you can get for it, even if that is 1/2 or 1/3 of what Omaze claimed the property was worth you're still a winner.
Of course, this is a problem I'd quite like to have
