An Arizona man, his wife and their 7-month-old daughter have become winners of Redfin’s Great American Home Search, which means the family now own a $1 million home in Denver, Colorado.
To win the contest, which Redfin kicked off on Super Bowl Sunday, Feb. 8, Kiel Murphy of El Mirage, Arizona, solved clues within the Redfin app to find a $1 million home more quickly than anyone else in the country. Murphy completed the final step of the game and selected the correct Denver property within 19 seconds.
Redfin announced the family as the winners on Instagram and in a blog post on Thursday.
“Kiel and his family are about to start a new chapter and put down roots in a community that’s perfect for them — and that’s what homeownership is all about,” Redfin Chief of Real Estate Services Jason Aleem said in a statement. “I was blown away watching people across the country dive into the search, get creative to solve clues and share what neighborliness means to them. Thank you to everyone who participated; you showed that the American dream still resonates and is worth chasing.”
Kiel and his wife, Meghan, are hiking and camping enthusiasts, Redfin said, making Denver an ideal place for their next home. The city is one of the country’s sunniest and has nearly 20,000 acres of parkland.
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Redfin reported that more than one-quarter of a million Americans participated in the contest, which took place starting on Super Bowl Sunday immediately after a Rocket and Redfin ad spot, and continued for the next 48 hours. In addition to the physical home, Redfin told Inman the Murphys also received appliances and furnishings valued at roughly $22,000, about $700,000 to assist with income taxes, and about $25,000 to help cover property taxes and homeowners’ insurance fees for one year.
In the Instagram post announcing the winners, Redfin followers were introduced to Kiel and Meghan, who said they had moved around quite a bit — from Texas to Georgia to Arizona — in search of their forever home and forever community.
The theme of the contest, and other recent ad spots by Rocket and Redfin, was to emphasize neighborliness as a modern, and sometimes overlooked, civic value.
The couple is featured in the Instagram post spending time in the new home and walking around the neighborhood with their daughter, meeting people and generally showing enthusiasm for getting to know the neighbors in their new community.
“Redfin is bringing that community to us and I think other people need to be able to experience that,” Meghan said.
