The house won. Why our $3 million Prize Home winner chose Coolum over gold

The missed calls that changed everything

Sarah knew the Prize Home 466 draw was happening. So when she looked at her phone and saw several missed calls, her mind immediately began racing.

“There were actually a few missed calls on my phone, and I knew the draw was happening. I knew I’d won a prize, and it was kind of like, ‘Oh my God, did I win?’”

When Sarah finally answered, the news was even bigger than she had allowed herself to imagine.

She had won first prize.

Her immediate reaction?

“My husband is not going to believe me!”

She was right. He tried to listen to Sarah while checking the Endeavour Lotteries website at the same time, searching for proof that the extraordinary news was real.

It took a little while for the disbelief to settle. But when Sarah and her husband gathered their family together over dinner and shared the news, the magnitude of what had happened began to sink in.

“We told all the kids at dinner, and they were pretty blown away.”

One missed call had turned into one unforgettable family conversation.

And then came the decision....

$3 million in gold or a Coolum Beach house?

It is not the kind of choice most people ever expect to make.

The gold offered almost endless possibilities. Sarah and her family could decide what to do with it, when to do it and how their future might look.

The Coolum Beach house offered something different.

It was real. It was ready. And when the family walked through it together, they could immediately imagine themselves there.

“Once our kids saw the house, the gold was off the table pretty quickly.”

That became the heart of the decision.

It was not just about comparing values or weighing up practicalities. It was about watching the people Sarah loved picture themselves around the table, beside the pool and together under one roof.

The home also felt connected to a dream the family had carried for years.

“We’d always said that one day we’d love a little shack in Coolum, just to have somewhere there.”

They had even looked at properties in the area before. Coolum Beach already held a special place in their family story.

Now, instead of a little beach shack, they had won an extraordinary coastal home of their own.

How sweet is that?

A home that already felt like theirs

Walking through the front door, Sarah did not feel like she was stepping into someone else’s idea of a dream home.

It felt like hers.

“The house is actually perfect for us and our family. We could never have furnished it to the standard Endeavour did. Heather chose all the colours I love without even knowing me. I don’t want to change a thing.”

The beautiful styling certainly helped. But it was not one particular room, piece of furniture or feature that made the decision.

It was how effortlessly the home seemed to fit their family.

The light-filled living areas open onto the outdoor entertaining space. The heated pool sits at the heart of the backyard. The beach is close enough for coastal walks, swims and spontaneous family days by the water.

The home was not asking them to renovate it, redesign it or imagine what it might become.

It was ready for them to arrive, put down their bags and begin making memories.

Sometimes a house is more than bricks, furniture and a beautiful address.

Sometimes it simply feels like home.

A place for the whole family

For Sarah, choosing the house was also about looking beyond the first exciting weeks of being a winner.

She began imagining all the chapters the home could hold.

Family meals that stretch well into the evening. Long afternoons around the pool. Visits, celebrations, quiet weekends and holidays together.

And as the family changes and grows, the home can grow with them.

“As our children grow older and have partners and kids, it can be an intergenerational home they can all share. I think it’s something that will create some really nice memories.”

That is what transformed the Coolum Beach house from an incredible prize into the right choice.

The gold offered Sarah endless options.

The home offered somewhere those options could become real memories.

A ticket that tells a bigger story

Like many Endeavour Lotteries supporters, Sarah bought her tickets with hope, but no real expectation that the life-changing phone call would ever come.

Winning would be wonderful, of course. But she also knew her tickets were helping support the work of Endeavour Foundation.

Every ticket helps create opportunities for Aussies with intellectual disability to live, learn, work and thrive.

“You always think, ‘Wouldn’t it be nice to win that house?’ We never thought it would happen to us, but we’ve been that lucky couple.”

Every Endeavour Lotteries Prize Home has a guaranteed winner.

This time, it was Sarah.

Her message to other supporters

When we asked Sarah what she would say to someone who buys a ticket while quietly thinking, “People like me never win,” her answer was simple.

“You never think it’s going to happen to you. We certainly never thought it would happen to us.”

One day, Sarah was imagining how nice it might be to win a Prize Home.

Then came the missed calls, the family dinner and the almost impossible choice between $3 million in gold and a home by the beach.

When that choice finally had to be made, the house won.

And with it came a beautiful new place for Sarah’s family story to continue.

How sweet it is.

Could the next life-changing call be yours?

Endeavour Lotteries opens six incredible Prize Home draws every year, and every home has a guaranteed winner.

Explore our latest Prize Home or become an Endeavour Lotteries Member to never miss a draw, access exclusive Member-only bonus draws and regularly support Aussies with intellectual disability.