It's time again for HGTV's Dream Home Sweepstakes, but...

Go ahead and dream about HGTV home contest - -- - just don't count on moving in

Go ahead and dream. That's what Home and Garden Television's annual Dream Home contest is all about.

Just don't get attached to the idea that you'll ever actually live in the 2006 grand prize, a 5,700-square-foot traditional-style mountain home perched atop a ridge in the Blue Ridge foothills near Lake Lure.

Even if you're lucky enough to have the winning entry out of the more than 40 million expected to pour in between Sunday's start of the contest and the Feb. 17 deadline, actually taking up residence may well prove unthinkable.

The contest's 2005 winner, Don Cruz, moved from suburban Chicago to Tyler, Texas, to take possession of his dream home, a lakefront property valued at $1.5 million, plus furnishings. But taxes on his winnings are expected to total more than $650,000, and local officials slammed the door on Cruz's plan to pay his bills by renting the boathouse and a master bedroom.

In a recent telephone interview, Cruz said he's still living in Tyler and has no plans to leave, even as April 15 looms.

``We plan to stay,'' he said. ``God will provide. We'll say a prayer, turn it over to him and he provides. It'll all work out.''

The daunting fiscal math of the Dream Home -- even if you survive the initial tax crunch, there's the annual expense of local property taxes, plus maintenance and upkeep -- has kept all but two of the nine winners from ever living in their homes.

This year, the prize package includes $250,000 from Charlotte-based Lending Tree to help the winner with the tax bill. But HGTV spokeswoman Emily Yarborough emphasizes that the network still doesn't expect winners to actually live in the Dream Home.

Huh?

``He (Cruz) is not losing money,'' she said during an interview on the patio of the Lake Lure home. ``It's just his idea of the dream is wrapped up in that house. Whereas our vision of the dream is that it enables you to do what you want to do.''

Umm...ok...I guess...

What the heck, enter, win it, trash it on Final Four weekend with all your buddies, then sell it.