Feeling lucky? Raffles becoming increasingly popular way to sell property

Feeling lucky? Raffles becoming increasingly popular way to sell property

The idea of winning an entire house for the cost of a £5 raffle ticket might seem too good to be true, but it is an option that growing numbers of people are offering as a novel way to sell their homes.

This week, yet another property raffle has made headlines – this time, a £625,000 one-bedroom flat in Brixton, south London, which can be won for just £5 by one lucky ticket-holder. The flat, which is in a highly desirable location, could reportedly fetch around £1,900 a month in rent, is newly refurbished and is being offered by Raffle House, with a minimum of 150,000 tickets needing to be sold for the process to go ahead.

As well as the top prize of the property, three runners-up will each receive a £1,000, and if not enough tickets are sold to cover all the costs, a cash prize will instead be handed out to the winner.

Raffle House founder Benno Spencer commented: “It’s become basically impossible for young people to afford their own place in London, so the Raffle House platform will be a fun and affordable way for people to do just that.

“The market is broken and this start-up intends to level the playing field. This isn’t a one-off punt because I need to sell a flat. This is the beginning of a new property platform, with new houses coming on every few weeks.”

Proper research is vital

Other platforms with property raffle offerings include rafflemyhouse.com, londonhouseraffle.co.uk and Win-houses, among others – proof of how much the market has grown in recent months. Win-houses is one of the newer platforms, which offers vendors the chance to sell their homes without having to pay commission. They are offering the chance to win a villa in Turkey for a £10 ticket, with the odds of winning claimed to be one in 80,000.
[crb_image link=”https://www.buyassociationgroup.com/en-gb/advice/property-investment-starter-course/” image=”https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/1717782/Asset_Store/WebCTA/cta.jpg” align=”left”]
Commenting on the fact that among the successes have been a number of failed house raffle competitions in recent months, Win-houses founder Mark Lockhart said: “Win-houses has spent 12 months researching and analysing our offering before going live.

“The failure of many of these property competitions is down to unreliable payment gateways, no experience of the property market, poor marketing and being too ambitious in the number of tickets sales in an unproven market.”

Examples of property raffles that have failed include a £43,000 property in Durham that did not reach 10,000 ticket sales and was forced to hand out a £7,000 cash prize instead; and a £3.5m Berkshire house offered through a £25 spot-the-ball competition that did not sell enough tickets.

Although it is hugely tempting, particularly in today’s difficult property market, for homeowner hopefuls to enter such raffles for the chance of winning a home, there are pitfalls and it is vital to thoroughly research each raffle to ensure its legitimacy. For more information, read this article.

Self-certified Sophisticated Investor

Please read

I declare that I am a self-certified sophisticated investor for the purposes of the restriction on promotion of non-mainstream pooled investments. I understand that this means:

I am a self-certified sophisticated investor because at least one of the following applies:

I accept that the investments to which the promotions will relate may expose me to a significant risk of losing all of the money or other property invested. I am aware that it is open to me seek advice from someone who specialises in advising on non-mainstream pooled investments.

High Net Worth Investor

Please read

I make this statement so that I can receive promotional communications which are exempt from the restriction on promotion of non-mainstream pooled investments. The exemption relates to certified high net worth investors and I declare that I qualify as such because at least one of the following applies to me:

STAY AHEAD OF THE MARKET

Sign up for first access to new developments and exclusive property investment opportunities.

We send limited and targeted emails on new launches and exclusive deals which best fit your areas. We are trusted by over 30,000 active buyers as their source for new stock.

  • New property developments
  • Professional market reports
  • Property deal alerts
  • Development updates
Manchester property investment

FIRST FOR NEWS AND KNOWLEDGE.

Receive trending news straight to your inbox and stay up to date on all of the property market trends and advice.

Established since 2005 we are a leading voice of authority and commentary on the UK property market. Our news is trusted by Apple News & Google News.

  • UK housing market
  • Mortgage & money
  • Buy-to-let landlords
  • Guides & advice

Talk to us

Speak to our UK property experts today:

 

+44 (0) 333 123 0320

Open from 9am-6pm GMT

 

+852 6699 9008

Open from 9am-6pm HKT