David Fiske A subtle blend of affiliate marketing and web development

Kieron first brought this to my attention last week.

Given that the housing market is volatile and us first time buyers have very little chance of seeing the ladder let alone getting on the first step of the ladder, the idea of raffle off a house might seem crazy but seems to work!

A property in Devon (BBC Breakfast Video) seems to have proved the concept can work by raffling off 46,000 tickets at £25 a pop. This netted the owners £1.15 million less costs. The site was registered on 12th May 2008 and by September the tickets were sold out. The reason Brian and Wendy Wilshaw raffled it off was due to the lack of interest in their £1 million home in the current turbulent market.
 
Fast forward to 11th September 2008 when Simon and Vicky Brown decide to do the same (BBC News video, TFM podcast). The economic climate now has to be worse than before with a recession looming and global economic meltdown predicted.

Their new build home is valued at £650,000 and they have set a limit of 28,000 tickets at a total of £25 a ticket (+£2 processing fee). Simon and Vicky have decided to donate some of this money to charity (20%) as well as keeping "up to 20%" for marketing costs. Therefore, at least £15 from each ticket should go into the pot, making a total of £420,000. If no marketing costs are incurred, the total raised would only be £560,000.

But what happens if 28,000 tickets aren't sold?

A clause in the terms protects entrants by converting the prize from a house to a financial prize of 60% of the total ticket costs (remember, 20% to charity plus "up to 20%" marketing costs).

At present, 2,074 tickets have been sold so there's a 1 in 2,074 chance of winning £31,110. You currently have more of a chance at winning a tenner on the lottery but you can't compare winning a tenner to winning £31,110!

Is It Worth It?

I'd say it was. Even if the house doesn't get sold, worst case scenario today is that someone would walk away with at least £31,110! If all tickets were sold and the house was raffled, imagine the feeling of winning a £650,000 house for £25.

So, if you've got £25 lying around and you are feeling lucky, why not enter? The closing date is Christmas Eve so a new house could be a Christmas present for someone :-)



PS) I entered, in case you thought I was just posting this for no real purpose. I'd rather win a house than cash (as one of the worst first time buyers possible - self employed and no accountant - eek!).

PPS) If anyone is thinking of doing this in the future, an affiliate programme may be worthwhile.