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Imaginative way to beat the housing slump
Added: (Tue Sep 30 2008)
FACED with the slump in the housing market, a Surrey couple, have embarked upon an unusual way of selling their home.
Mr & Mrs Elson have launched an online competition to win their home, a light & airy, modern three-bedroom, 2 bathroom detached bungalow with large garden & separate home office in Frimley, Surrey.
“The property itself is lovely, it’s very modern, has been updated & extended, but the market is so bad at the moment we didn’t want the endless heartache of broken chains or no buyer at all in this market, we want to release the capital so we can move onto other projects. We had thought of doing this before but we recently saw a couple on the BBC who were offering their home as a competition prize & we just thought, oh lets give it a go!” They went on to say that “There are a few others going on in the UK at the moment & I know it’s much more common abroad in places like the US.”
So the lucky winner will walk away with a property worth over £300 000 & be mortgage free! “We have rented the property out prior to this & have achieved £1100 per calendar month for it, so that’s always another option for the winner – to have a good second income from the £20 ticket cost. Excellent investment if you ask us!”
The competition costs £20 to enter and because of gambling laws, entrants must answer a general knowledge question.
Some people might find it difficult to trust this sort of competition, there is always the fear that the draw could be influenced in some way, this couple however seem to have got over that problem very effectively.
“The way we are deciding the winner is very clever, we are linking it to the nation lottery, so everyone who buys a ticket will be given 3 lucky numbers. If these numbers match the first three drawn from a national lottery draw after our competition has closed, exact lottery to watch will be announced when all entrants are in, then they are the winner. This way it is 100% public & can’t be tampered with!”
Mr & Mrs Elson need to reach 18424 tickets for the house to be won, but if fewer people entered, the winner would receive 70 % of the profits.
Extra cash raised over the value of the house will pay legal fees, stamp duty, VAT and marketing costs.
“Whatever happens, the lucky winner should either get a nice pot of cash or a great property,” they said.
The competition opened last Thursday evening, the 25th September, and the final draw is expected to take place on the 11th April 09.