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A female entrepreneur is offering a two bedroom home worth £125,000 (~$164,000) as a raffle prize, with tickets priced at £3 (~$4) each – the cost of a supermarket lunch deal – after failing to sell the property during the pandemic.
When lockdown halted property developer and interior designer Jenny Lomax's house sale, she decided to give one lucky winner the chance to get their hands on the keys to the newly-refurbished terrace home in the pretty town of Congleton in Cheshire, England.
Aiming to sell 80,000 tickets – each costing the same as a drink, sandwich and snack lunch deal in many food stores – she hopes to give someone who could not otherwise get a foot on the property ladder the chance to own their own home.
Jenny, 27, who lives in Buxton, Derbyshire, with her biologist husband Freddie, 29, and their two sons Leon, six, and Tommy, 11 months, said:
“Not everyone is able to climb on to the property ladder."
“The house is worth £125,000, so I want to give someone the chance to win it and do with it whatever they want. They could live in it, resell it or rent it out – it's really up to the winner."
“But it's an absolute steal, as one raffle ticket costs the same as a supermarket meal deal!"
She added:
“It's become increasingly hard for young people to get a foot on the property ladder – especially now, with the pandemic, furloughed jobs and redundancies – and I want to give someone the chance to own their own home for a very small price."
With 80,000 ticket sales set as her reserve in order to cover the cost of the property and of running the raffle, if that minimum is not met by the time the draw closes on September 15 at 11pm, the property will be withdrawn, and the winning ticket will instead net 75 percent of all ticket sales.
Jenny said:
“If we don't sell enough tickets in time, then the winning prize will be 75 percent of the money raised. The remaining 25 percent will be used to cover the cost of running the raffle."
She added:
“So really, it's a win-win for the winner! They end up either with a new home or a substantial amount of money."
Property has an emotional significance for Jenny, as she launched her career thanks to a substantial inheritance, after losing her dad, Jerry, 45, an engineer, to the rare heart disease arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) in 2007, and her mother Ruth, a nursery school worker, 47, to cancer in 2012.
“The cancer had spread everywhere," Jenny said. “She had a tumor in her brain, breast cancer and liver cancer."
Jenny, who invested £130,000 in launching her business in early 2018, said:
“I've always loved houses and interior design – so it felt like the perfect career move for me."
“Plus my dad was always away with work. He was absolutely fantastic, and I loved him dearly, but I didn't get to see him a lot."
“So, when I started my business, I wanted to make sure I did something that I was passionate about, was profitable, but also allowed me to spend a lot of time with my family."
Jenny decided a career in home renovation was for her, as she was also passionate about helping people to climb onto the property ladder.
She continued:
“I felt like there were no reasonably-priced properties on the market for young people who wanted to buy their first home."
“I wanted to develop homes that were nice inside and in a good area and then sell them on for a reasonable price."
Buying her first property – a semi-detached three bedroom house – in 2018 in Congleton for £86,000, Jenny spent seven months and £40,000 renovating it, before selling it to first-time buyers for £170,000.
“The first house I bought was really run down," she said.
“I first thought I could do it up in six weeks and sell it on, but it ended up taking seven months – it was a lot of hard work and I've since learnt that nothing ever goes to plan or comes in under budget."
She continued:
“When you watch 'Homes Under The Hammer' and they say, 'This looks a lot easier than it actually is' – they're completely right."
“But in the end, when I sold it to a couple who absolutely loved it, it was all worth it."
Then, in December 2019, Jenny bought her second property – the one she is now raffling off – for £79,000.
It took seven months and £25,000 to refurbish the Victorian house – which has two bedrooms, two reception rooms, a family bathroom and an outdoor terrace – until she was finally happy with the finished product.
She said:
“The house's interior is a mixture of modern and traditional. It has a completely new central heating system and newly-fitted French doors, which lead onto the terrace."
“The kitchen has a brand new fully-fitted Howdens kitchen, with a new oven, electric hob and cooker hood."
She continued:
“I've had parquet chevron-style flooring put down and I've upcycled the original Victorian fireplaces with grey paint."
“In the bathroom, the bath has had a bespoke panel made in wood and the sink was brought in specifically to fit in with the Victorian era of the property."
“New carpets and underlay have been fitted from the stairs up to the two bedrooms and hallway – everything is brand new!"
According to Jenny, the house is situated on a quiet residential street within a great school catchment area, it has good transport connections and would make the perfect “starter home" for a couple or a young family.
She said:
“Congleton is very much an up and coming market town. It has lovely antique furniture shops, cafes, bars and restaurants."
“The home itself would suit a couple or a young family, looking for their very first home."
She added:
“The living room and kitchen are both large, so it's got a good amount of space for entertaining too."
First putting the house up for sale in July 2020, Jenny quickly realized that trying to sell it the traditional way during the pandemic was going to prove problematic.
So, instead, she decided to launch a raffle.
“It's something I'd been thinking about for a long time," she said. “Even though the house had loads of interest when it first went on the market, with lockdown, I was struggling to sell it, so I thought, 'Why not just raffle it off?'"
But organizing a raffle is expensive, meaning Jenny needed to set a minimum ticket sale of 80,000 to cover all her costs.
“There are lots of costs involved," she said. “You have to have proper raffle terms and conditions drafted and approved, then the platform running the raffle takes 10 percent."
She added:
“Then you have to cover the cost of the house, which was £125,000 and as well as tax. It really does start to add up."
If the tickets sell as planned, Jenny plans to donate some profits to a good cause.
“My father passed away from a very rare heart disease," she said. “It might not mean I get it, but there is a higher risk that I might, as we were closely related."
She continued:
“So, every three years I get tested at Sheffield's Royal Hallamshire Hospital – and I'd like to donate to them and the Chesterman wing because they have a specialized team focusing on important research and I'd love to be able to give them whatever I can."
“I do worry about my little boys developing the condition too – because it is more prolific in men – so whatever I can do to help with research I will do."
While she's waiting to see if her raffle is successful, Jenny – who also runs an online interior design business – hopes she can host similar competitions in the years to come.
“I'd love to raffle off more houses in the future," she said.
“The fact this platform can give someone the opportunity to get a house for so little money is amazing."
“There's so much pressure these days on people to choose the right career and save enough to get a house, but it just isn't that easy for everyone."
“To be able to help make life just that little bit easier for someone with every raffle would just be brilliant."
To enter visit: https://raffall.com/43699/enter-raffle-to-win-cheshire-home-for-3-hosted-by-jennifer-lomax.