Grand designs "eco house" won't sell, so they're having a lottery.

HelpWhereIcan

Actually just done some research (land reg) and it has not changed hands so presume that people were happy because the winner received their payout

moanymoany

I saw the people selling the Devon house on the Beeb. They said the house was worth £1million. The reason it hadn't sold was obvious. The house had been decorated and furnished in the 70's and it was still the same.

It was so old fashioned and should really have been sold at the relevant price as in need of refurbishment, instead they wanted top whack. I think they would have been lucky to get three quarters of that amount at the peak - to expect it now was completely out of touch.

The whole thing did seem to be a scam. If they sold £100k's worth of tickets they could pocket £35k and would still have the house.

tomstickland

If you enter the answer to the question (Denman) you can access the Terms and Conditions.
http://www.winthecheltenhamhouse.com/terms.aspx

VALUATION: £895,000 plus stamp duty, and solicitors’ conveyancing fees (inclusive of the winner’s solicitors’ fees up to a maximum of £600 + VAT ) (“the Valuation”)

46,0000 tickets at £25 each is £1.15 million
10% goes to charidee, ie: £115,000
Valuation is £895,000

That leaves 140,000
Stamp duty at 4% of £895,000 is £35,800
That leaves £104,200.


Paypal fees are around 1.4% and 20p, making an effective rate of 1.408%.
On £1.15 million that's £16K

That leaves £88K to pay for the marketing and other things.

Bf109

Isnt that the one they built in their own back garden?

Its a glorified farking garden shed. I wouldnt pay £25 for it, let alone £1,000,000!

Bf109

powerRIP wrote: »

Are you referring to the Oldborough Retreat (???) because that most certainly is not a "scam" and I have not seen a figure such as "35%" quoted. Besides which they have already reached 40000 out of 46000 ticket sales.

So, how many tickets have you bought?

tomstickland

The Entrants recognise that the Competition is a Prize Competition for the purposes of, inter alia, Section 14 (5) of the Gambling Act 2005 and that to win the Competition via answering the Question depends to a substantial degree on the exercise of the skill, judgment and knowledge of the Entrants and that the Prize is not allocated wholly by chance;

Er, yes.

Also:

The Promoters will be entitled to retain up to 35% of the Entry Fees to cover administration and marketing expenditure. The remaining balance following deduction of this sum is “the Prize Fund”. The Prize Fund will then be distributed to the winning Entrant;

RabbitMad

must remember to buy a ticket for that devon property tonight £25 for a 1 in 46,000 chance of winning something worth £600K* seems reasonable. Think I'll give the cheltenham one a miss.

*I know they value it at close to a million but if it really was worth that they'd just sell it as normal

skap7309

!!!!!!? wrote: »

The first one to hit the headlines a few weeks back sounded like a complete scam. If you read the small print, in the event of all tickets not being sold the owners kept the house plus something like 35% of the cash raised (for 'expenses') and paid the winner what was left from ticket sales. Just a cover to run a lottery and take a third of the entry fee, IMO.


On the show, the couple who built that 'eco house' gave a big spiel about being eco friendly and really wanting to live in it. Now they are flogging it off in a dodgy lottery - did they just use the TV show for cheap publicity?

Sorry but i far from agree. Why, if it was a scam would they promote it the way they do? I am getting quite sick of hearing how peple do not believe in it. Why cant people just accept it as a novel way of selling your house. Millions of mugs play the national lottery week in, week out and do not question it. I have bought a ticket for this house and the Oldborough retreat and i am not expecting to win but i have a DAMN sight better chance of winning than the lottery.

Odds of winning the average jackpot of £2 million? 1 IN 14 MILLION.
Odds of winning the two properties valued at around £2 million? 1 IN 92,000.

I am aware it is 25 x the cost and the 'valuation' of thse two properties does not count for much but the chances of winning are still much greater. Also the lottery jackpot will always be split if say, 5 people won it.

RabbitMad

I agree with everything skap said except that this is a novel way to sell a house.

It is not very novel or original now as it has been done many times before. I think thee only reason this one is any different is the property is a little bit unique.

FraudBuster

PayPal prohibited use:
?????

5. involve gambling and/or gaming activities, including, but not limited to casino games, sports betting, horse or greyhound racing, lottery tickets, certain games of skill, and other ventures that facilitate gambling unless the operator has obtained prior approval from PayPal and the operator and customers are located exclusively in jurisdictions where such gambling activities are permitted by law.