As expected, following on from the Oldborough Estate success (which incidentally will see a winner drawn on 16th October), a few more “win a house” competitions have surfaced. For the first time people are now taking more interest in these kind of competitions, but what are the new contenders like? And will they reach the same levels of success as Brian and Wendy Wilshaw?
Win Fellows Hall
Fellows Hall is a £650,000 home in Riverside View, Ingleby Barwick, Stockton. It’s being sold by Simon & Vicky Brown and they’re giving buyers a 1 in 28000 chance of winning this house. So far 26251 remain at £25 each. The house itself is quite stunning. It’s an individually-designed 6-bedroom luxury contemporary home and was featured on Channel 5’s programme ‘The Property List’. The competition is due to end on 24th December.
Win A Cabin In Bansko
If a luxury home in Stockton doesn’t appeal then how about a Ski Chalet in Bulgaria. For the princely sum of just £3 you could Win a Cabin in Bansko. The 3 bedroom luxury log cabin is being sold by Brian and Michelle Jones and they need to reach sales of 150,000 by the 23rd December for their home to be given away. There’s no indication of the number of tickets currently sold, but if the ticket allocation is reached the prize fund minus running costs goes to Children in Need.
Only 1750 Tickets Sold
Both prizes are quite desirable, but it remains to be seen if either will have any degree of success.
Fellows Hall has the greatest potential, but with only 1750 tickets sold they’re going to have to get lucky with publicity. It is a nice house, but it’s not comparable to the life changing opportunity offered up by Oldborough Estate. Most win a house competitions fail because people just don’t want to move to where the prize is located, and this may be their downfall.
£3 Entry Fee
The Win a Cabin competition is a concern. Whilst the £3 entry fee is a lot cheaper, getting all 150,000 sold is going to require a lot of effort. With no indication of volume already sold and with no prize fund available if the allocation is reached, then this may frighten off would be players. The charity option is a nice touch, but just imagine if the tickets sold reaches say 140,000. The charity wins, but the promoters still get the running costs!
What Is A Skill Competition?
One final point about both competitions is the “skill question”! Neither competition has much level of skill involved and we’ve seen in the past win a house competitions fall foul of the authorities for running “pay to play” competitions lacking in skill elements. We assume both have done their due diligence on this matter, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if one day if the rule about skill and these kind of competitions gets some much needed clarification.