2020 was a purple period for win a house competitions with 25 property winners created from competitions that launched during that year. 2021 however hasn’t been quite as successful with just three winners from competitions launched since the start of the year. Whilst many property owners opt for the tried and tested Raffall platform others have looked elsewhere. It’s fair to say that a number of sites are finding the market a tougher prospect then maybe they first imagined.
Grand Draw Closes
Grand Draw, a competition to a £1.1million property in Herefordshire, was due to end on the 31st March 2021. The hosts chose to extend the closing date until June as they said that Covid had effected sales during December and January. However as of the end of April the competition has been closed. On the Grand Draw website they explain that “The lack of any major sales of tickets through covid lock down has now made it impossible for us to reach our targets to give away the house as a prize… A total of £40,000 will now be awarded as prizes”.
Insufficient Tickets Sold
Whilst it’s disappointing that this competition will not go the full distance nor will it create a house winner, we do commend the hosts for taking this step. They could have ploughed on until the end of June under the guise of the house can be won despite the knowledge that it was unlikely to happen. We know that other competitions do carry on suggesting that the house can be won right until the last minute when insufficient tickets have been sold. Whilst this approach may add to the cash prize pot it is actually misleading.
Giveaway Genie Extension
Grand Draw aren’t the only win a house standalone site that’s struggled in the current climate. Giveaway Genie were due to close their competition for a three bedroom North East property worth £90,000. Despite tickets costing only £2 and 75,000 tickets required to be sold, this house competition has also been extended until the 30th June 2021. No details seem to have been given for the extension which is disappointing. It’d be interesting to know how many tickets have been sold to date and whether the competition is on course to complete. If it isn’t on course then following Grand Draw’s approach would be sensible, but if it is on course then this information could spark a final push to get sales over the line.
Frog Hopping Extensions
The extended closing dates don’t end there! Frog Hopping is a new property raffle platform that aims to help you land your perfect pad. They launched with two competitions for properties in Poole and Canterbury and recently added a third. The first two competitions were due to close on the 7th May and 18th May respectively but now these dates have been moved back six months. Entries to these competitions cost £20 each which we think may well be a key reason for not enough ticket sales by the original closing dates. Furthermore as far as we’re aware the owners of the respective properties and Frog Hopping aren’t doing much when it comes to advertising and promotion.
Is This Good News For House Raffles?
Extensions, early closing competitions and insufficient ticket sales are naturally not good news for property raffles. Extensions especially create distrust and are strong indicators that sales aren’t going so well. Covid may be an issue but other property competitions have sold a lot of tickets (e.g. Tramway Path, Oakhouse Raffle). Advertising however is a key factor and too many promoters and platforms think if they set up a raffle then tickets will fly out the window without any hard graft. The successful competitions on Raffall are usually the ones where the host has actively worked hard on social media to drum up sales. Unfortunately advertising and social media activity isn’t a guarantee of success either so would-be house promoters have tough puzzles to solve.
What Now For Property Competitions
The next few months are going to be pivotal for win a house competitions. A number of high profile competitions are due to close in the coming weeks including Cwellyn Dream, Raffle House and Win My Beach Home as well as a number of Raffall contests. If a number of these are successful then that will keep things on track and boost interest in the sector. If, as we suspect, there will be cash prize winners for the majority of up and coming closing promotions then that may turn away entrants and future property rafflers. Even more so when some of those competitions are currently in the same boat as Grand Draw and know fully well they’re not going to reach their targets.