There may not be that many win a house competitions around at the moment, but the last week or so has seen a bit of “purple patch” with respect to media coverage. Firstly Omaze have recently announced the winner of their Win A Kent Home prize draw but to be fair that’s been a little overshadowed by news of their previous winner. According to reports the Win A Cornwall House is placing their £3million valued prize property up for sale. Finally one prize draw that’s due to close at the end of October, Win A House In Weston Super Mare, has been getting the column inches in a last ditch attempt to get the ticket sales in. Will this burst of media coverage be enough to help create a property winner on the Raffique platform and/or will it see more potential home owners putting their properties up as prizes?
Win A Kent Winner
Let’s start with the good news and that’s the addition of another house winner to our win a house hall of fame. Since 2017 we’ve recorded an impressive 66 pay to enter competitions that have resulted in someone picking up the keys to a new home. The latest winner comes from Omaze, although they do guarantee a house winner so it’s not like it was unexpected. A couple from The Midlands, Jade and her unnamed partner, were recently named the winners of the Win A Kent Home and that means overnight they’re now owners of a £2.5million house. In addition they picked up £50,000 in cash. Jade explained that the win was “life-changing” and that “there will never be quite enough words to describe how this whole experience has felt to me and my family”. The couple have visited the beachfront home in Kingsdown but it’s unknown whether they will move into it, rent it out or put it up for sale. One thing we did discover whilst reading various articles on the win was that Omaze raised £750,000 for charity. As 80% of the net proceeds of the draw go to a designated charity this therefore suggests that Omaze made at least £250,000 profit on this particular draw.
Win A Cornwall House Up For Sale
One of the questions we’ve often raised about many of the million pound house property prizes is what do you do if you win one? It sounds ideallic to become the owner of such a grand home and live a life of luxury but the realities of up-keep, charges and other costs have to be considered. You also have to like the area if you choose to move in! Back in August, Uttam Parmar became the winner of Omaze’s Win A Cornwall House and that saw him become the owner of a £3million Cornish mansion. However just 2 months later Parmar has placed the property on the open market and is hoping to get £4million by selling it. According to various reports Parmar has said that he feels that he and his family don’t quite fit in with the celebrity neighbours in the area. By selling up they’ll have created a secure future for themselves and their family, plus have the opportunity to choose where they want to live – and perhaps in more modest and comfortable – for them – surroundings. This at least demonstrates that winning a million pound house sounds ideal on paper, but the reality of moving and living in it isn’t always part of the dream. We do wonder whether Omaze would be better off offering say 5 x £500,000 prizes so winners could buy a new home rather than a single headliner £2.5million property?
Win A House In Weston Super Mare
In June 2022 Declan Garrett and Leoni Webb put their property in Weston Super Mare up for raffle on the pay to enter competition platform Raffique. In our review we said that “there are so many factors going against this raffle that we can’t see how Win A Weston Super Mare House is going to create another property winner” and with just a few days to go that’s sadly going to come true. However unlike previous Raffique attempts to giveaway a home, this one has at least sold a few tickets and the hosts have made some effort to generate interest. In the last week the hosts have had several media articles! According to The Sun they “are being forced to sell off the converted bungalow…as their mortgage rate soared amid the cost of living crisis”. That may well be the case now – as the prize draw reaches a conclusion but we’re not sure “cost of living crisis” was being bandied around back in June. Back then they were simply looking to relocate due to getting married and having a big family. Unfortunately this creative marketing angle is too little too late as to date just under 11,500 tickets have been sold – only 288,500 short of the 300,000 target. On a positive note it does mean that someone will collect a decent cash prize when the draw is made on the 26th October.