win a house competitions
Elite Competitions have been around for several years now. They first featured on Loquax back in January 2019 after they'd appeared on an edition of Dragon's Den. Since then they've grown and...
Over the years we've been approached numerous times by people asking how they can giveaway their property in a win a house competition. We've also been asked a number of times to run property prize draws. We've never run a house raffle, we have no experience in undertaking such a giveaway and have no desire to do so - so there's no point asking us. However over the years we've observed how other win a house competitions have been managed and hopefully we can offer some pointers and advice if you're seriously considering going down this route.
These are our top tips. Please note this is not legal advice. Please seek professional advice before considering running a house raffle.
1. Consider Why You Want To Run A Competition
In our view this is the first thing you should be asking yourself. Why do you want to give your property away in a competition? Is it because you can't sell it via conventional means or do you think it's a really simple way of making money? If you're struggling to sell then perhaps you need to address that issue first. Perhaps talk to your Estate Agent and see if there's anything you can do to attract buyers. If you're hoping to make pots of cash then we're not going to judge, but just be aware that running a raffle is perhaps not the easiest thing to do and it may actually cost you money. It's not just a case of set up your prize draw and be overwhelmed with ticket sales.
2. Do You Have The Right Property?
Property prizes have changed over the years. Today win a house competitions are synonymous with the millionaire making properties offered by Omaze. Other platforms like Elite Competitions, Bear Competitions and McKinney have offered a range of houses both at home and abroad. These have also included family homes or property ideal for first time owners. The type of property used to be a lot more important when going it alone, for example if opting to build your own website or use a service like Raffall. Today it doesn't matter because - and we'll be blunt about this - it's a tough ask to conclude a property prize draw whether you have a new build, one bedroom apartment or a million pound house. However the more exciting the property the easier it is to attract interest.
3. Setting Up A Competition
To run a house competition you may need to contract a company to build a site for you although to save costs you could do it yourself with Wordpress and Woocommerce plugins. You'll need a domain name, hosting space and the ability to take and process online payments. Many homeowners have opted to use Raffall, a competitions and raffles platform. They do all the hard work with respect to ticket sales and you can potentially make money from running your own prize draws. Some house competitions have been successful on Raffall, many more have failed to complete! Whatever you choose to do you'll need to provide lots of details such as location, house valuation, a description of the property and some quality images. Another option is to contact a platform like Elite Competitions or similar and see if they'll consider working with you, especially if you're a builder or have an unusual property to sell in their area.
4. Should It Be A Skill Competition?
The last thing you want is for The UKGC to close your competition down because you're not following their rules on prize draws, competitions and lotteries. Our advice is to look at what sites such as Omaze and Elite Competitions do and follow suit. The key to success here is to make sure you have a no purchase necessary option. This is usually offered via post. Omaze don't even ask entrants any questions. If you opt to use Raffall then this is one less thing to worry about!
5. Do You Know The Legalities
We're often amazed that people want to jump into this kind of thing without understanding the legalities. Yes you can create terms inspired by other competition sites - and we do advise you look hard at the terms of other competitions - but do try and talk with a solicitor. At the end of the day you're potentially selling your home for the price of a couple of quid so spend a few pounds making sure what you're doing is above board. It's for your own protection as well as the people entering the competition.
6. Setting A Ticket Price
What do Melling Manor, Shrubbery Farm and Grafton Farmhouse all have in common apart from they all completed? The ticket price for entry was just £2. In the past we've seen win a house competitions with ticket prices of £10, £25 and even £50. Some people assume selling 10,000 tickets at £50 will be easier than 250,000 at £2. Not always! In our view people are more willing to take a punt to win a property for the price of a cup of coffee. Offer them the chance to get free entries by sharing their link and it's great value for you too. Note that some payment systems will charge for entry so make sure you factor in those costs of your ticket price. And don't be greedy! If your property is worth £200,000 don't expect to generate £1million in ticket sales.
7. Running The Competition
Once you've got things going it's not just a case of sitting back and waiting for all the tickets to sell. You're going to have to work hard in dealing with entrants, encouraging further sales, keeping people up to date, maanging social media and doing media stuff. People like to know tickets are selling so make announcements at various milestones. The more tickets that sell the bigger the cash prize alternative or the closer to the property being won. In our view the successful competitions are the ones which take advantage of the early weeks or media and user interest.
8. Promoting The Competition
In the past the media lapped up win a house stories but sadly today they're less interested unless it's Omaze. Sites like Loquax will also list your house competition for free (although we do love an affiliate deal) but you'll need to do a lot more marketing. Referrals can generate interest especially on social media. Encourage entrants to share a unique link and offer free tickets and/or a cash prize to entrants who refer others. Social media can be your friend and enemy. Use it well to promote your competition and engage with your audience. Consider running small giveaways to generate more interest in your page (e.g. share our page for the chance to win an Amazon voucher or tickets to the draw). You may have to spend some money on advertising but be warned as it doesn't guarantee success.
10. Transparency Is Key
Running a house raffle requires you to be transparent. In our opinion you must be clear with entrants, do everything above board and leave no stone unturned. If the ticket price is £2 plus a £1 admin fee then the ticket price is £3. Make sure you are clear on your cash alternative if not enough tickets are sold. Every house raffle is questioned by entrants even the ones that are successful. Don't mess people around (e.g. extending closing dates), don't lie about ticket sales (e.g we're close to selling out when you're not) and don't disappear off social media. Some sites have closed down as soon as the competition ended leaving entrants wondering what's going on.
9. Understand That It Might Not Work
Setting up a win a house competition doesn't mean you're on track to sell your home and make a bag full of cash. The chances of it failing are high. Most property prizes are now awarded by platforms like Omaze, Tramway Path and Bounty not individuals on Raffall. On a positive note you may create a wealthy cash prize winner and you may generate some revenue for yourself. However be prepared to actually lose money on this kind of venture. The owner of the Fred Dibnah property pulled their competition because they were facing losing cash. In fact they sold £10,300 in tickets but spent £21,000 on the actual competition. Another thing to consider is that if you don't giveaway the property then you still have a home that you want or need to sell. A win a house competition can run for several months. This could be time when you could be attracting to buyers. If you end up back at square one after running a competition are you OK still being where you are?
11. Don't Do It
A website that lists win a house competitions suggesting "don't do it" to people wanting to raffle a house? Well yes! Actually this is our top piece of advice to anyone who contacts us about house competitions. The thing is is if you're asking us for advice then you've probably not researched things enough. If you're umming and ahhing then you're not committed to the stress and strain of the process ahead of you. Running a house raffle is stressful and can be a multitude of difficulties. You could be lucky and turnover a competition in a matter of weeks but you could also be trying to flog tickets for up to a year with little or no reward. If you're not sure that's for you then don't do it.
12. Useful Links
In our view the more knowledge you accumulate before going ahead with the process the better. It's easy to be seduced by the competitions that are completing and the idea of selling your home way above the asking price, but read the below and just be aware that it might be tougher than you expected.
- Thinking of raffling off your home?
- The rising popularity of house raffles
- Selling your home by raffle could be a gamble
- Can You Raffle Your House?
- Is raffling my house a good idea?
- Why Selling your House by Raffle Could be a Bad Idea
- ASA Guide To House Raffles
13. Conclusions
We hope the above provides you with food for thought. We love the concept of the win a house competitions but despair about how badly they turn out for some promoters. The fact that the process has worked for some properties doesn't mean the process will work for yours. An attractive property, a good website, a reasonable ticket price, a fair number of tickets available, total transparency, a referral scheme and willing media will help you. However there's still no winning formula for house raffles. There does seem to be an element of timing and just pure luck involved. Good luck to you if you decide that raffling your property is the right thing for you.
If you need any further information or recommendations for hosting your raffle then please contact us.
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