Television star houses up for raffle

More and more desperate sellers are turning to raffles to try to shift their homes.

Two pairs of self-builders, both of whom have been featured on TV, have launched raffles (or to use their legally preferred name, skill competitions).

An eco-home, built underground by Tim and Zoe Bawtree in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, is to be raffled. The house is valued at £1m and around 46,000 tickets at £25 each will need to be sold. The couple had moved in just six months ago and had had the property on the market for three months before resorting to a raffle (www.winthecheltenhamhouse.com).

The house has an unusual brick and polystyrene construction, one of the best Energy Performance Certificates in the country, but only three bedrooms.

In Yorkshire, a young couple who self-built their dream home near Durham less than a year ago are putting it up for raffle after failing to sell it through agents.

They need to sell 22,000 raffle tickets at £25 each.

Simon and Vicky Brown believe their six-bedroom property is worth £595,000. They also need ticket sales to cover another £50,000 worth of mortgage and legal fees.
The highly specified property is hugely impressive, but on a small plot – and well worth a visit (www.winfellowshall.com) just to gawp at the kitchen.