An engineer is offering his £250,000 three-bedroom house as a competition prize at £5 a ticket – but only if you can answer three ridiculous easy questions.
Kieron Walsh is raffling off the new-build detached property in Salford, Greater Manchester, with any entrants having to give the answer to the sum of 8 + 2.
The 30-year-old from Derby hopes to sell enough tickets to cover its value and will allow up to 300,000 to be bought before the closing date in April next year.
The other questions ask what material the driveway is made from – glass, gold or Tarmac – and in what year the house was constructed, which is 2016.
This three-bedroom detached property in Salford, Greater Manchester, is being raffled
As many as 300,000 tickets will be sold before the raffle’s closing date in April next year
The winner will also have their stamp duty and solicitor fees paid on the property, which Mr Walsh has failed to sell following a series of deals falling through.
He said: ‘We were getting to the point where we were just never completing. People kept putting in other offers and gazumping each other.
‘And then the closer I’d get to finalising, something would happen. So I started doing some research and I decided to press ahead with this.’
Mr Walsh, who got on the property ladder aged 18, added: ‘When I bought my first house, it was the days of 100 per cent mortgages and Northern Rock was still going.
‘But it’s become harder and harder with mortgage restrictions getting tighter and tighter. Even I found it very hard to move house when I came here.
The winner will also have their stamp duty and solicitor fees paid on the property in Salford
Kieron Walsh, 30, of Derby, is hoping to sell enough raffle tickets to cover the property’s value
‘The prize included the stamp duty and solicitors fees so £5 is literally all the person would have to pay, less than a gin and tonic. That opens it up too so many people for whom a house like this was out of reach. I see it as a win, win situation really.’
On his website, where people can enter the raffle, he says: ‘I purchased this house off plan and moved in once constructed in 2016, and purchased this as my forever home.
‘Unfortunately, life had a different plan for me, and life has now taken a turn in another direction. Because of this, I am now offering you the chance to live the dream that I set myself all that time ago at the ripe old cost of a fiver.’
He adds: ‘This truly is a wonderful home, minutes on foot to the heart of Manchester city centre.
‘In addition to the lure of the city centre, the house is positioned on the bank of the River Irwell, just one minute’s walk to Peel Park, along with being only five minutes to the local supermarket, gym and other amenities.
’The house is perfectly positioned to pick up all main/major routes into and out of Manchester, and perfectly positioned to take full advantage of Manchester’s buoyant housing market. It’s such a rarity for a house in this area to become available, and a first for a £5 total outlay.’
The Gambling Commission has previously warned about such schemes, with house raffles only legal if they require an element of skill or a way to enter for free. In Mr Walsh’s case, the free entry can be done by post. You can enter online for £5 here.