Unusual: A couple launches a raffle to try and sell their unsold apartment

In short:

• A British couple is struggling to sell their second home in Wales.
• The initial price of £365,000 is reduced by £40,000, but to no avail.
• They launch a raffle with tickets at £5.50 to boost the sale.
• The goal: to sell 150,000 tickets to cover the property price, advertising, and other expenses.
• This innovative sales strategy goes beyond the simple, traditional real estate listing and blends a contest with original marketing. By 2026, the real estate raffle is already attracting a large audience intrigued by this unusual method.
• When real estate meets raffle: an unexpected sales strategy

You know those endless listings for an apartment that’s impossible to find? Well, in Rhoscolyn, lucky Wales, an English couple has decided to revolutionize the game. John and Jennie Bailey, parents of two and owners of a dated two-bedroom apartment, tired of being turned down by buyers, opted for a refreshingly quirky idea: launching a raffle to sell their property. Finding that their apartment, initially listed at £365,000 – roughly €415,000 for those in the know – wasn’t generating any real interest, the couple lowered the price by £40,000 to try and attract more attention. But in the end, it was no use; the market being as rigid as a failed actor, not a single decent offer materialized.

Faced with this resounding failure, they had the idea of ​​organizing a raffle—you know, that famous contest where, for around £5.50 (barely the price of a coffee in London), you can try your luck and maybe win the grand prize, or in this case, the entire apartment. Rather than moping around looking at a standard real estate listing, they injected a touch of madness and real estate innovation into a sector that is often rigid. And against all odds, it worked!

The principle is as simple as can be: the goal is to sell 150,000 tickets before January 1st. If this number is reached, the house goes to a lucky winner. If not, half of the money collected is returned to the participants, so as not to cause too much heartache.

This approach cleverly blends the unusual, the contest, and an original marketing strategy. It’s a real breath of fresh air in a real estate market that is often stagnant. And as the British daily newspaper

Progress

points out, this real estate innovation could well inspire other struggling homeowners. The context of an unsold apartment: understanding the Welsh real estate slump

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In this real estate saga worthy of a mini-series, the scene is set in a charming seaside retreat in Rhoscolyn, on the Isle of Anglesey. It’s not a flashy new build, just a two-bedroom apartment serving as a pied-à-terre, where the Bailey family spent two and a half years escaping the Manchester gloom.

But alas, this little slice of paradise remains unsold despite several price adjustments, like many properties in the summer of 2025. The Welsh market is somewhat frozen, not exactly ready to celebrate. This slump could infuriate homeowners, but also appeal to cynics who find a bit of amusement in the cruelly ironic fate of unsold properties.

The drastic price reduction of £40,000 didn’t even tip the scales. It was impossible to attract a buyer ready to unpack their suitcases and savings in this seaside haven. For a couple like John and Jennie, used to juggling the realities of urban life, seeing their property remain unsold indefinitely is pure hell. But humor and creativity are often the best weapons against this kind of predicament.

This less-than-ideal but reassuring situation for many perfectly illustrates why a good dose of real estate innovation like this raffle is essential. The couple understood that they had to think outside the box to revive a stagnant market because, as *Les Singuliers* reminds us, sometimes the solution lies in a touch of the absurd and a lot of audacity. Buying a raffle ticket to become a homeowner isn’t an everyday occurrence, but this method is injecting some much-needed excitement into the sector in 2026, where real estate often prioritizes playing it safe. Key figures for the property raffle: decoding a bold gambleLet’s get down to brass tacks: how many tickets do you need to buy to win the house? The couple is aiming to sell no fewer than

150,000 tickets

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, priced at £5.50 each. Yes, you read that right, it’s an ambitious flop, and undoubtedly the most expensive raffle ever organized – in terms of tickets, not prizes!

With this figure, the operation far exceeds the simple price of the property. Indeed, the 150,000 tickets also cover the additional costs: £40,000 spent on advertising, notary fees, and a 10% commission to the platform that manages the lottery. Everything is carefully calculated so that the Baileys don’t end up on the street because of an unfortunate marketing casting error.

Already, nearly 70,000 tickets have been sold, a respectable figure that clearly demonstrates the appeal of this formula to an audience… even if there’s still a long way to go to victory. It’s almost like an episode of reality TV, with the suspense and feverish anticipation of the results. Details

Values

A house to win for less than 6 euros—it’s almost too good to be true. Yet the British couple dared to launch this real estate innovation to bypass the traditional market bottleneck. This surprising twist combines the excitement of a contest with the administrative and financial burden of selling a property. Why does it work? Because it resonates with you. For once, you’re not playing some improbable lottery where the prize is a gala with a designer car or a trip to Bali. Here, it’s an unsold apartment that awaits you—a real property. Entry is affordable and accessible. No need for an endless bank loan or nightmare-inducing bank calculations. Just a ticket, a little hope, and a hefty dose of adrenaline. Some skeptics might see this as a desperate rescue effort, but it must be admitted that this strategy hits the mark by offering a user experience never before seen in real estate. According to Orange Actu Other British couples struggling to buy a home could soon follow this method, transforming the sector into a chaotic but exciting playground.

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So, would you rather watch your unsold apartment gather dust or try your luck in a real estate raffle? The raffle is a cocktail of audacity, wild dreams, and British humor that the world of real estate almost sorely lacks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DscZ6OncX7o Lessons to be learned from an unusual real estate raffle

There are some valuable lessons to be learned from this anecdote, full of irony and originality. First, it shows that in the field of real estate sales, thinking outside the box isn’t heresy but, on the contrary, a key to adapting to a market that, in 2026, sometimes remains stubbornly stagnant. Furthermore, this raffle raises several questions about the relationship to property and how the population, especially young professionals, perceives access to housing. Becoming a homeowner with a simple raffle ticket puts things into perspective in a field often bogged down by red tape and complicated bank loans. Finally, this textbook case also prompts reflection on the notion of real estate innovation and how, by blending the absurd with pragmatism, new forms of transactions can be invented in the digital age.

Note that the aim is not to encourage playing the raffle as the sole alternative to traditional purchasing, but rather to demonstrate that a touch of madness in the sales strategy can transform a difficult situation into a potential success. This couple, like the Irish woman who sold her house through a raffle at €6 per ticket (La Nouvelle République), perfectly illustrates this creativity. And you, what would be your crazy technique for selling a property? In any case, for John and Jennie Bailey, this raffle adventure was also a human experience that brightened their chaotic journey as homeowners in search of a sale.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFtO33Zi25oIs it legal to organize a raffle to sell a property?

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What happens if the raffle doesn’t sell all its tickets?

If the threshold of 150,000 tickets isn’t reached, the winner doesn’t receive the apartment, but half of the prize money is distributed to the participants, with the remainder covering the expenses incurred.

Is buying a raffle ticket a good alternative to a traditional purchase? This can be a fun opportunity, but it’s not guaranteed. It should be seen as a game, not a sure way to acquire a home.

Is this practice likely to spread? With its success, other landlords could adopt this original marketing method, gradually transforming the real estate sector.

Source:www.leprogres.fr

Max Delorme