Family home won in a €10 raffle

Pepe Bolumar and his family inherited the 141-square-metre home in the large inland village of Segorbe, 32 kilometres from the nearest beach and just 80 kilometres from the ski slopes of Javalambre and Valdelinares in Teruel, and needed to sell it because the cost of keeping an empty property they did not use was proving a headache.

But it is a buyer's market at present, with bargains galore waiting to be snapped up by anyone who has the cash or can get the finance, mostly foreign buyers who currently have their choice of excellent homes close to beaches, on residential complexes with swimming pools, and near to all amenities including airports.

This meant that even though the property was advertised at just €90,000, the family did not get any viewers.

They then hit upon the idea of selling raffle tickets.

“People would then have the chance to buy a home for a discounted price, and we would still end up covering the value of it,” said Pepe, 35.

Setting up the website lotohome.es and advertising the coveted prize took over a year, since the family faced mountains of bureaucracy and had to convince the tax authorities to let them go ahead.

And they had to convince the public – worldwide, not just in Spain – that there really was no catch involved.

In fact, the prize home came with no strings attached – even purchasing taxes would be paid by the 'sellers'.

Facebook and Twitter pages were set up and raffle tickets were sold online as well as through a betting shop in the Valencia region.

Ticket-buyers were from as far afield as Canada, the USA, Australia and the UK, although the majority were from Spain and for many, it was their only hope of having a home for themselves and their families.

Pepe said raffle entrants included thousands of Spaniards whose own homes had been repossessed when they could no longer pay their mortgage due to redundancy, and who were desperate to be able to win.

The draw – the first time a house has ever been raffled in Spain – took place publicly before a notary will balls dropping from a dispenser in the same way as the various State lotteries are decided on TV.

Although Pepe's family sold 32,000 tickets at €10 each, they did not in fact earn €320,000 from the draw – they had to pay advertising costs, notary fees, website maintenance and taxes, including transfer and inheritance tax.

They had hoped to earn about €10,000 net of taxes on the original sale price of €90,000, and Pepe says they have done so comfortably, although they have not made the massive profit the total raffle sales suggests.

The raffle winner's identity is not known, but the home is now in the hands of its new owner who has the keys and the deeds.

Pepe received a flood of calls afterwards wanting to know more about how to raffle a house, and has decided to keep the website alive to give other sellers struggling to shift their properties hints and tips on how to do it.

Photographs: lotohome.es