A SPACIOUS four-bed house in a Castellón province town has been won in a raffle for just €10.
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'.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com