'I want to change someone's life': how you can win my Lancashire home for £1

Married couple Jennifer and David Matthews, both 51, are raffling off a property they own in Skelmersdale to help those struggling to get on the property ladder.

The couple, who share two teenage children, previously raffled off the family’s five bedroom home in Adlington, as well as their Ferrari car, and now they are doing the same to another Lancashire property - an ex-council house that is now worth around £110,000.

Find out why they are doing ao and how you can your hands on the home yourself below...

Why are they raffling off the home?

Jennifer and David, who are both property developers alongside their full-time jobs, were renting out a three bedroomed ex-council house in Skelmersdale and when their last tenants left, Jennifer spent 12 weeks renovating it to a top quality condition.

However when they put the newly renovated house up for sale, they found it harder to sell than expected and it was nothing to do with the house itself, with Jennifer described it as “absolutely beautiful.”

The mum of two explained: “I got the asking price twice from two different people and each time their mortgage applications failed due to personal circumstances. … One of the people, this guy who’s got three children, he had been in full time permanent employment for over five years, on 55 grand a year. I thought he would get this house no problem and then his mortgage application fails… [because] he had missed some mobile phone contract payments.

“I did feel gutted for them because they was just so keen to buy the property, and they thought they would sail through a mortgage application, but they didn't... I rang the mortgage broker and I said, ‘what's going on?’ because I've not taken out a mortgage for a very long time. He said ‘Jennifer, the lending criterias are really strict in this current climate, a lot of people are gonna struggle getting a mortgage, it's not as easy as when you was trying to get off property ladder’. So I thought - raffle it!”

Jennifer added: “I’m 51 and when I got my first property age 21, I didn't have to go through them hoops.”

How can you buy a raffle ticket?

The house raffle is on Raffall and anyone can buy a £1 ticket, as many times as they like. The raffle closes at 8:30pm on Saturday, May 11.

What has the reaction been like?

Jennifer answered: “The positivity we've gotten from it, it's been really really immense, the support, everybody's saying 'you’re going to change someone's life in this cost of living crisis', 'well done', 'we can’t wait for the draw'. People have also said 'why have you not done tickets for £10 pound or £20?' I want to give everyone the opportunity of winning it, it’s a fantastic prize. For one pound, people can move in it, Airbnb it, raffle it off if they want to!”

Jennifer later added: “We have come under some flack…, ‘you’re not doing it out of the goodness of your heart’ - no, I'm not, I’m doing it because I want to get rid of my house, there's no two ways about it!”

What was their previous raffle experience like?

Jennifer told the Post: “We're not new to the raffling world, we’ve previously raffled a five bedroom house and a Ferrari three years ago, and we learned a lot from that. So even though it was a roaring success, it didn't come without its pitfalls. Because the property was identified where it was, and we were living in the property, people were turning up drunk, people were turning up aggressively. 

“We had threats, the CID did get involve. I’m tough, I said they're behind keyboards, I’m behind electric gates, they’re not going to do anything, and the police said ‘You need to take this seriously, because there was handwritten, hand delivered letters.'

“It brought out every kind of individual in society, that raffle. So we had people like Paddy McGuinness, Davina McColl talking on podcasts about it, it was marvellous, but it was like I said, not without its pitfalls.”

Dd their last raffle not put them off doing it again?

The couple never regretted selling their Adlington family home via a raffle as it was what suited them at the time. Whilst they were trying to sell the property, Jennifer was suffering from the onsets of a heart disorder called ventricular tachycardia and the usual house viewing process was proving too much.

Jennifer explained: “The motivation for rafflying my last house was always to get rid of it but I also died for three minutes and I got this incurable condition, which I still have, and I was sick of people looking around my house. I put it up for sale the week before COVID so everything stopped but the government lifted restrictions on viewings and because I had a Ferrari parked in the kitchen, my house became like a tourist attraction. We had eight viewings a day, whilst trying to run a business, kids in situ and I was ill at the time - I just thought I can't cope with it, raffle it off.”

Then despite the problems that came with the previous raffle, Jennifer says she can hold on to one life-changing thing that came out of it for her, that would not have happened otherwise.

Jennifer said: “The brilliant thing about that raffle is, people just keep moaning about the negatives because we had death threats and everything - but during that raffle, there was a woman who had been on The Apprentice with a similar heart condition, who messaged me. I ended up getting in touch with her cardiologist in Leeds, and together with my cardiologist and my electrophysiologist, I've ended up on these fantastic meds and I've been stable for three years.” 

Now Jennifer just hopes this second sale will change someone else’s life, adding “I’m 51 and when I got my first property age 21, I didn't have to go through them hoops... I would like somebody who can't get on the property ladder but whoever wins it wins it."

What happens if enough raffle tickets are not sold?

According to the Raffall conditions, a minimum of 145,000 tickets need to be sold for the main prize to be given. If less than 145,000 tickets are sold, the winner will receive a cash payment amounting to 50% of the total ticket revenue generated for this competition.

Explaining the figure, Jennifer said: “145,000 tickets cover all the fees, so it's marketing fees, solicitors fees, Raffall's fees. But what annoys me is the constant ‘she’s going to get more money than it’s worth’ and well you buy a lottery ticket and you don’t go ringing Camelot saying 'you’re getting more money Camelot', that’s the whole idea of the raffle and if people don’t want to enter it, don’t enter.

“I just think everybody should be able to spend one pound on giving themselves the opportunity to win this fantastic prize!”