First house sold by lottery ticket in Spain
A four-bedroom town house near Castellón worth €90,000 ($99,256) now has a new owner who won it with a €10 lottery ticket.
The Bolumar family came up with the idea of offloading the property through a lottery after struggling to sell the home they inherited when an elderly relative died two years ago.
In a stagnant property market and with little hope of a new buyer finding a bank willing to lend, the family realized it would be a struggle to sell the home for what it was worth using the traditional market.
"When we put it on the market, a few people showed an interest but no bank was willing to issue a mortgage," explained Pepe Bolumar, 35, the grandson of the original owner. "So one day I came up with the idea of raffling off the property."
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The four-bedroom townhouse in Segorbe. Photo: lotohome.es
It took more than a year to set up and a struggle through bureaucratic processes to stage but on the last Sunday of March the lottery took place and the house in Segorbe became the property of the winning lottery ticket holder.
The house was offered through a website lotohome.es and attracted participants from across Spain and abroad.
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Photo: lotohome.es
"For the price of just €10 someone has won a house in perfect condition and they won’t have to pay a cent more because all the costs are included," Bolumar told Spain’s El Mundo newspaper.
The family, which estimated that it had made the €90,000 value of the house plus an extra €10,000 after administrative costs, will now act as consultants on others who want to offer their home through a lottery.
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Photo: lotohome.es
"We were the first to do this in Spain but it could benefit others," said Bolumar who believes it offers benefits to both the vendor and the lottery winner.
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Photo: lotohome.es
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The Bolumar family came up with the idea of offloading the property through a lottery after struggling to sell the home they inherited when an elderly relative died two years ago.
In a stagnant property market and with little hope of a new buyer finding a bank willing to lend, the family realized it would be a struggle to sell the home for what it was worth using the traditional market.
"When we put it on the market, a few people showed an interest but no bank was willing to issue a mortgage," explained Pepe Bolumar, 35, the grandson of the original owner. "So one day I came up with the idea of raffling off the property."
The four-bedroom townhouse in Segorbe. Photo: lotohome.es
It took more than a year to set up and a struggle through bureaucratic processes to stage but on the last Sunday of March the lottery took place and the house in Segorbe became the property of the winning lottery ticket holder.
The house was offered through a website lotohome.es and attracted participants from across Spain and abroad.
Photo: lotohome.es
"For the price of just €10 someone has won a house in perfect condition and they won’t have to pay a cent more because all the costs are included," Bolumar told Spain’s El Mundo newspaper.
The family, which estimated that it had made the €90,000 value of the house plus an extra €10,000 after administrative costs, will now act as consultants on others who want to offer their home through a lottery.
Photo: lotohome.es
"We were the first to do this in Spain but it could benefit others," said Bolumar who believes it offers benefits to both the vendor and the lottery winner.
Photo: lotohome.es
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