A kind-hearted teacher has decided to raffle off her own home so she can help a hard-pressed individual or family get on the property ladder while also donate to the NHS.
Victoria Perry, 33, a school teacher from Wakefield, is raffling her three-bedroom home in West Yorkshire in the hope she'll raise enough to donate £18,000 to the NHS.
She is ready to move back in with her parents to make it all happen.
If enough funds are raised, Victoria also hopes to give £10,000 to a local cat rescue.
A total of 110,000 tickets is the bare minimum she'll have to sell so her home can go to someone in need and the donations can be made.
But she is hoping to sell 180,000 so she can reach her target of donating £18,000 and £10,000 to the NHS and local cat rescue respectively.
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“I really want to give someone a hand onto the property ladder as I know how difficult it is to get on it, especially now that banks want such big deposits,” Victoria said.
“The only reason I was able to get a deposit for my house was because my granddad passed away and left me some money.
“When I decided I wanted to move closer to my family, I began looking at ways to sell my house.
"I saw on Facebook that someone else in the area was raffling their house and it gave me the idea.
If you want to get involved in the raffle, visit the website here
“Just to be clear this is my actual home – it’s not a second property or anything else.
"I’ve lived here very happily for three years and the main reason I’m wanting to move now is to be closer to my family.
“I had Covid in January and it made me realise how lonely it can be to live on your own, especially during the pandemic.”
The house features three bedrooms, a lounge, kitchen and family bathroom.
In the lounge, there is a feature bay window allowing plenty of natural light and the room is painted in neutral cream tones with wooden flooring.
While over in the kitchen, there is laminate flooring, as well as decorating tiling between the black and grey cabinets, doors leading out to the back garden.
The family bathroom is equally impressive, with high-end finishes including a rainfall shower faucet and touch-activated Bluetooth mirror.
Meanwhile the master bedroom fits a double bed and has a window overlooking the rear and new flooring, and second bedroom fits a single bed and is currently being used as an office.
The third bedroom overlooks the front garden and is currently being used as a dressing room.
The home also has a garden with a decking area with steps leading down to the grass and a large shed.
Before embarking on her project, Victoria did research on how to raffle a home by speaking to solicitors and those who had taken part in one – and won.
She said: “Before starting I had to do loads of research.
"I spoke to solicitors and different companies and even people who had won a house in a similar competition.
“There’s a lot of red tape and rules to follow and after researching similar competitions I realised a lot of it came down to the company you do the actual raffle with.
“Ideally I would like to raise the full £18,000 for the NHS, give £10,000 to a local cat rescue and obviously someone will win the house.
“I need to sell at least 110,000 tickets in order to settle the house, give the winners the lump sum of £10,000 and be able to make donations to both charities.
"But 180,000 tickets is the dream.
"That would enable me to give the full amounts to the NHS and Heronbank Cat Rescue.”
The home will be raffled off for £2 a ticket and the raffle will close on 31 December 2021 (or earlier if all tickets are sold by that date).
If the minimum ticket allowance is not met, the winner gets 75% of the full pot, Victoria will keep her house but will receive no money.
Speaking about how her family have reacted to the news, she added: “My friends, family and work colleagues all think I’m a little bit nuts but everyone is getting on board now.
"Any negativity I’ve experienced is purely down to them not understanding the concept.
"I’ve got lots of people supporting me and my parents, who are both recovering from bouts of Covid, are keen to get involved in some Instagram Lives very soon.
"Neither of them are very tech savvy so it might be a while!
“My parents are both typical Northerners but I told them I was doing the raffle; they were very 'un-Northern' with their reactions.
"They think it’s a great idea!”
As for the winner of the raffle, Victoria hopes that someone in need gets it.
She added: “Obviously I don’t get to decide who wins the house but I would love to see it go to someone who is desperate to own their own home but can’t afford it.
"Old or young, family or not.
"And they can do whatever they want with it – if that means selling it or renting out!
"I’m excited for the winner and what this will mean for them.”
