I've been contacted by a new company with an adventurous spin on the house sales business. Whoever contacted me clearly didn't know how much I loathe the whole house raffle racket (don't get me started but, very briefly, the house is usually overvalued by at least £100,000, making buying a ticket about as sensible an investment as pushing £10 notes up your nose, and the target is never reached anyway, so whoever wins ends up receiving a pitiful percentage of the overall take while the organisers keep the house and lots of the cash... see, don't get me started). So I'm not exactly dancing the lambada about House4APound: an attempt - by a builder with three Cornish homes to "give away" - to turn the whole house lottery thing into a business model. The thing I absolutely loathed the most about previous ventures is the insultingly stupid way in which they were marketed. The worst? This raffle is a really great way for first-time buyers to get a foot on the rung. House4APound takes a similarly disingenuous angle:

Everyone knows how difficult it is for young couples and individuals to get on the property ladder, so how wonderful would it be to offer those people the chance to win a home of their own.

Ah, that's nice. For what it's worth, ftbs can find similar help here, here or here. Or what about this for a claim?

Now the 53-year-old [competition organiser] hopes his ingenious dial-a-des-res scheme launched today in Cornwall will give estate agency firms who charge high fees for their services a much-needed wake-up call. Trevor is convinced the competition could pave the way for a whole new approach to house sales with deals done at a fraction of the cost charged by estate agency chains up and down the country.

Good for Trevor. Personally, I'm not convinced that property raffles are going to keep John Hunt awake at night. House4APound better get a move on. They're raffling three properties, and the lines are going to remain open only until January 20. They're going to need an unprecendented number of calls before them, or it'll be (surprise, surprise) time to look at the "alternative prize" clause. Which does contain a surprise:

In the event outlined at Clause 9(a) [not enough takers to fund the handing over of the properties] above the Winners of the Competition in question will be entitled to a sum equal to the amount of the Competition fund, or a minimum of £1,000 if the Competition fund is less than £1,000 (“the Alternative Prize”). The Competition fund will be calculated as the income received by the Company from the telephone calls and SMS messages received in respect of that Competition less the Company’s publicity, administration and other costs incurred in running that Competition. Such income and costs will be certified by an independent accountant.

Hmm. Now that's different. In fact, in the worst case scenario, there's potential there for a loss. Who knows?