A woman raffling off her Dublin apartment has said she wants to make homeownership “accessible” once again.
Seventeen-years-ago, Karen bought her Kilmainham home with a 100% mortgage.
Since then, property prices have come crashing down, skyrocketed back upwards again and renters are paying ever larger sums of money to their landlords.
Increasingly, sports clubs have raffled off houses to raise money for their clubs and Karen told Lunchtime Live she had entered “quite a few” such raffles herself over the years.
After her work offered her the opportunity to transfer to Paris, Karen decided she wanted to raffle her home off, instead of going down the traditional estate agent route.
“I wouldn’t have had the deposit to put down and nowadays, I think it’s so tricky for people to get on the market and this is a great opportunity for somebody to get a place for the price of a pint - essentially it’s €6,” she said.
“So, it’s accessible to more people because property prices in Dublin are a little bit crazy.”
The apartment has one bedroom and is located close to the Modern Art Museum and Heuston Station.
It is a 20 minute walk from the city centre and also comes with a parking space.
Most of the money raised will go to Karen to pay for the apartment - but a portion of the funds will also go to a local Dublin charity.
“Obviously, I’m getting to sell my place as well, so it’s sort of twofold,” she said.
“There’s a charity element - the charity will get some money as well.
“So, there’s one called Little Flower Penny Dinners in the Liberties, so they’ll get a chunk of money as well.
“Somebody can get the property for very little but I still get to sell my place.”
Promotion
Mostly, Karen has been trying to sell ticket via social media - something she freely admits she is not an expert in.
“I’ve tried to do a bit of work on Instagram,” she said.
“To be honest, this is a problem because I wasn’t exactly on social media.
“So, I’ve tried to learn how to use Instagram and spread the word that way and get friends to spread the word as well.”
So far, Karen has sold only a small proportion of the tickets she needs to sell for the raffle to go ahead.
“I need to sell another 53,000 to break even,” she said.
“I’ve sold nearly 17,000.”
The raffle is due to take place on December 6th and Karen is “confident” that she will have sold enough tickets by then.
“It’s a really nice opportunity,” she said.
“If someone can say, ‘I won my place for six quid, compared to having to get a mortgage for 25 years for however much,’ I think it’s great.
“I want this to work.”
You can listen back here:
