Sunderland family raffling £168,000 four-bedroom home for £2.50 a ticket

Paul and Christine McDonald put their four-bedroom home in Tunstall Hill on the market at the end of February – but their house sale and dreams of moving halfway around the world were halted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Now the couple, who featured on an episode of Wanted Down Under in 2019, are raffling their house for £2.50 a ticket after being inspired by the success of another North East family.

The lucky winner of the draw, which is operated by online raffle platform Raffall, will be chosen at random when all 100,000 tickets have been sold – with a deadline of Saturday, December 5.

More than 10,000 tickets have been bought already, with Paul and Christine, who are parents to 16-year-old Luke and 13-year-old Evan, one step closer to their dream.

"We’ve got our visas now and we want to be in a position to just go,” said Christine, a mental health worker for the NHS.

"We saw how another couple in Bishop Auckland had raffled their home and we thought why don’t we give it a go.

"There’s a lot of first-time buyers who are struggling to get a first home. This way it gives someone else an amazing starting point too.”

According to Raffall, if the family fails to provide a prize, the winner of the draw will receive “a share of the compensation amounting to 75% of all ticket sales” instead.

The summary on Raffall’s website adds: “The lucky winner will be living in their dream home completely mortgage free.

"A great opportunity for first-time buyers who are struggling to get a mortgage due to the rise in the minimum deposits for mortgages in the UK.

"This is a 100% genuine raffle. For just £2.50 a ticket you could own your very own four-bedroom property. All legal fees paid, why not give it a go you have nothing to lose.”

It has always been Paul’s dream to live in Australia and the family featured on BBC show Wanted Down Under in 2019 to explore their options for the life-changing move.

“It was a brilliant experience. We visited Gold Coast in Australia and it was amazing,” said Christine.

"It’s always been Paul’s dream to move out there. I was unsure but by the end I’d decided I wanted to move out there too.

“It’s the opportunities for the boys, the work prospects and so many other things. We want the best for them.".

The family home has a modern kitchen, bathroom and spacious living and dining rooms, leading out to a secluded garden.

"It is really daunting but it’s something exciting as well. I think a lot more people will look at doing something like this.” added Christine, 42.

"Some of our family think we’re a little bit crazy. It is a bit different and it’s not something you see every day.

"The winner is getting a prize that’s worth nearly £170,000 – it’s life-changing really.”

To buy a raffle ticket to be in with a chance of winning the house, click here or visit their Facebook page.

A message from the Editor:

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our advertisers - and consequently the revenue we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you taking out a digital subscription.

Subscribe to the Sunderland Echo website and enjoy unlimited access to local news and information online and on our app.

With a digital subscription, you can read more than five articles, see fewer ads, enjoy faster load times, and get access to exclusive newsletters and content.

Visit here to sign up. You can subscribe to the newspaper with 20% off here.

Thank you.