Meet the Entrepreneur Raffling Off Her Nunhead Flat

Unhappy that after many viewings her trendy London studio flat was not selling, Lara Buckler, 28, decided to take matters into her own hands and offer it up as a competition prize. The Resident finds out more…

Lead image: Lara Buckler at her Nunhead flat

Lara, who has worked in the property sector for 10 years, decided to offer 200,000 tickets, priced just £2, to sell the flat, worth £300,000 in Nunhead. Lara says the competition offers significantly better odds than someone buying a lottery ticket, which has odds of 13,983,816-to-one, to land the jackpot.

She will cover all costs involved with purchasing the property – stamp duty (including the additional 3% for those that already own a property), legal fees and even Council Tax for the first six months.

Lara bought the flat at auction and refurbished it, but has had trouble selling (photos: houseagogo)

The bedroom and en suite

The contemporary shower

The open-plan kitchen and reception room is bright and airy

‘Our odds are 200,000-to-one or less, dependent on how many tickets you buy – the price of half a pint of beer and less than a glass of wine in the pub,’ says Buckler. ‘What could be easier?

‘We wanted to come up with a novel way of selling this trendy pad and also help other people at the same time. We want to encourage first time buyers to have a punt and hopefully make getting onto the property ladder an easier and less stressful experience.’

We wanted to come up with a novel way of selling this trendy pad and also help other people at the same time. We want to encourage first time buyers to have a punt

Lara bought the flat at auction for £190,000 in 2014 and did it up in an on-trend, industrial chic style. The plan was to sell it on for a profit, but things didn’t quite go to plan.

‘I put it on the market for £300,000 and had a lot of interest but no offers,’ said said Lara, ‘so I dropped the price to £275,000 but it still wouldn’t sell.’

She has so much confidence in the idea that she and her property developer husband have launched houseagogo, a company that will use the same method to ‘sell’ other people’s homes.

‘We want to put the fun back into property,’ says Lara. ‘We will also be giving away 10% of proceeds to a mental health charity as we believe this is one of the root causes of homelessness and 10% to a local council project.’

See houseagogo.com to buy up to 500 £2 tickets. Competition closes 5 May 2018.