First Spanish villa to be offered for sale through the national State Lottery
26.02.2010
It is not the first home in Spain to be sold via an internet lottery following the collapse of the real estate market which deprived more than 500,000 homes of a market. But it is the first that will be drawn through the national State Lottery.
A villa in Manacor, southeast of the island of Mallorca (Balearic Islands), measuring 112.5 square metres with 1,078 metres of land, is the prize. The owners, Heinrich Peter Boddenberg and Gitta Elke, a retired German couple, have a clear purpose: gain as much profit as possible from the sale, even amidst the absence of demand. And, for this, any method is viable, as long as it is legal.
The State Lottery and Gambling office stated that "It was surprising, because we receive requests for all kinds of lotteries, but this is the first of its kind. We check to avoid fraud and guarantee that the winner will get his prize".
Boddenberg, a former financial advisor, filed the competition papers with a notary in Manacor, and paid 163,350 euros to the State Lottery and Gambling office (which has exclusive jurisdiction over the organisation of national competitions), which are equal to 15% of the 1.089 million which he hopes to make from the sale of the 11,000 lottery tickets priced at 99 euros each.
In three weeks he sold almost 400 tickets on the internet, half of which to Mallorca residents, and the other half to residents in Spain. After having also consulted a marketing company, he expressed his optimism to El Pais: "The tickets could be all sold within seven or eight months".
The draw is scheduled for 18 January 2011, but could be anticipated if the tickets sell out earlier. The German pensioner also promised to donate 91 cents for each participation in Medecins Sans Frontieres. Personally, he is risking a lot: the lottery will be held in any case, even if the not all the 11,000 tickets are sold, and he will take care of property transfer expenses and real estate taxes, in addition to the outstanding 50,000 euros for the mortgage and notary expenses.
If everything goes according to plan, the owner will net 650,000 euros, compared to the 350,000 he paid for the chalet purchased in 1999 from a fellow countryman. But if he only manages to sell half of the tickets, his return will be cut down to 150,000 euros. In order to join the lottery all that has to be done is to compile a form on
www.ganaunochalet.eu and deposit 99 euros on a Barclays bank account which entitles the depositor to a unique number linked to an alphanumeric number which identifies the participant.
Source: ANSAmed
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