English homeowner giving away $1.7 million mansion for the price of a coffee

A homeowner in Bristol, England, will give away a 19th century cottage to a competition winner, for the price of a coffee.

After her house had been on the market for more than a year for £1 million ($1.7 million) and had failed to find a buyer, business owner Tricia Hamilton decided to try a more creative approach.

Mrs Hamilton has ambitious hopes of selling 500,000 entry tickets at just £2 ($3.50) each, which would meet the cost of the home.

The winner will also have all the fees and stamp duty paid for them. 

“It’s very unique, which works well for such an unconventional sale. It’s not a typical four-bedroom and I’d describe it as a ‘Tardis’, as it’s much more spacious than it first appears,” she says on the competition website. 

Mrs Hamilton says her intention is to reinvest the funds from the raffle in her hat-making business Tricia Designs. 

“I’d love to move back home and be near my family. I’m also developing business opportunities in the area, which I’d like to build on.

“I would love to see someone with a family win it as it’s a great place to raise children,” she says. 

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Mrs Hamilton put the three-storey house on the market a year ago with Knight Frank.

She has since cut £300,000 off the original asking price, reducing it to £875,000.

The four-bedroom house, named “Roselands” was built in 1829 and sits on an acre of land. 

It has recently been renovated, with historic fixtures restored, lime-mortar walls repaired and the removal of bricks from windows blocked up to avert the 19th century window tax.

The competition will open on February 15 and run for six months, with an option to extend if not enough tickets have sold. 

As British gambling laws dictate it is illegal to raffle off anything over a certain value unless there is a test of skill involved, Mrs Hamilton is considering different ways to sell tickets, including potentially testing entrants with a history quiz.