Wakefield family's £1 house raffle 'will change somebody's life'

A Wakefield family are auctioning off their home and car to one lucky bidder - and you could be in with a chance of winning for just 1. Photos: Dale Tate

When Dale and Kathy Tate decided to relocate their family to Australia, they knew it would mean leaving their house behind.

But rather than opt for a traditional sale, they decided to mix things up by offering their house and car on an online auction site, and making 400,000 raffle tickets available for just £1.

Wakefield family auction off four bedroom house for £1 - but tickets are selling fastAs well as the four bedroom house and 2017 Volvo XC90 Hybrid, the winner will also receive a year of car insurance - and the Tates will even fork out for the first year of council tax on the property.

Dale said: "Somebody is going to win this house. That would be the best send-off for us, knowing that we've changed somebody's life.

"We've got decorators in. We want it to be perfect. They're going through the entire house and decorating everywhere.

"Whoever moves in to there is going to have no worries in life. It would be nice if we can get there.

"We never expected it. I never in a million years thought it would get to 200,000 [tickets] in 10 days.

"It would be nice for somebody in the Wakefield area to pick it up, what a great opportunity.

"Get a ticket and that's it, you've got as much chance as anyone."

A new build, the four bedroom house is located in Ossett, and includes off road parking, a detached single garage and an enclosed garden.

More than 197,000 tickets have now been sold, and the couple are expecting another spike in sales as many people celebrate payday this weekend.

On Saturday, Dale said tickets were selling at an average of one per second, and interest was so high that the host website was frequently overwhelmed.

Despite receiving a few nasty messages, Dale said the family had been overwhelmed with the positive response to the competition, with many people reaching out to thank them for making tickets so affordable.

"We've had 50 or 60 people message us," he said. "Saying 'I'll buy more tickets when I get paid', or 'I'm buying 20 tickets a day and I'll keep doing it until it's done'.

"I think it's the pricing of it. If we'd have gone down the £5 or £10 route we wouldn't have reached so many people.

"We've had so many nice messages from people all over the country thanking us for making it affordable."

To find out more about the competition, or to buy tickets, visit the Raffall website here.