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Meet the Jewish family in Elstree who are raffling off their house
Daniel and Lauren Leigh have opted for a house-selling technique which is growing in popularity in the UK - and will be documenting the process on social media
A Jewish family in Elstree have decided to move on from their £1.6 million home in the area – but instead of selling it via an estate agent, they are offering people the chance to win it in a raffle.
Daniel and Lauren Leigh, together with their children, decided to take an innovative approach to their house sale; an approach which Daniel says stemmed from him climbing Kilimanjaro last October”, saying “It was probably the greatest mental and physical challenge I’ve ever faced.
“Standing at the peak of the mountain really made me realise how much life there is still left to experience and how important it is to take bold opportunities when they come along.” That led him to “want to take on as many challenges as possible”, he said.
At the same time, he had been noting the rise of house raffles in the UK, describing being “bombarded by Omaze”, a company which has almost become synonymous with house raffles.
As described on the family’s website, “most of the houses you see in the raffle space are being raffled by large companies. So that got us thinking…what would it look like if the average person could raffle their home and give someone the chance to win it, mortgage free, all costs taken care of, for £5?”
Daniel and Lauren met at JFS – they were actually in the same class – and he was fortunate enough to have her support for the idea – “the boss had to say yes, otherwise it wasn’t happening”. The Raffle is hosted and administered via Raffall.com, though the rest of the process is up to the Leighs themselves.
Their plan is to document the whole journey, via social media, particularly Instagram and TikTok. While Lauren, who works as a life coach, has a social media presence, Daniel runs a recruitment business and by his own admission, has “never really used social media much before”; he is learning as he goes.
That use of social media is likely to be all-important, since, as Daniel notes, “the success of a raffle like this completely relies on public reach and engagement. Without visibility, people simply never discover it.
“That’s why such a huge focus for us is creating entertaining, authentic content and documenting the entire process online through video and social media.”
The reality of the amount of work involved in filming reaction videos for social media has already hit home.
“We’ve already had moments where the reality behind creating online content has been far harder than people probably imagine. You see brilliant 10-second clips online, but recently we spent nearly five hours filming on the streets trying to engage members of the public and received hundreds of rejections before getting anything usable.”
The raffle itself has now begun – 3,000 tickets were sold in the first 24 hours – and will continue over the next six and a half months, with the prize draw taking place in early December. A portion of the ticket sale revenue will go to Solace Women’s Aid, which helps provide life-changing support to women and children experiencing domestic abuse and violence.
“We want people to follow the journey from the very beginning — the emotions behind the decision, the behind-the-scenes planning, the launch itself, family life inside the home, and ultimately the possibility of changing someone’s life by handing over the keys to a dream home”, Daniel says. Alternatively, if someone wins the raffle but doesn’t want the house, they will be able to opt for a £1.2 million cash prize.
While this way of divesting oneself of a property might not be for everyone, the family are hopeful that they might inspire others to do the same.
“Hopefully by documenting the journey, the possibility of raffling a home will be open to everybody following the process”, says Daniel.
Find out more about the Leigh’s journey here.
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