Too many skeptics and too few entries end contest for house
An Ottawa couple have called off their “write-a-letter-win-this-home” contest because of a lack of entries.
“House flippers” Connie and Allan McIntosh cancelled their contest in September and are working to refund the $25 entry fees they collected.
“We weren’t getting enough entries, unfortunately,” Connie McIntosh said Wednesday. “There was a lot of skepticism, with people wondering ‘What’s wrong with this?’ instead of thinking, ‘Here is somebody who wants to do something good for someone else’.”
The couple bought the 1960s-era house on Bowman Avenue from an elderly widow and say they’ve poured some $350,000 into improvements, including adding marble countertops, redoing bathrooms, replacing the main staircase and adding high-tech appliances. They landscaped the yard, added two decks and a gazebo and outfitted a climate-controlled wine cellar.
When they had trouble selling the house, they decided to hold the contest, modelling it after a similar house giveaway run by a woman in Millarville, Alta., southwest of Calgary. The couple asked entrants to write a 250-character letter saying why they wanted the house and what they would do to “pay it forward” to others if they won.
The couple had only received about 10 per cent of the roughly 50,000 entries they needed to break even when they decided to pull the plug after three months.
One problem, McIntosh said, was that they found themselves competing with the annual CHEO Dream of a Lifetime house lottery.
“When they launched that, the visits to our website really dropped. Then the entries stopped coming in.”
The rules said the couple could cancel the contest and refund the entry fee if it didn’t generate enough interest. McIntosh posted the cancellation on the contest website and Facebook page on Sept. 17 and offered people the option of donating their entry fee to one of three affiliated charities: Operation Come Home; SchoolBOX and Special Olympics. She’s waiting to hear back from entrants before issuing the refunds. A death in the family has also slowed processing the refunds.
Most entries they did get came from North America, although others arrived from Russia, Europe, Asia and Africa, she said.
The couple will deduct the cost of issuing the refund before returning the money.
“If that comes as a shock to someone, then they didn’t read the terms and conditions.”
In August, the Alberta contest was also cancelled when the homeowner received only about 4,000 entries of the 68,000 she needed to break even on her $1.7-million property. The woman said she received death threats after cancelling the contest.
McIntosh said she received a lot of negative comments too. “They’re not fun to read. All I could do was let them have the last word.”
McIntosh said they haven’t ruled out trying a contest again, but cautioned private sellers to be wary.
“I would tell people that if it’s a private sale, don’t do this. For us, this is our business so this was just a part of doing business. We needed to do more market research. It has to be the right price point and it has to be the right house. But it’s good to try new things.”
For now, the Bowman house is back on the market. Asking price? $1,079,000.
I would tell people that if it’s a private sale, don’t do this.
For us, this is our business so this was just a part of doing business.