Eco-lodge still up for sale in raffle

A Manawatu woman’s Ecuadorian ecolodge is still up for sale in a $41-a-ticket raffle as the minimum ticket number has not been reached.

Palmerston North’s Rebecca Greenshields and her husband Doug built the 11-bedroom guest house in Banos a decade ago, and devised this different way of selling it to offer a wider cross section of people a chance to buy such a home.

The couple originally planned to close the raffle on Sunday but have extended it until May 31 because they had not reached the minimum of 35,000 tickets.

‘‘Basically, we were naive and completely underestimated the time and effort needed to do something like this.’’

If the minimum is still not reached the raffle winner will receive half the competition’s proceeds, while the rest will cover expenses and go to charity.

The eco-lodge would then be put on the market at a subsidised market price, Greenshields said.

Greenshields said she wanted someone to win the lifestyle ‘‘rather than a bunch of money’’.

‘‘We have so much support from most of the ticket holders and they’re all dreaming of winning.

‘‘We’re doing it for those people - for the dreamers, like us.’’

The raffle was originally capped at 250,000 tickets but it has been dropped to 50,000 tickets giving people more chance to have the home.

A second and third prize of $US10,000 and $US5,000, had also been added, Greenshields said.

About 40 per cent of the ticket holders are from America and 20 per cent are from New Zealand. In total people from 39 countries have entered.

Given New Zealand’s size in relation to America and Australia, Kiwis featured prominently in the draw, Greenshields said.

The family was currently back at the eco-lodge relaxing and enjoying the warm climate, Greenshields said.