A Newport father who tried to sell his £300,000 home in a competition says he is bitterly disappointed after losing more than £2,000 when just 305 of the 35,000 tickets sold.
The five bedroom home of Mike Barwell at 16 Upper Bar was up for grabs in a competition for the price of a £15 ticket.
Last November Mr Barwell launched the competition after the housing downturn meant his home would never fetch the £300,000 he wanted for it.
The 60-year-old was also planning to hand over thousands to two charities in town, but the lack of entries has slashed that donation to £200.
“I am very, very disappointed. The people that entered the competition say they are very surprised that the up take was not bigger.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do now. If someone was to offer me a good price for the house I would take it tomorrow,” said Mr Barwell.
In a bid to sell more tickets, Mr Barwell added he has forked out thousands of pounds trying to get the competition out to the public, and lost money in the long run.
“I think the reason it didn’t happen was because of a lack of support from other newspapers. All of the local papers would not support it, with the exception of the Advertiser.
“If anything, I have lost money on it, I spent over £2,000 between advertising and everything else just to get people to buy tickets,” he added.
But all is not lost for those who entered the competition as the £15 ticket saw them entered into a draw for £2,900.
The winner was 39-year-old Peter Bogatircuks from Berkshire who bought his ticket on eBay.
Mr Bogatircuks said he now plans to spend the money on a holiday and home improvements.
He said: “I’m very happy that I won, although it would have been better if more people invested money in it.”
Also benefiting from the cash is Oxfam on Upper Bar and Newport Cottage Care Centre, who are both getting a cheque for £100.
Manager of Oxfam, Norma Haycock, pulled out the winning ticket and said the cash was coming at a good time for the shop, who wanted to splash out on some new books.
“We are very very pleased with the donation because we were thinking about buying some books for national book fortnight at Oxfam, and now we can.
“The money then raised by us will go to Africa for education use.”
