Woman hopes property lottery will clear mortgage

A LOTTERY for the deeds of a shop and apartment is a last attempt by a Cashel woman to pay off her negative equity mortgage.

Anne O’Keeffe (33) hopes to sell up to 3,500 tickets at € 100 each, the purchasers of which will be in with a chance to win her former beauty salon premises in the centre of the town.

Ms O’Keeffe bought the property for €260,000 in 2006, the peak of the property boom, and ran a salon there until she was forced to cease trading due to the economic downturn.

Since putting the 56sq m unit on sale two years ago, she has only had two viewings. With a last valuation of €160,000, the property is now said to be worth less than that.

Ms O’Keeffe’s interest-only mortgage payments will end in June. Now a part-time bar worker, she says the consequent tripling of her monthly repayments is something she will not be able to afford.

Having consulted with her bank, a solicitor and the Garda on the proposed raffle, which is being run under the Gaming Act, Ms O’Keeffe woman decided to proceed.

The deeds of the property, which holds both residential and commercial planning, will go to the winner.

Having already sold a few hundred tickets, she assures those who are sceptical that the venture is legal, with players in the raffle having to answer the game-of-skill question: “Which famous monument overlooks the town of Cashel?”

The former salon owner says the draw will go ahead if she sells 2,000 tickets.

Ms O’Keeffe has said her bank did not care how she got the money back.

She says that even if she fails to sell enough tickets to repay them, she will either hold a draw for the amount she has raised or return the ticket cost to raffle participants.

The closing date for a chance to win the Cashel property is May.

More details can be found on 100europroperty.ie