A couple of Ottawa house flippers say they’re offering the chance to win a million-dollar home for just $25 and a 100-word essay.
Connie and Allan McIntosh listed the five-bedroom house in the Alta Vista neighbourhood more than a year ago and it didn’t sell.
“We took (the listing) off,” Connie McIntosh told CTV News Ottawa. “We just said, let’s try something different.”
The McIntoshs say they are hoping that 50,000 people will enter their contest, which would bring in $1.25 million. They say they will donate some of that to charity if the contest goes ahead.
Entrants need to tell the McIntoshs “how and why winning this house would change your life, and the life of others,” according to the contest rules listed online.
They say that if the contest is cancelled, the entrance fees will be refunded.
“I don’t know if this is a good idea and nobody does until its finished,” Connie McIntosh said. “But the result for one family winning this house is worth everything.”
Melanie and Ron Merkley toured the home at an open house on Saturday.
“It’s spectacular,” Melanie Merkley said. “It makes us really excited actually for the prospect and opportunity of maybe winning it.”
Rob Merkley said the couple has a big family and has fostered 15 children. “We would like to do more with fostering and we need more space,” he said.
The McIntoshs were inspired by a contest in Alberta that sought 68,000 $25 entries to cover the cost of a $1.7 million house that also hadn’t sold the typical way.
That contest did not end up going ahead and refunds are being processed, according to a note posted on the contest website.
