New Omaze Cornwall House

[ShyMaryEllen]

https://omaze.co.uk/pages/cornwall-iv

What do we think?

It has a faintly Poirot look about it. I think it's gorgeous, but it's another one that would need a live-in window cleaner. Omaze do like a house with a lot of glass😀.

I'd love to eat breakfast on the terrace with that view of the sea, though - even if most of the year I'd be wearing a duffle coat.

Have you been spying on my daydreams?😲

I was thinking of converting the stables into some sort of hostel, and using it for Arvon-style poetry holidays.

@ShyMaryEllen yes! I am in the last year of a PhD in creative writing (mature student with teens off to uni soon and a DH desperate to retire), so buy omaze tickets (and lotto ones) just in case I could ever afford a place to set up a business mortgage free and give my DH the financial freedom to quit. [Sighs] my fantasy is to call DH at work one dat and tell him to ‘get his jacket, he’s scored… a new life’.

Haven’t read the whole thread so might have already been posted but I read somewhere (can’t remember where!) many of these houses are difficult to sell due to things such as being on flood plains or similar type things.

I did see an early post about credit checking people, why would that be?

I do remember there was a Lake District house couple of years back, around Christmas time, it was absolutely beautiful. Kind of decorated a bit like a Scottish lodge, I’d of loved that place!

I think it’s lovely but it is so near the cliff edge. How many years before it starts to fall into the sea?

I was tempted to have a go then thought about cliff erosion.

Is this the 'lighthouse' one from Grand Designs that took 12 years to build, stood abandoned for years, went 7 million over budget cost the guy his family and has failed to sell multiple times?

The Cornwall one was discussed wrt Grand Designs upthread, but there is a new one now, in Yorkshire. See above.

are you thinking of that huge glass house one - that one is on the market for £10m and still not sold but isn’t the lovely Devon property. Would have loved that one. Only one Omaze property had a history of being on a flood plane and i think it’s been sold since. All the others have had no issues, just moany people being picky about clifftop locations etc. Fair enough though if it’s not your thing. .

Omaze outbid someone for the Farnham one (I live near and an estate agent I knew handled the sale) - they are obviously not as worried about paying a bit more than the book value as they simply need to make a profit on the tickets, so if they think the place will attract more sales they pay more than asking price. But obviously the rumour that they buy problem properties seems rather unfounded.

Every time there is a new house someone says that Omaze is a scam, that the houses are unsaleable, that entrants are credit checked and that only 'a certain demographic' can win them. Nobody seems to read the thread, or they would have seen the countless times it's been shown that there is no evidence for any of these things.

Of course there are features with every house that won't suit every entrant. I don't want stables (and all the glass in the Cornwall one would drive me mad), but that wouldn't stop me from being delighted to win a house worth £2-3m 😀.

Don't get attached....its got my name on it! 😉😜😏

Some pics of it here from a previous listing which show more details of the attic space and outside areas.

www.onthemarket.com/details/12920800/#/photos/1

And some history on the property if you scroll down to Normanby Hill.

Looks like it’s listed which can be a hassle (or am I just trying to talk myself out of buying a ticket 🤣🙈).

www.normanby.info/Properties.htm#:~:text=Normanby%20Hill&text=Uninhabited%20in%20the%201881%20census,no%20relation%20to%20Margaret%20Wood).

@Left feel even more like buying a ticket - for a GII listed property it’s lovely as it is (could do with an orangery off the lounge I reckon, though 🤣).

Love reading about the history of the property and others in the area. Hope the winner appreciates it and is in a position to stay there.

I know this area. It is lovely but really rural and remote. Not surprised there isn't a huge market for houses that size there. Not really a commutable location. So not surprised that it was difficult to sell. (Which is why Omaze bought it)

The difficult to sell narrative is rubbish - the house was bought in 2020 for just under 2m, done up some more and sold very quickly in 2023. As I stated above, the Farnham house is around the corner from me - had multiple bidders and Omaze gazumped a buyer.

Most properties the winners sell, seem to sell within 6-9m (I am ASD, in a research profession and very very nosy 🤣) - there are a limited number of buyers in the £2-3m market, and at that budget buyers can be a little more fussy, so properties take longer to sell than properties under £1m but this is ‘the norm’ not an indication that they are problematic properties.

That's interesting @CautiousLurker ! Thanks

I loved the London house and could have actually lived in that one.

I like the fantasy of the Cornwall house, even in the winter storms, would loved to be all warm and snug inside watching the weather changing it would probably have to sell due to location.

Love fantasising about owning them all.

id def sell the new one though, doesn’t appeal at all

Yep @EnjoyingTheSilence - if I win the Cornwall house today/ tomorrow (know it closes today but no idea when they actually draw it), I think I’d love to keep it as a rental until the dcs are out of secondary school then I could move there, but the Yorkshire one would be on Rightmove immediately.

Jumping on here because I posted about a house draw elsewhere this morning

The Omaze House | Mumsnet

Such a similar process but I'd never heard of it before.

@EnjoyingTheSilence and @FancyBiscuitsLevel I am the opposite. I would be very happy with either, to be fair. If I won the Cornwall house I'd probably stay for a year or so hosting a few holidays for family and friends, but I am in love with the Yorkshire one, and can imagine living there. I'd probably try to sell off the stables, which might cover the cost of a driver 2-3 days a week - it looks a bit too remote as I don't drive - but the house itself is very much to my taste. What we've seen of it that is - they only ever photograph a few rooms, so I wonder what the rest are like, and if they only do up the ones they put in the ads.

@ShyMaryEllen ill make you a deal, you won’t the Cornwall house you can gift it to me, I then win the Yorkshire house and gift it to you 😂

I love the Cornwall one. The Yorkshire one is just…no. Clearly I’d be delighted to win it but only for the cash it would unlock; the stables make it too niche and too expensive. They’d have been better off turning those into a proper swimming pool

You're on! You'll have to wait till my family have all visited for their holidays, but we aren't a huge tribe, so one summer should do it 😀

@ShyMaryEllen it a problem 🤝

Bloody autocorrect. NOT a problem!

I agree. I live next to one and knew its flaws but was omnipotent to say anything.

However, I was 'Omazed' to read about the winner who claimed damages because the property was not the value that they believed it to be. As far as I recall, their claim was settled privately with Omaze.

The law of England & Wales is interesting. The winner did not get a £3m home. But they could only bring the claim 'as winner' despite the fact their £25 stake returned significantly in excess of that.

Personally, if a £3m home was only worth £1m and I won it on a £25 stake I wouldn't feel I lost out. That is why the claim was remarkable.

But as a concept, Omaze have done very well by their investors. The property finders are key.