A retired US lawyer living in Laois intends to raffle off his €800k home for €5 tickets.

Seventy year old Sean O'Brien has lived with his family outside Durrow for eight years, and with his children leaving home for university, he has decided to sell his house for a smaller one in Durrow village.

He was inspired to raffle off his property on a British raffle website, Raffall.

Mr O'Brien will include the furniture in his home, and will pay the stamp duty and legal costs for both himself and the lucky raffle winner in receipt of the fabulous house.

"It's not for everybody, and it won't be some universal thing that will hurt estate agents. When I was in my twenties, thirties and forties, I couldn't afford a home like the one I live in now. It was out of reach," Mr O'Brien told the Leinster Express / Laois Live.

"In Dublin for example, home prices are staggering, and rent in some ways are worse. So I thought, what a great idea for a young family, for the cost of five pounds or six euros, could end up in their dream home," he said.

"I just loved the whole idea."

Mr O'Brien must sell 225,000 tickets to receive the value of this house. The homeowner will receive €1.3 million euro from raffle ticket sales, with Raffall receiving 10% of the earnings. He revealed that so far, just over £60k has been spent on tickets.

If all 225k tickets are not sold, the winner receives half of the money raised through ticket sales. Ten percent of the other half accrued will go to Raffall, and the rest to Mr O'Brien, who will keep his house.

Mr O'Brien explained that he had previously tried to sell the home through an estate agent, and his friends advised him that he was "completely undervaluing" the house, considering Dublin prices.

"I started to look into it, and thought, maybe they are right. The auctioneers valued the house for €800k, and when you think about it, I have Irish stone walls with electric gates, a beautiful tree lined driveway, four and a half acres of manicured lawns and I am on the back of a wildlife park. If this were in Dublin, it would easily be €5 million," Mr O'Brien said.

Mr O'Brien will include the furniture in this sale, in the hopes that "a young family" will be the one to win this home.

"It is a perfect family home, I remodelled it for myself and my kids. It's ready to move in to, with solar panels and EV chargers. I did the works on this house," he said.

Mr O'Brien is ready for change, and to welcome a young family into the property.

"I'm 70 years old and I would like to move into the village. I can walk to everything then," Mr O'Brien explained.

"This is my only property, I'm just a family guy with one home. People can enter as many times as they like, most people have been buying bundle packages of tickets. It's remarkable what people have spent so far," he finished.

The draw for Greystones Manor will either take place when all tickets are sold, or on October 15.

Those interested in buying a ticket to win Mr O'Brien's home can do so here.

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