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Buncrana family raffle their home
for
charity
04.12.13
A FAMILY who won a
luxury five-bedroom house as prices skyrocketed in
the boom are handing it back – bed-linen and all.
The McLaughlins are giving back the keys to their
€165,000 home at 58 Mulberry Avenue, Buncrana to
help the autism charity that first raffled it in
2006.
"It's time for us to move on. We are building a new
house and that has only been made possible because
of all the money we saved living mortgage-free for
the past seven years," said Carleen McLaughlin (30). |
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Mark and Carleen
McLaughlin, with children Ailbhe (5) and Oisin (3),
who are giving their family home at 58 Mulberry
Avenue, Buncrana, Co Donegal, to be raffled for
children with autism. |
"We were going to sell
the house on the open market but then the light-bulb
moment came and it was as clear as black and white -
it could be raffled again to help Inishowen
Children's Autism Related Education (iCARE).
"The thinking was, they would get the funds they
desperately need and we would get the market price
for the house - and the gift of no mortgage would be
handed to somebody new." |
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The spacious fitted kitchen at 58
Mulberry Avenue. |
The generous
mother-of-two and husband Mark (37) run a concrete
flooring business and have suffered like thousands
of others in the building industry collapse. They
currently employ several people and hire more when
contracts demand.
They've had two healthy children Ailbhe (5) and
Oisin (3) since moving into their lucky Mulberry
Avenue house and say it has been a "very happy
home".
“We hope the new owners are as happy as we were
here. We have had really great times and we have
lovely neighbours.
“We could have sold the house the day we won it for
€250,000 but I’m glad we didn’t,” she added. The
property, which the McLaughlin’s are leaving
fully-furnished including appliances and soft
furnishings, was recently valued by two local estate
agents at €165,000. |
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One of the beautiful five bedrooms at
58 Mulberry Avenue. |
But the big-hearted
couple have knocked a whopping €10,000 off the price
to help the charity further. They are also centrally
involved in the raffle which will be drawn in June
2014. Tickets are €20 and it is hoped sales will
surpass the 19,000 tickets sold last time. Second
prize in the mega draw is €10,000.
Meanwhile, the McLaughlins hope to move into their
new dream home by the sea at Stragill about six
weeks before the winner is announced. They are
conscious they might not receive their €155,000 for
some time after the draw but they’ll be ready for
the move.
"We've been building our new house slowly as and
when we could afford it over the past four years. It
is fully up but we still need to do all the
interiors," added Carleen.
Angela Tourish of iCARE said the charity was
delighted with the family's generosity. For more
details see
www.icare.ie . |
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