In some areas of the country, including our own, we have seen some innovative ways to sell a home in today's real estate market. You can actually buy a home and help a charity all at the same time and feel really great about it.
The house raffle has been in the real estate industry for decades. However, now there is a whole new way that the house raffle works.
Many homeowners are worried that they will not be able to sell their home in this bad economy. Therefore, several have turned to raffling it off in hopes of selling it for what they owe or more. The catch now is, for 
the raffle to be legal in many states, you have to donate a portion of it to a charity.
Single-family homes are being raffled off for $100 per ticket, with an open raffle of around two to three months. Some homes raffles have been successful, selling 27,000 $50 tickets to buy a $432,000 home. Others have seen success with selling 6,280 $100 tickets to buy a $390,000 home. And yet others have been successful with selling 6,500 $100 tickets to buy a $400,000 home. The list goes on and on with many success stories.
Some homeowners have had more trouble with house raffles than others because of state laws. However, many have gotten around that with the help of nonprofit organizations. Whereas an individual cannot raffle their own home and donate a portion of the money to the charity, a charity can raffle a home and donate a portion of the money to a person. Of course, more legal issues arise in this type of situation, but many have found success in it.
So, if you're a homeowner having a really hard time selling your home, this may be an option for you. Just remember, it is always good to contact a real estate professional when handling any type of real estate transaction. Even if it's a house raffle.
Realtors® Tom & Bev Herring ~ Tulsa Oklahoma Real Estate
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I have not seen any of these raffles in our area. I find this amazing and hope it helps folks get out of financial difficulty. Very interesting!
I've seen trips attached to sales and recently an agent in my office offered the dealer discount through her husband on a luxury car - I don't know if these actually work though.
Tom & Bev - I have seen several attempts at these but never did see a successful one. As you stated, state laws get in the way.