Gazette photo by Steve Morris A Stillwater man will give away his house for free if the person who closes on the home hits a hole in one on a par 3 at Applewood Hills golf course in Grant. The shot is 209 yards for men and 179 for women. The buyer gets only one opportunity.

The feeble housing market has led some to devise quirky ploys to attract buyers in a crowded marketplace.

The latest: A Stillwater man will give away his house for free if the person who closes on the home hits a hole in one on a par 3 at Applewood Hills golf course in Grant. The shot is 209 yards for men and 179 for women. The buyer gets only one opportunity.

The owner of the house, Dan Brasch, 41, paid $250 for an insurance policy with a sports marketing firm to cover the cost if someone were to hit the shot.

After failing to receive a single offer on the four-bedroom, two bath house in the five months it's been on the market, Brasch said he decided to do something different.

"We are trying to do anything we can do to make the house stand out. We are competing against foreclosures and short sales," said his Realtor, Katherine Francis, from Counselor Realty.

The odds of hitting a hole in one vary depending on who is asked. Golf Digest puts the odds of acing a designated hole in a single round at 20,000 to 1. Regardless of the odds, Brasch is hoping to ploy will help sell his house.

"We have had interests ... and a lot of showings, but no offers yet," he said.

Brasch purchased the house, built in 1973, about three years ago for $249,000 and sunk an additional $10,000 into remodeling, adding a new roof and other things. The house is now listed for $239,900. When asked if the price will go lower, Francis responded: "Anything is possible."

Less than a week after announcing the plan, Brasch and Francis have not had any new showings. But they are hoping that changes after doing interviews with several media outlets.

Brasch is not the only person devising creative ways to sell a house. A couple from Maryland, after unsuccessfully trying to sell their farmhouse, decided to hold a raffle, selling $100 tickets with the winner getting the house. Francis said in 30 years of being a Realtor, her client's idea is one of the most unique she has seen.

Brasch, who was laid off from his job at a marketing firm last week, is now in a precarious position. He and his wife purchased a house in Stillwater's Liberty on the Lake neighborhood and are paying two mortgages. But Brasch says he won't be a foreclosure statistic.

"I am not in the soup line yet," he said in a phone interview this morning. "I won't foreclose. Never."

Many other homeowners in Washington County and the state, however, have fallen prey to foreclosure.

Rich Malloy, deputy executive director of the Washington County Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), said it is common for him to get 8-20 e-mail notices a week about homes approaching foreclosure.

Since January, Washington County has had 907 foreclosures. Stillwater has had 55, which ranks sixth among cities in the county.

Malloy said he has seen a five-fold increase in the number of foreclosures in the county in recent years.

According to HousingLink - an independent Twin Cities-based organization that specializes in the collection and distribution of affordable housing information - the Twin Cities metro area had around 3,700 foreclosures in 2005. In 2008, the projected number of foreclosures is expected to be around 20,000. St. Paul and Minneapolis were hit especially hard, Malloy said.

Malloy said half of all foreclosures are due to loss of income. Further, Malloy said he hasn't seen a slowdown in the amount of foreclosures in the county.

Despite the increasing foreclosure rate, Washington County has been taking steps to correct the problem. On Nov. 8, the county is sponsoring a free foreclosure workshop to county residents. The event, put on by the HRA, is scheduled for 10-11:30 a.m. on Saturday at the Woodbury Stafford Library.

Beyond the numbers, Francis is optimistic the housing market will improve when the new president takes office in January.

"I am not a new kid to the block. I have been doing this for 30 years. Things go up and things go down," Francis said.

---

To win the house, the shot must be video taped and a member of a law enforcement agency must be present. The house is located a 2511 Country Side Ct. For more information, contact Francis at Counselor Realty at 612-508-7474.