Others, though, are finding creative ways around the rules. Julie Sigwart, a Web designer, is holding what she calls a "skills contest" to give away her six-bedroom, four-bathroom house with ocean views in Maui, which she has been trying to sell since last October.

As in the raffle for Crawford and Kelly's home, she will charge a $100 entry fee, but participants will have to write an essay — the theme is "Aloha, what does it mean to you?" — which will be judged by a group of "prominent members of the community," she said. (The judges have yet to be finalized.) Because the contest isn't a game of chance, state approval is not required, and teaming with a nonprofit group isn't necessary.

Sigwart has wanted to downsize for more than a year, and has repeatedly marked her house down, from $729,000 to $600,000. But the market in her area is terrible; she recently attended an open house in a nearby neighborhood and was the only person there. After a contract on her house fell through in August, her husband suggested the contest, and she created a Web site for it this week. Asked when she hopes to begin the contest and declare a winner, she replied, "As soon as possible on both counts."

Scott Bernard, a marketing consultant and another frustrated seller, is also holding a skills-based contest, although the word "skills" in this case might be generous. Each contestant vying for his remodeled, one-story ranch house in Sebastian, Fla., which he bought in 2005 for $217,000 and renovated for $30,000 in hopes of flipping it, must submit a $49 entrance fee and a copy of a black-and-white line drawing that he or she downloads from a Web site and colors by hand. Three judges (a Philadelphia artist, a local business owner and a former mayor of the town) will pick the top 20 entries based on "creativity," and those images will be posted online so the public can pick a winner, "American Idol"-style.

The line drawing shows two dancers; it's meant as an homage to Support Dance, a nonprofit in Lake Worth, Fla., that Bernard has decided to work with even though he is not legally required to. Teaming with a charity allows him to feel that the project is "not just about Scott Bernard getting rid of his house," he said, and he will set aside $2 from every entry for the organization.