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With the housing market slowing in Albuquerque, sellers are trying some unusual approaches to bring buyers to their doors.

Some are throwing in amenities — such as new appliances or the chance to win Disney furniture for children — to sweeten the deal.

Earlier this month, Longford Homes, a Las Vegas, Nev., company with housing developments in Albuquerque and Santa Fe, had its first-ever auction. The company put up 30 homes on the Duke City's northwest side that have sat empty an average of six months.

That auction helped Colorado resident Emmet Main and his wife turn the glut of properties and national credit troubles into warmer winters and a chance to be closer to family.

Main, 77, and his wife had considered moving to Albuquerque for a year. They knew the Southwest well after touring it in their motor home for the past 10 years. Main's sister and sister-in-law live in the area. New Mexico's mild winters posed another draw.

The main problem was the cost of homes.

"Prices have been out of sight," he said. "Up, up, up for the past few years. It has gone out of reach for a lot of people."

Main walked away from the auction paying $230,000 for a house previously priced at roughly $300,000 by Longford Homes.

Another auction attendee, Albuquerque native Greg Montaño, wasn't so lucky.

"On a single income, even with a decent job, it's still hard," Montaño said. "The lowest house went for, like, 170, and my top bid was 155."

But given the buyer's market, Montaño is confident he has plenty of time to find a good deal.

The Longford Homes auction at the Albuquerque Convention Center was definitely a change of pace from a typical Sunday tour of open houses. While the auctioneer poured numbers from his mouth in a rhythmic, guttural monotone, his tuxedo-wearing assistants rushed between aisles waving their arms, clenching their fists, clapping their hands and shouting out the bids they took from audience members who lifted numbered white cards.

In the corner, a line of young women steadily applauded and smiled. The auctioneer interspersed his pitch with jokes — "I'm going to ask you 10 more times, maÕam; I don't have time to beg you," he said as he playfully requested bids from a woman in the audience.

The auction was meant to get homes sold fast in a slow market, said Tracy Murphy, the company's vice president — and it worked, with buyers picking up all the homes.

But the company has no plans for auctions in the future, she said.

"Going forward, we have some current products that are being revised or redesigned in order to better fit the market," she said, noting that harder-to-get loans mean buyers aren't willing to spend as much as they have in the past.

"We're looking at maybe some homes that are lower prices, depending on what subdivision we're looking at. We're also looking at revising some of the floor plans."

More unusual approaches are also afoot.

One Albuquerque seller who didn't want to be named is giving away an antique dinner table, a hutch and china with his house.

Some builders are offering kitchens full of appliances, while others, including KB Home, have sweepstakes for buyers that will offer a chance at a room full of Disney furniture.

Farther afield, in California, some buyers are offering Mini Coopers in driveways as incentives. A developer in Winston-Salem, N.C., gave away a 2008 Chevrolet Aveo with every home purchased at one of its developments.

In the current market, Pulte Homes of New Mexico sales manager Joe Maez has this advice: Take advantage of the dropping market and buy homes while you can.

"It's a huge opportunity, because there's a perception of a buyer's market," he said. "2008 is going to be a seller's market again."