Typically homes are for sale, not on sale.

However, in response to troubled housing markets across the U.S., one of the nation's largest residential real estate brokerage firms is holding a 10-day sale during which it has convinced sellers to discount 25,000 to 30,000 properties, including almost 100 in Hawai'i.

Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC said the initiative, which runs Oct. 10-19, is the first time in history that home price reductions have been coordinated nationally in an effort to spur sales.

The company's Hawai'i affiliate, Coldwell Banker Pacific Properties, plans to discount nearly 100 homes, mostly on O'ahu, by 5 percent to 20 percent.

"It's our hope that the Coldwell Banker 10-day sales event will move buyers off the sidelines and into the market," said Chason Ishii, Coldwell Pacific president.

Holding a sale, or discounting, is common among retailers and other businesses from hotels to automobile dealers trying to bolster business. But it's a rather unusual marketing stunt for a real estate brokerage firm.

Usually, homeowners who have trouble selling their property sometimes resort to price reductions based upon advice from their broker. Given that O'ahu's housing market is in its fourth year of declining sales, there have been plenty of price reductions.

According to property search site www.oahure.com, roughly 950 of the 2,000 single-family homes on O'ahu listed on the market have been reduced in price.

For instance, in Kailua there were 40 homes priced under $820,000 and reductions ranged from 1 percent to 33 percent, or $10,000 to $156,000. In the 'Ewa region, there were 123 homes priced under $600,000 and reductions ranged from just under 1 percent to 24 percent, or $1,000 to $119,000.

Coldwell Banker solicited clients who were willing to participate in the sale program. Nationally, about half of the company's roughly 3,000 offices agreed to participate with a significant number of properties discounted by at least 5 percent. Participating properties will be part of a special advertising campaign.

The company said a recent survey of 3,379 Coldwell Banker agents found that 77 percent said most sellers still have unrealistic expectations about the initial listing price of their homes. Also, 76 percent of agents surveyed believed that dropping prices up to 10 percent would result in homes selling.

"Our brokers and sale associates agreed that, even in the current climate, it will not take much movement to attract those buyers who have been waiting and watching," Jim Gillespie, Coldwell Banker president and CEO, said in a statement.

As part of the 10-day sale event in Hawai'i, Coldwell Pacific agents will be collecting donations for the Institute for Human Services, a nonprofit assisting the homeless.