From the Chicago Tribune:

Trying to separate his 5,600 square-foot western Wisconsin home from others in the real estate glut, Fanning, 69, has come up with an odd incentive: The buyer will be named beneficiary to a 10-year, $500,000 term life insurance policy. If Fanning dies in that time, the purchase price of the Whitehall, Wis., home — listed at $498,900 — is covered.

Most younger sellers couldn't plausibly use such a sales tactic, Peters said, but when someone is 69 "the odds are getting to the point where people realize that there's a significant chance that they could collect."