URBANDALE, Iowa -- Iowa realtors said Wednesday it's a challenge for homeowners in the Des Moines metro area to sell their town homes.

"I don't think anybody's seen a market like this before," agent Neil Timmins said.

Timmins was showing a Triton home in Urbandale on Wednesday. Outside, the sign in the yard includes the words "new price."

"We dropped the price only $5,000 but we listed it down below $10,000 what she paid for it 2 years ago. So today we're $15,000 below what she paid for it," said Timmins.

The seller will be out close to 22 percent in two year after closing costs and commission fees are also subtracted out of the sale.

"We're looking at a check of $27,000 easy," Timmins said.

"It was more difficult than we had anticipated," homeowner Ed Wallace said.

He just sold his town home after more than six months on the market, but he considers himself lucky because he said he only lost five or six percent.

"There's a whole glut of town homes, especially clustered together," Wallace said.

"The inventory levels today are huge. They represent about 27 percent of total homes on the market today," Timmins said.

Real estate agents said 54 percent of town homes up for sale are brand new units.

"It's a lot easier for a builder to give a discount than it is a homeowner to give a discount," Timmins said.

Timmins said he's seeing more people try to sell their homes on their own to avoid the realty fees, another sign of a poor market.

He said right now he's working to sell several town homes for $10,000, $15,000 and $20,000 less than what they're worth.