New Year's Resolutions for Those Braving the Market's Cold Waters

For best results, stage the home before you invite any real estate agents or brokers in to assess how much it is worth. If they walk into your home and say "Wow! What a great place you have here," you know you've done it right.

Throw, give or pack away anything you haven't used in the last three to five years. You should also give your home a thorough cleaning and address any small fixer-upper projects you've been putting off.

Once your home is clean, assess what kind of other work needs to be done. Should you give your home's interior and exterior a fresh coat of white paint? Should the windows be washed? The wood floor polished? Does your landscaping require a visit or two by a professional landscaper? Whatever you decide to do, make sure it's completely finished before you invite anyone to see your home.

Finally, move out excess furniture, buy matching towel sets for the bathroom and make sure you have new bedcovers with matching pillows in the bedrooms. Your home should look put together, as if you were auditioning for the cover of a home decorating magazine.

· Invite at least three agents to create a comparative marketing analysis.

Often, sellers simply call the agent who sold them their home to list it. While you may end up with that person, you'll be doing yourself a favor if you invite a couple of other agents in from different firms.

Why? Because each agent will have a different marketing plan and idea about how much your home is worth. A comparative marketing analysis, or CMA, is a sales tool that analyzes homes similar to yours that have recently sold, presents a marketing plan and suggested list price. They may give you ideas that you can share with the agent you finally choose.

If you don't like any of the three agents you've invited to your home, get some referrals and invite additional agents to prepare a CMA. Ask the agents you invited who they think is the best agent in town (other than themselves, of course).

· Know what my selling timetable is before I list my home.

Do you want to sell or do you need to sell? If you need to be out in three months or less, you'll need an aggressive agent with a very competitive list price. If you've got six months or a year in which to sell, you may price your home a little higher or pick a different type of agent. Knowing when you have to move -- and sharing that crucial bit of information with your agent -- allows you to choose a correct pricing and marketing strategy.