The majority of home sellers take on the task with a person that understands all of the complexities: a Real Estate Agent. They feel that it is better to entrust the sale of their biggest investment to a professional, rather than attempting to learn about selling a house in a trial and error method. In addition, many people would rather use an Agent due to the complexities of modern Real Estate transactions since they usually incorporate legal and financial attributes, which takes them well beyond more simple transactions, such as the sale of an automobile.

Some of the other advantages of working with Agents that home sellers will list include: access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) so that large numbers of buyers will have access to the seller's property, the fact that the Agent absorbs all of the cost of advertising and marketing, and the screening that will be done of potential buyers by Agents. In addition, the Agent handles the lion's share of the details of negotiation.

So how do you choose an Agent who will be effective? What is important to know about an Agent to determine whether you feel they will do a good job? The following questions should be asked of any prospective Real Estate Agent in order to assess their capabilities and philosophies.

What to look for in an Agent:

• A sense of professionalism
• A full time Agent who is committed to the profession (and who will be committed to getting your house sold!)
• A familiarity with the area in which your home is located
• A familiarity with the price range in which your house will be listed
• Evidence of advertising and marketing ability
• References from previous sellers

Questions to ask a prospective Agent:

• Are you a full time Agent?
• Are you an MLS (Multiple Listing Service) Member?
• How familiar are you with the area where our home is located?
• Can you supply 3 names and addresses of recent clients for whom you sold a home that we can contact for reference purposes?
• How did you arrive at the suggested listing price for our home?
• What is your specific marketing plan for our house?
• How do you plan on keeping us informed of the progress of the sale of our home?

If you bought a car, you could purchase a given model with selected features from any dealer. Since the car comes from one assembly plant, it's going to be the same whether purchased from dealer Smith or dealer Jones.

Homes are different. Each is unique, the marketplace is always in flux, interest rates constantly change and new buyers search for homes each day. With such fluidity, it requires Realtors to craft marketing plans specifically for individual homes and market conditions.

Selling can entail a variety of marketing strategies. Once listed, it's likely that the home will be quickly entered into the local MLS (Multiple Listing Service). Realtors routinely market by mail with new-listing announcements and regular newsletters. Open houses, broker access to the home via the use of a lock box and networking with both local and out-of-town brokers are also common.

Much of a broker's work will be quiet and unseen - yet important. The quiet telephone calls, the work with contacts, the follow-ups with open-house visitors, conversations with ad respondents, the web postings and other outreach efforts are all part of the process required to sell homes.

Experienced Realtors base their marketing efforts on previous transactions and ongoing research. For instance, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), 37 percent of all buyers check the Internet. NAR numbers also show that most households move within 10 miles of their current location while 20 percent move at least 50 miles.

If you look at a typical transaction you can see that there are five general areas where Realtors can assist in the home-selling process:

The goal of every seller is to have a line of buyers outside the front door, each clutching higher and higher offers. And while this has been known to happen, in most markets there is some balance between the number of buyers and sellers. A number of factors determine whether a buyer's offer is acceptable. They include:

• Is the offer at or near the asking price? Is the offer above the asking price?
• Has the buyer accepted the asking price or something close? Has the buyer then buried thousands of dollars in discounts and seller costs within tiny clauses and contract additions?
• What is the alternative to the buyer's offer? If a home has not attracted an offer in months, then sellers need to determine if a better deal is possible - recognizing that each month costs are being incurred for mortgage payments, taxes and insurance.
• Does the owner have enough time to wait for other offers?
• What if no other offers are received?
• What if several offers are received? Do you choose the high offer from the purchaser with questionable finances who may not be able to close, or a somewhat lesser offer from a buyer with pre-approved financing?

In each case, owners - with assistance from Realtors -- will need to carefully review offers, consider marketplace options and then determine whether an offer is acceptable. When a home is made available for sale the owner is essentially making an offer to buyers: For a given number of dollars and other terms you can acquire this home. Buyers, in turn, can respond with several options:

• Not interested.
• Yes, we'll buy on the owner's terms.
• We're interested and here's our counter-offer.

A counter-offer is nothing more than a new offer. And just as the buyer had three options in response to the owner's original price and terms, the seller can now choose one of three reactions: accept the offer, decline the offer or make a fresh counter-offer.

Offers and counter-offers reflect the back-and-forth activity of the marketplace. It's an efficient and practical process -- but also one that may contain tricky clauses and hidden costs. The Realtor who lists your home can explain the local bargaining process in detail and assist in the actual negotiations.

It's sometimes argued that negotiation must produce one "winner" and one "loser." Others suggest that a "win/win" situation is possible where each side gets something of value. Real estate bargaining typically involves compromises by both sides. It's not war; it's not winner-take-all; and it's not the time to take personally any comments made by purchasers.

Instead, negotiating should be seen as a natural business process; buyers should be treated with respect; and owners should never lose sight of either their best interests or their baseline transaction requirements. These are the standards unique to each owner, which must be met before the home can be sold.

Houses are selling like hot cakes - except for yours!   » See what you can do.