By Robert Bruss
Tribune Media Services Writer

April through June is the best time of year to sell your home because more home buyers are in the marketplace than at any other time.

If you're thinking of selling your home, get it into tip-top "red ribbon deal" condition. Most home buyers are searching for their ideal home in near-perfect condition. Fixer-upper houses appeal to a very limited market of bargain hunters who expect to buy at discount prices.

To get top dollar, paint, clean, repair and fix up your home so it sparkles in model home condition. Before listing your home for sale, have a garage sale to get rid of unnecessary items, which could make your home look small to prospective buyers.

Interview at least 3 agents

Even if you are considering selling your home without a professional agent, interview at least three successful local agents before making a final decision. They'll show you all that's involved in selling a home today.

Equally important, each agent will give you a CMA (comparative market analysis) to help estimate your home's market value. Since over 80 percent of do-it-yourself home sellers list with a professional agent within 60 days, you'll know which agent should eventually get your listing.

Of course, before selecting an agent, be sure to phone his or her client references of recent home sellers. Ask if they would list their home with that agent again and if there were any problems. You'll soon know which agent should get your 90-day listing (or longer, if the listing gives you an unconditional right to cancel).

Understand choices

Over 75 percent of home sales involve real estate agents. Here are the listing choices home sellers should consider:

• Open listing. Many home sellers mail letters to one or more local real estate agents offering to pay a sales commission to the agent who brings an acceptable purchase offer. At first glance, this seems attractive to home sellers, since no commission is owed if the seller finds a buyer before an agent does. But most realty agents refuse to work on open listings because the agent lacks control over the sale. For this reason, few agents spend time or money marketing open listings. Since agents are not motivated to find buyers for open listings, these are considered by agents to be no listing at all.
• Exclusive agency listing. Very similar to an open listing is the exclusive agency listing. With this type of listing, the home seller lists the home with one realty agent. If that agent or any other licensed agent locates an acceptable buyer, the seller owes the listing agent a sales commission. However, if the seller finds a buyer, no sales commission is owed. Because exclusive agency listings create a race between the seller and agent to find a buyer, most agents don't like and won't accept exclusive agency listings.
• Exclusive right-to-sell listing. The most popular real estate listing with realty agents is the exclusive right to sell. Regardless whether the seller, the listing agent or a selling agent finds a buyer, the seller owes the listing agent a full sales commission. The result is the listing agent has maximum incentive to work hard to find a buyer. When a second agent produces the buyer, the two agents split the sales commission.
• Multiple listing. The multiple listing service, or MLS, is an exclusive listing submitted to the local MLS for distribution to all member realty agents. Although open listings can be submitted, few realty agents are willing to do so. Since most home sales involve two agents, a listing and selling agent, the MLS enables all its members to know almost instantly what homes are for sale at what price. The local MLS encourages agent cooperation to get homes sold quickly, since the listing agent rarely has a buyer waiting but another local agent may have a buyer looking for a home listed by another agent. The MLS enables maximum exposure to the marketplace. For this reason, home sellers should insist their exclusive listing be placed in the MLS immediately.
• Net listing. Another variety of the exclusive listing is the net listing, which gives the home seller a net price. The realty agent earns any amount received above seller's net price. At first, a net listing seems advantageous for home sellers. But upon close examination, the net listing is very bad for sellers. If a buyer makes a purchase offer close to or below the net listing price, the realty agent might be tempted not to deliver that offer to the seller. Or, if a purchase offer substantially above the net price is received from a buyer, the seller will complain that the realty agent didn't tell the truth about the home's market value.