10 tips to sell your home faster

Here are 10 tips (not including lowering the price) to sell your home faster:

1) Don't automatically choose the agent who suggests the highest price. Interview at least three agents before listing your home. Get several opinions on the market value of your home and how they arrived at their recommended price. Don't necessarily go with the highest estimate unless the agent has exceptional justification and you are prepared to wait longer for your home to sell.

2) Don't count on open houses to sell your home. According to the California Association of Realtors, less than 5 percent of buyers find their home at an open house. An open house should never be the center of a prospective agent's marketing plan.

3) Target your marketing. Know what buyers in your area are looking for and emphasize your home's appeal accordingly. This includes everything from the description (whether you highlight transportation and parks or restaurants and nightlife) and how you stage the home (whether the third bedroom becomes an office), to where you advertise the listing (a newspaper in addition to online).

4) Tour similar homes in the area. Make sure your agent takes you through several current, comparable listings so that you can better understand the competition -- what a home sold for 12 months ago, or even six months ago, may not be a good estimate for today.

5) Consider staging your home. Although not always necessary, staging can make a difference in how your house is viewed and compared to others.

6) Offer prospective buyers a neighbor "reference" list. Make a list of your best, most reliable neighbors, so that buyers can reach out to get a better feel for the area, the locals, and what makes the neighborhood a truly unique place to live.

7) Take lots of photos on a sunny day with a wide-angle lens. Approximately one-third of buyers who responded to ZipRealty's recent survey "What's Hot and What's Not with Today's Homebuyers," said they would eliminate homes with too few or poor quality photos. Ask your agent how many photos he or she typically posts, and to which Web sites. Check out prospective agents' current listings and ask yourself whether you would buy the homes as presented.

8) Consider a pre-inspection. Pre-inspections are especially powerful if you've done any repair work since you bought the home. If you can't market your improvements, you won't get as much return for them.

9) Once your house is on the market, get feedback and make tweaks. Find out if and how your agent collects home evaluations, as well as how he or she will communicate these to you so you can react accordingly.

10) Don't necessarily hire the agent with the most signs in your neighborhood. An agent overloaded with listings may not haveas many buyer clients, and he or she has to divide their time and marketing budget among all of their listings. Worse, if a buyer approaches the agent with many similar homes, he or she may end up stuck in a conflict of interest, having to decide which of their listings to promote.