I personally (which doesn't mean anything!:) would consider how easy or hard a sell the house will be as a negotiating point when it comes to commission. I.e. if I were a seller in a slow market but had a "hot" property aggressively priced to sell soon - I would imagine I might be able to use that as a bargaining point for a 1% less. Conversely if I were a realtor and someone wanted me to sell an overpriced slovenly mess, I'd stick to my 6% or whatever because I know I'm going to have to deal with it a lot longer. I'm not sure what your market is or how easily your house will sell. In addition to Roselvr's excellent list, I would certainly look at their listings on the MLS to see if the pictures are ok, the write ups well written and without mistakes. You might want to have it put in the contract that you get to review the MLS listing, pictures etc. before it goes on. There are intangibles, will they take input from you? Many will blow you off, just a little, they are used to dealing with nervous sellers. I had a perfectly nice, competent realtor but it just didn't seem as urgent to her that the pictures she took were barely ok and the pictures I had taken (several photography classes) were better. Or wasn't that timely in getting her pictures which were shrunk and turned around fixed. I was freaking because I think first impressions are important and of course all these things were wrong for the first week it was on the MLS. Last - these are really just my observations reflected through my world view and yours will be different. You can consider the age and gender you might want in an agent. I've had two young inexperienced agents and I feel I have now done my bit to pay back those who gave me a leg up in my field when I was young and inexperienced. I wouldn't say never to someone young and inexperienced but I'd think twice. I am starting to prefer male agents. Women still seem to handle all family emergencies etc. more than men and I have had them be unavailable at inopportune times because their realtor schedules are more flexible that the spouse with a 8-5 job (of course the gender could be reversed here), or in one case their new second husband with a regular job wants them to travel with them on weekends, or what have you. Personally I have liked some of the older, towards the end of their career agents. Some of them have gotten to the point where they tell you what they really think vs. what I call "professional speak" which often tells you nothing but is something they probably learn to do in seminars. Their time is more their own, sure they are often still working because they need to but sometimes also for the personal interaction and joy of it. I think most people probably communicate well with an agent in similar life circumstances.

Actually, I did read your link. That's what prompted my post. 'Intended for' caught my interest. SLS is a detergent. That's its 'intended' purpose. The package should probably say no 'toxic or hazardous' pesticides or chemicals. But that is what they mean. I think it's safe to take the label at face value in that it doesn't contain any known offenders. I would like to know more about the properties of the SLS and acetic acid they use. Appears you can pretty much eat everything on the list (if its in the proper form and dilute enough). It also appears they are ingredients we're already exposed to extensively in the marketplace. But I'm not a chemist and we don't know the concentrations. Its pesticidal use is also in the form of shampoos/cleaners. I guess in higher concentrations than usual? They are intended to clean and also repel from what I see. I'm not going to dig up the sites I was looking through before, but have linked some interesting ones below for anyone who's interested. Snopes has an interesting article (linked below). Note the paragraph on OSHA's requirements for all hazardous chemicals produced in the U.S. and for their end-use products. Three agencies cleared SLS as non-carcinogenic (OSHA, Toxicology, Cancer). Another interesting document (looks to be from 1993): EPA - Re-Registration for Sodium Lauryl Sulfate (used in only one registered pesticide product, a pet shampoo, at the time). http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/4061fact.pdf Scorecard. This is the pet shampoo product on the RED document above: http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/product.tcl?reg_nr=06006600001â_name=DR.%20DOGKATZ'S%20CRITTER%20CHASER%20SHAMPOO Dr. Weil on SLS: http://web.archive.org/web/20040714081534/http://www.drweil.com/drw/app/cda/drw_cda.php?command=TodayQA&pt=Question&questionId=3513 .gov - SLS Exemption from the Requirement of Tolerance (referring to residue levels) http://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2009/08/12/E9-19314/sodium-lauryl-sulfate-exemption-from-the-requirement-of-a-tolerance#p-3 There's certainly some controversy over SLS so I'll probably read more about it and look for shampoos and such without it. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to use the Fairytale product if it seemed to work. We're continually bombarded with so much harmful stuff daily. It seems like a fairly innocuous product. Here is a link that might be useful: Snopes References

Update: the dresser/buffet was finally sold tonight! (a/k/a chest, credenza, flat screen TV stand, LOL!) Thanks for all the suggestions. I appreciate the time people took to be of assistance. I learned a lot, and will save these ideas for the future. Thanks especially to dilly_dally for her many good ideas. It really helped. It took almost 3 weeks to sell the dresser. Im not sure if thats typical or not. It sold after I re-titled it as a campaign chest. (Yes!) From my first to third posting I lowered the price from $425 to $275. But I was happy with what I got in the end. I had overpriced it originally figuring I would be bargained down. With both that and the table that sold a little faster, they paid the reduced price listed in the second (or third) ad and did not ask for a further reduction. Each was sold to the one and only person who came to look at it. Not sure if thats typical either. I had sent pictures to the local consignment shop as a backup, she said she would price it at $450, but I would have gotten half of that, and would have had to pay $50 to have it moved there. I sold the dresser/buffet just in time; I have just enough time to get the carpets shampooed before I go Saturday to pick up the CL dining room set that I paid a deposit on in December! I couldnt see bringing that in until I moved out my old stuff. Thanks again!

I'm a bit biased but I just sold a fridge on Craigslist so I don't think there's anything wrong with it. Mine was a similar issue; because of a sloping floor, the measurements were off and the fridge sat further away from the wall than measured for. It's a tiny galley-like kitchen and the door ended up hitting the cabinet across. The appliance store told me I was out of luck, they did not accept returns. I sold it at a good discount on CL and let me tell you, it wasn't used at all, the shelves were still taped and the drawers wrapped in plastic. I did not give up the receipt because all my appliances were on it. I was told by the appliance store that a receipt isn't necessary to start the warranty and I gave the buyer all the other paperwork. He's happy, I'm happy, it's all good.