1. You MUST acknowledge that the market has SHIFTED and act accordingly. 
Today buyers have the advantage.

2. Your home must be in top shape to compete today
unless you're willing to take a hit on the asking price. 
That means you need to steam clean the carpets, go with neutral paint, get the clutter out, let the sunshine in and fix whatever is broken.  Every one of these items that you do not do will cost you either in profit or potential buyers.  Remember, your home MUST capture and draw someone into it on an emotional level... just like when you sit in a new car at the car dealership.

3. Be realistic about your price. 
A good real estate professional such as myself (sorry about the shameless self-promotion!) can get you accurate neighborhood pricing. Make sure you ask for ALL of the data, by the way...I've seen some real estate people bring only partial stats in order to skew pricing.  Also, make sure you check out the 2007 market verses the 2008 market verses 2009...but sit down and take a deep breath first!

4. Speaking of price, your first decision is,
"Do I HAVE to sell or do I WANT to sell?"  The answer is critical.

5. You may want to speak with a financial advisor. 
I've bumped into several folks this year who were/are in a position where they will lose the house if it doesn't sell.  Earlier in the year, my advice to them was, "Is it better to sell at a loss (if you can afford it) and have to bring money to the closing table or is it better to go through foreclosure and have that on your credit record?"  That's supposed to be a redundant question.  There is another option available now that wasn't available here in our area until recently. I'll get to that in a minute.

6. You may need to spend SOME money to get the house ready to sell, but BE CAREFUL. 
Get advice from a good home design person.  You've got to spend SMART money that will bring maximum returns.  Do NOT throw your money away, which is easy to do.  By the way, I never advise getting advice from HGTV.  The people in those shows do not live in your area and don't know your market.  And sometimes the shows are taped in advance or are re-runs.  You could be watching a show that is totally irrelevant to today's market.

7. Answer this question..."How am I going to compete with the new construction folks?" 
The reality is that they have marketing and beautiful new homes and great pricing.  They want to sell houses very badly and the reality is that many of them are very good at doing just that.  If you live near a new construction neighborhood, go down and talk to sales rep.  Listen and watch how they treat you.  Look around at the model home.  You can learn some very valuable things as they give you their learned script.  Throw an objection at them and see how they handle it.  They are trained.  Learn from them!

8. Are you going to sell you home yourself so you don't have to pay the Realtor? 
Some of us, such as myself, will work with you to some degree for FREE.  I have certain services I offer to FSBO sellers.  Call for the good stuff if you're interested.  If you do go FSBO, are you going to pay me as a buyer's Realtor to bring them to see your home?  If you choose not to offer a commission to a buyer's Realtor, you will cut your potential to sell you home down considerably!  One other thing - if you do offer the buyer's Realtor commission, be sure to say so on your sign and fliers in
BIG BOLD PRINT.

9. Be sensitive to timing. 
I tell people in our area that to sell a house this year, they need to be on the market no later that April or May.  Our strong selling season takes off right around that time frame and runs till right around when school starts again.  If you come to the market late in the game, you will have missed the biggest pool of whatever buyers are out there.

10. Finally, if you are financially positioned to do so, you might want to lease your house in order to create positive cash flow. 
You're going to have to have 30% equity to buy a second house (check with your lender on this point).  You might also want to consider doing a lease/purchase of your existing home.  This is the option I mentioned earlier.  We can now put your home in our MLS as a lease as well as for sale.  How cool is that????  And we can also offer to manage the property for you or just help with finding a tenant and let you do the management piece.  The fees for these services are very reasonable.
Folks, the good news here in our part of the world is that you CAN sell your house.  I see houses moving at asking price.  And I see houses moving way off asking price too. So when you’re ready to sell, who ya’ gonna call?
That would be Oklahoma’s Favorite Realtor!