An article Saturday in the Arizona Republic talked about the lengths Phoenix area home sellers go to to try to get their home sold. One offers Cardinal's season tickets with his Goodyear townhouse. Another will throw in a car and $1,000 in gas money. Still another will pay for closing costs, and include Super Bowl tickets if the deal is sealed by Christmas.

There's no hiding it: home sellers are getting desperate.

"Houses have their own Web sites and hold open houses every day. Classified ads start with "desperate" in boldface. And the national news has been abuzz with this tale: A couple moving to Arizona from the Pittsburgh area are promising that if you buy their house, they'll give you a full refund when they die, provided, of course, the deaths are not suspicious.

With the holiday housing slowdown hovering and homes snoozing on the market for an average of 95 days, it's desperation time, indeed. The housing pot is growing larger, and picky buyers are discovering their inner divas. The free flat-screen TV is no longer impressing anyone; the wine-and-cheese open house is a bore. So, frenzied sellers are concocting wacky, wily stunts to show off their homes and eke out a little attention."

They may not want to admit it, but there's only one thing to do in a market like this if you're looking to sell a home quickly: price it accordingly. For buyers who bought high, they'll have to decide whether it's more important to sell their home for a profit or sell it now - they won't likely get both.

That's not to say that it's impossible to sell a home right now or that it's impossible to get a fair price. It simply means that sellers looking to recoup the price they paid last year or the year before - when the market was at its peak - will be disappointed.

When I'm working with sellers today, I offer 7 tips for selling their homes in today's slow market:

1. Price your home at a fair, but aggressive, price
2. Quickly cut the price if you don't have initial buyer interest
3. Find the right agent, someone who knows how to sell in slow markets
4. Maximize your home's curb appeal
5. Stage your home so that prospective buyers can imagine themselves living there
6. Fix the things that need fixing
7. Offer flexible terms

To read more details about the 7 tips for selling your home in a slow market, visit http://myphoenixmls.com/sell-in-a-slow-mkt.asp.