You have hired the best agent in your area, yet she tells you that things are slow and that you need to wait for just the right buyer. You have a sneaking suspicion that most of the agents who are showing your home are doing so primarily for comparison purposes, and that they are not really serious about getting a contract on your house.

There is no question that agents sometimes lose enthusiasm for a particular house. Remember that agents are human, too. But how can you light a fire under the buyers and get an acceptable offer?

Here are some insider tips that you can use to generate action on a tired listing:

* First, know your competition. Ask your agent to show you some of the homes in your area that are in your price range, and ask honestly if your house stacks up. If you were a buyer looking at these homes, which would you pick, and why?

* Next, make sure the product looks and smells great, especially when compared to your competition. Fresh paint and carpet look and smell great, and have been known to push a buyer over the edge. And don’t fall prey to the self-serving offer of a redecorating allowance. Very few buyers want to buy a project. Instead, they want to be able to move right in. Go ahead and spend the money now, and select neutral colors.

* If you suspect price is the problem, invest in your own appraisal from a licensed appraiser. Ask your agent to supply you with optimistic comparable sales, then provide these to the appraiser before he visits your property. Tell him in advance the number you are seeking and why. Then let him do his work. If you are disappointed with the appraisal, you can either repeat the process or come to the reality that your home may not be worth what you want.

* If you do get a good appraisal, ask your agent to use it as a marketing tool. A buyer’s greatest fear is paying too much for your home, and if you have a fresh appraisal in hand, they are less likely to make you a lowball offer.

* Call your listing agent every Wednesday or Thursday morning, and ask for a report on last week’s activity. Then ask what marketing steps the agent has planned for the upcoming weekend, and ask how you can help. If the agent does not have an open house planned, suggest one for Sunday afternoon when many buyers cruise.

If the agent has a conflict, offer to host it yourself, and ask if there is perhaps a less experienced agent in their office who might want to sit the open house to meet potential buyers.

One word of warning: it’s not smart to host an open house alone. Ask a friend or relative to stay in the house with you to escort prospects through the house. One owner went so far as to photograph visitors "for their album" as a way of documenting who came through.

* When you call your agent mid-week, ask what advertising they had planned for that weekend, and offer to help with the cost. I know you have agreed to pay six or seven percent of the sale price, but splitting the cost of a larger ad might push your sale over the top.

* Because the listing in the MLS is so important, ask your agent to print you a copy of your home exactly as it appears on the MLS. Check for errors and make suggestions for a more accurate description. And then get on the internet and see what your house looks like to prospective buyers. If needed, your agent can help you find it on the web.

If there is a lot of competition from homes very similar to yours nearby, then it’s time to pull out the big guns. This next suggestion is not for the faint of heart. Instead, this idea is only for those who need to generate activity now.

Let’s say your home is listed with a traditional full service company at a seven percent commission. Your listing company plans to split the commission with any broker who brings an acceptable offer.

But you can turn the tables upside-down by offering to raise the overall commission from seven to eight percent, then asking the listing broker to lower their share to three percent. I predict your listing agent will agree to this new formula.

That leaves a total of five percent to be paid to the broker who brings a buyer to your home, and it generates a lot of excitement in the real estate community. This idea won’t make an agent sell someone the wrong house, but it will encourage the agent to show the house more often, and more showings often translate into more offers.