If you are thinking of selling your home, now is the best time of the year to list your home for sale. The reason is that prospective home buyers are coming out of their winter hibernation. With more buyers in the marketplace and a relatively stable number of homes listed for sale, except in economically depresssed areas, home prices usually rise in the spring.

However, home sellers must be especially careful this year to disclose in writing any drawbacks their homes might have. By disclosing all known defects and then selling the home "as is" (which means without warranties or representations and saying upfront that the seller won't repair any defects), the seller is well-insulated from a buyer lawsuit for undisclosed defects.

- Open listing. Many inexperienced home sellers think they can save a sales commission by giving one or more realty agents an open listing to sell their home. This type of listing is a promise to pay a sales commission to the first realty agent who brings the seller an acceptable purchase offer bid. But no commission is owed if the seller finds a buyer without a professional agent's help.