House for sale: the housing market has slowed, but you don't have to wait to sell. Here's what you can do to ensure your property is snapped up!(home selling tips)

WHEN OTIS DARRELL RECENTLY RETIRED from the U.S. Postal Service, he knew exactly what he wanted to do: sell his house and move closer to family members in the South.

Darrell, 67, planned to move to Georgia, and he figured the sale of his four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home in Victorville, California, would come in handy.

But more than six months after putting his house on the market, Darrell still hasn't sold the property. Originally listed for $375,000, the house sits on an attractive lot framed by neatly trimmed shrubs and a rose garden that extends from the driveway to the front door. Even with its nice "curb appeal" and quiet cul-de-sac location, the house hasn't budged.

"It hasn't helped that a brand-new set of houses [is] being built a block away," Darrell notes. "That's just extra competition."

Darrell has since lowered the asking price to $300,000, changed realtors, and even made repairs totaling about $1,700. He's gone ahead and moved to Georgia, but he says if he doesn't get a bite by spring, he'll simply take the California property off the market and rent it.

Like many homeowners, Darrell finds winter to be the slowest home-buying season of the year. Homes are now sitting on the market for an average of 60 days, double the number of days it took to sell a house in 2005, when interest rates were falling. According to the National Association of Realtors, in 2007 the housing market nationwide is expected to be relatively flat, following a correction in home sales and prices in 2006.

Malik Ellis, an attorney and co-owner of the Ellis Development Group in …