Pundits are in disagreement about how long the housing slowdown is going to last. While the NAR is optimistic with a prediction that sales will pick up in early 2007, Lowe's and others believe the housing recession will last about 18 months. Meanwhile, listing agents wonder how to move their listings.

As buyers cringe on the sidelines, agents realize they are going to have to do something they haven't done in years -- woo homebuyers.

While some listing agents are reportedly offering higher splits to selling agents representing buyers, others are encouraging their sellers to be more competitive on timing their price reductions.

Advises Rhode Island Realtor Sally Lapides , "Sometimes you have to get the pebble out of the shoe. Do you really want to risk a $500,000 sale for $5,000? Will it matter a month from now, two months from now?"

Lapides, who has a talk radio show on Sunday mornings at 8:00 eastern time, says that homesellers should be encouraged to be the first ones to price correctly for the current market. "Do you want to be the first one to reduce your price and sell your home, or the last of me-toos, when you'll get even less."

Lapides says her wise grandmother used to say that it all evens out in the end. "So you get less for this house than you wanted. You're buying your next house for less, too. Over your life, you'll make more on some homes and not as much on others."

Other Realtors are paying close attention to changing demographics in homebuyers and seeking to find ways to fish for these potential homebuyers further upstream. Allie Beth Allman & Associates in Dallas invites speakers to their morning meetings to learn about specific neighborhoods, including public improvement districts and their demographics. With larger single and nontraditional couples forming households, there's an opportunity to assist these potential homebuyers with educational programs to help them learn how to buy, what to buy and how much to offer.

"We have signed on to provide information for single women homebuyers," explains Pierce Allman, cofounder of Allie Beth Allman & Associates. "The Dallas Morning News is conducting seminars for single women homebuyers, and we will participate in a series of six seminars. Nationally, single women are about 28 percent of the homebuying market."

Many agents complain of working with buyers who simply can't pull the trigger on a home. They may be expecting the home to do too much -- house them, fund their retirement, and be as liquid as stocks when it comes time to sell. Longer days on the market, which have reached 7.5 months of inventory on hand can be sobering and paralyzing.

When that occurs it's time to tell your buyers that even the most successful investor in the world, Warren Buffett, doesn't consistently buy at the bottom and sell at the top. The money is to be made somewhere in-between. As inventories start to be absorbed again, it will be the good properties -- those with the most desirable locations and features -- that will be snapped up first. Ask your buyers, "Do you want the best selection or do you want the leftovers?"

Tell buyers that buying a home is about improving your vantage point -- getting into the best home in the best condition with the best floorplans, views, neighborhood amenities, and quality of life at the best price you can possibly afford.

With selection at a 11-year high, interest rates hovering at historical lows, generous loan programs, and enormous tax benefits, now is the time to buy.