All of you in those much talked about real estate bubble markets can just skip this article. Go read the local paper (which will probably carry at least one article about housing bubble markets) or watch The Apprentice. Even reading about staging a home is a waste of your time. By all accounts, all you have to do to sell your home is open the door and stand there holding a bushel basket to collect the purchase offers.

But only a small part of the nation really has housing bubble status. There are large parts of the country where home prices have not appreciated much at all during this frantic time (notably in the Midwest and parts of Texas) and other areas where prices have been rising at a measured pace but homes still average several months to find a buyer.