A Little Help Please

I am sooooooooo confused. How does one go about choosing a Real Estate agent? We've never done this before. We sold one house but the agent who we bought our present home from sold the old one for us. I've heard going with a national company is better than a small locally owned company because they have a wider market. I've heard that you should choose a company with lots of agents because that way the office is open longer hours and there is generally someone there to answer the phone. I've heard that you should interview several agents until you get the one you want. Ugh, I can't even think about doing that--I just want to get this thing listed and on the market.

I know that we aren't going to get top dollar out of this house. The outside looks fantastic but the inside is VERY 70's. And, we really don't want to put all that money into updating it. #1 It would take us forever to do that (remember the saga of Bob the Builder last summer?) and #2 I don't really think we would make that much more. In fact we might even lose money updating it by spending more fixing it than we would make back on it. We think we should just sell it as a fixer upper. I remember awhile back the house next door was up for sale. The owners had spent tons of money to get it the way they wanted it and then they were transferred. The house looked fantastic. The couple who bought it came in, gutted it and started all over again. So, who's to say that if we put a bunch of money into fixing it up, the same thing wouldn't happen to us?

On my last post, I got a couple of much appreciated suggestions such as don't go with a long term contract and pricing the house right. Are there any other suggestions? Any ideas on choosing an agent? Is it necessary to interview a bunch of them? Any and all suggestions will be much appreciated.

Oh and just to help the sale along a little, my friend Linda sent me a St. Joseph statue to bury in the front yard when we finally get a sign out there. Hope he works!