A couple of middle-aged engineers are going through a crisis -- the husband recently had a stroke, and his rehabilitation process is costly. The wife feels overwhelmed by her struggle to cope with her husband's illness while still keeping her job. To pay medical bills, the pair's lakeside contemporary house must soon go on the market.

But there's one big hitch: The property is crammed with years' worth of accumulations -- including endless piles of clothing, shelves bulging with books and kitchen countertops covered with gadgets. As the couple's real estate agent underscores, all these excess items must be cleared away to make the place marketable. The couple's relatives want to help, but they don't know where to start, and they're nervous about giving offense.

Some homeowners going through a tough transition -- such as a medical crisis -- are tempted to let their property go on the market in "as is" condition. But Joan Doyle, a real estate agent who's worked with numerous clients going through tough life transitions, says this is a mistake.

"When you sell, your whole house becomes a stage. If your stuff is everywhere, buyers will never be interested," she says.

For home sellers like the engineers -- who've long struggled with organizational challenges -- the prospect of getting their property cleared out and ready for sale can seem overwhelming.

"I've worked with people who are crying and shaking when I come in," says Susan C. Pinsky, a professional organizer who specializes in helping people through messy transitions.

Pinsky, author of "The Fast and Furious 5 Step Organizing Solution," says that when a serious medical problem is the reason homeowners must sell, they often need relatives to help them mobilize.

Here are a few tips for family members who wish to step in:

-- Consider contacting a professional organizer.

Many older people resist the notion of paying for help from a professional organizer -- believing it's a waste of money for work that shouldn't require outside assistance. But Pinsky says a professional can sometimes mean the difference between success and failure.

"Too often family members are very subjective about all the stuff in the house and fail to see the big picture the way a professional can," she says.

Of course, not everyone can afford a professional. If funds are limited, one possibility is to pay solely for the organizer's services at the front end in order to create a road map that others can then follow.

To locate a professional organizer in your local area, Pinsky cites the website of the National Association of Professional Organizers (www.napo.net) as one source of names. Or ask friends, neighbors or colleagues whom they've turned to for this type of help. Alternatively, real estate agents can be a good source of referrals.

"If you leave a message and they don't call you back promptly, cross them off your list," Pinsky says.

-- Divide and conquer.

What if no funds are available to pay a professional organizer? In that case, Pinsky recommends that relatives choose a project manager within the family who can then delegate tasks on a room-by-room basis.

However, Pinsky cautions that no purging project goes forward smoothly unless the homeowners are consulted when decisions are made about which items will be kept, sold, thrown out or given away.

"If the owners aren't the decision-makers, you're just wasting your time trying to help. You can't make decisions about other people's things without meeting major resistance," Pinsky says.

-- Make the removal system as efficient as possible.

All too often, Pinsky arrives at the home of clients who want organizational help but aren't set up to make the process efficient.

"The pathways in and out of the house are crowded and there are just a few tiny waste baskets for the collection of discards," she says.

To promote efficiency, she arranges for the use of large trash bins, along with trash bags of different colors to ensure, for example, that items for charity don't mingle with those destined for the landfill. Then she clears pathways to the doors to make sure it's easy to remove anything that won't be kept.

"The idea is to make the removal system as streamlined as possible," Pinsky says.

-- Be sure to protect egos and family relationships.

Few people find it easy to sort through possessions in a home they've owned for many years -- especially if they're being forced to sell involuntarily. And a culling project is especially taxing for people who have packrat tendencies or who suffer from other medical conditions, such as attention deficit disorder.

"Most people with ADD have a degree of disorganized thinking. So decision-making takes a lot of mental energy for them," says Linda S. Anderson, an ADD coach and the immediate past president of the Attention Deficit Disorder Association.

It can be exasperating and time-consuming to help disorganized relatives plow through their possessions before a home sale. But Anderson says it's important to avoid admonishing or scolding them in an attempt to push forward faster. That could backfire and tarnish your relationships in the process.

"It never helps to attack someone's character," she says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

Nearly all homeowners must hire contractors for repairs and cosmetic upgrades before their property goes up for sale. Sometimes the jobs are small, like repainting a front door or repairing a shaky stair railing. Other times they're large, like replacing a leaky roof or rebuilding a broken deck.

But no matter the size of the job, sellers who hire a contractor put themselves at financial risk. They could overpay, get a shoddy job that needs to be redone at great expense or -- worst of all -- face high costs to fix damage done by an incompetent contractor.

"Your home is your biggest asset, and if you hire the wrong contractors that could be very expensive," says Cheryl Reed, communications director for Angie's List, a fee-based website that maintains a database of consumer reviews on service providers throughout the U.S. and Canada (www.angieslist.com).

Besides the fiscal hazards of botched contracting, homeowners also face the danger of "(busting) their budget on unwarranted overcharges for the work done," says Sid Davis, a veteran real estate broker and author of "A Survival Guide to Selling a Home."

"Due to the economy, many contractors are short on cash. You've got to be careful who you hire and how much you pay," Davis says.

Davis says there are plenty of reputable contractors willing to work for a reasonable rate, but homeowners must often work to find them.

Indeed, Davis contends it can be easier for consumers to stake out a solid homebuilder to construct a whole house than to find top-notch plumbers, electricians or painters to execute small home improvement jobs.

"Homebuilding companies are high profile and transparent. They identify themselves with signs in the front lawns of their customers. It's easier to see how they perform than to judge contractors who do smaller jobs," he says.

Here are several pointers for home sellers who need contractors' services:

-- Book your contractors in advance if possible.

For many contractors, the flow of work is lumpy. Perhaps one month they're overbooked, and then the next they have no work at all. If you can fit your jobs into holes in their schedule, they might give you very favorable terms, says Eric Tyson, a personal finance expert and co-author of "House Selling for Dummies."

-- Reach out broadly in search of the best contractors.

When seeking contractors, Tyson advises home sellers against resorting to the Yellow Pages or online advertising from random websites. A more dependable approach is to ask for referrals from friends, neighbors or work associates who've had recent work done.

Along with names gathered from your immediate circle, Tyson says it's often wise for home sellers to collect referrals through the real estate agent they plan to hire to list their property.

Contractors hired at the recommendation of a real estate agent are likely to be very attentive to your job --fearing that botched work could tarnish their reputation within the local real estate community.

-- Get ample estimates to help ensure that you don't overpay.

Preparing a home for sale is time-consuming. For that reason, Davis says many busy home sellers fail to gather a sufficient number of estimates from contractors. But he says such a failure of due diligence can be costly --especially when lining up major work.

"Time-consuming though it is, I recommend you get at least three to five estimates for any job expected to cost $1,000 or more," he says.

"The surprising thing," he says, "is that there's often little correlation between price and quality. So people who cast a wide net can often get both low cost and top-quality work."

-- Preview contractors' work by visiting customers' homes.

Once you've created a short list of contractors based on pricing and reputation, you might assume the next best step is to ask for references. But Davis says this isn't always the most informative way to determine the quality of their workmanship. Rather, he suggests you go and visit the homes of a few recent clients to judge for yourself.

"Who knows? The references a contractor gives you could be his cousins or someone he paid to say nice things," Davis says.

The photos shown on a company's website can also give you a deceptive picture, he says, because they might have been altered electronically.

-- Make sure you get all the major details of your jobs in writing.

Very few homeowners like to bother going over the fine points of an agreement for home improvement work --especially if they feel an intuitive trust for the contractor involved. But Reed, of Angie's List, says it's essential that anyone seeking home improvement services obtain a watertight contract, however brief.

"A good contract should contain a description of the work to be done, the contractor's start and completion dates and a full outline of the costs -- including penalties for missed completion dates," she says.

"Without a contract, it's very hard to make your case in court," if something goes awry, Reed says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)

Americans have built an addition onto the dream of homeownership. Due to economic uncertainties, more people now crave ownership of their property "free and clear" of mortgage debt. Few have the cash to pay off a home loan in one lump sum. But many are attempting to make extra payments to principal to shorten the term of their mortgage.

"People have a growing aversion to debt. So there's a trend toward wiping out mortgage debt as quickly as possible," says Bruce Hahn, president of the American Homeowners Foundation, a consumer education group (www.americanhomeowners.org).

There's more than one way to knock off mortgage debt before the term of a loan ends. Those who receive a windfall -- perhaps through an inheritance -- can sometimes pay off the full mortgage all at once. But most pre-payers simply make extra payments each month. That way they could cut the payoff time on their mortgage from, say 30 years to 15.

Consumer advocates say many families can't afford the extra monthly cost of pre-paying mortgage principal. But even those who could afford to cut years off their term may not choose to do so -- assuming an analysis of their financial situation convinces them they could make better use of their discretionary cash.

As Hahn says, the pros and cons of mortgage prepayment depend on the circumstances for the homeowners involved. Considerations include age, income, expenses, job stability, how long the owners plan to live in their home and their investment philosophy.

Here are a few tips for homeowners thinking about prepayment:

-- Take all the pros into account.

Besides the savings you can enjoy from reduced interest charges, one obvious benefit of paying off a mortgage early is that your living expenses will decrease once your home is paid off. That means you'll free up funds to use for other, perhaps more fun purposes.

Prepayment often makes the most sense for homeowners with a mortgage rate well above the prevailing market rate, though another option for such owners would be to refinance. But even those with a low current rate could be justified in pre-paying their home loan -- assuming they recently took out the mortgage.

"The way a mortgage works, interest charges are front-loaded. So you get a lot more savings when you start prepaying early," Hahn says.

And consumer advocates also see other advantages to prepayment.

"Full ownership of your house gives you a tangible asset with a bundle of values. You can live in the house, borrow against it, sell it or rent it out," says Barry Zigas, director of housing policy for the Consumer Federation of America, a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group (www.consumerfed.org).

He says pre-paying a mortgage can make particular sense to people heading toward retirement who expect to stay in their home indefinitely.

"In retirement, your income declines and your tax advantages from mortgage interest start to diminish," Zigas says.

Does it make sense from an investment standpoint to prepay your home loan? Most homeowners whose properties have lost value in recent years are skeptical. But Zigas says that in the near future a modest level of appreciation is possible.

"We can't expect double-digit inflation in home prices. But there is likely to be some level of appreciation in property values over time -- especially in strong neighborhoods where the demographics are positive," he says.

-- Don't overlook the negatives.

Besides the advantages of mortgage prepayment, Hahn urges homeowners to take note of the downsides.

"A house is a less liquid asset than money in a savings account. You don't want to sink all of your funds into the house. You might need liquid savings in case of a catastrophic medical expense or some other crisis," he says.

While prepayment may make sense for older couples, Hahn says many families with young children have a greater need for cash to keep up with current expenses, such as day care and educational costs. Thus it may make sense to keep mortgage payments as low as possible in such cases.

-- Carefully calculate how much extra it would cost for pre-payment.

Some homeowners mistakenly believe they're not allowed to accelerate payments to principal on their mortgage. But as Hahn notes, a combination of state and federal regulations now prohibit lenders from imposing mortgage prepayment penalties in nearly all cases.

How much would it cost you to prepay? That depends on how quickly you wish to wipe out your mortgage debt. Obviously it would cost less per month to pay off a 30-year mortgage in 20 years than in 10 years. The other variables include the size of your outstanding debt and the interest rate on the loan.

One good way to find out how much your prepayment plans would cost on a monthly basis is to use one of the free mortgage calculators now available online. Two of the websites that offer these are: www.hsh.com and www.bankrate.com.

Any homeowner can stop voluntary prepayments to principal at any time. Even so, Hahn strongly suggests that those considering prepayment first consult a financial adviser.

"Your accountant is in a good position to evaluate whether prepayment makes sense in your case once all the factors -- including your tax situation -- are taken into account," he says.

(To contact Ellen James Martin, email her at ellenjamesmartin@gmail.com.)