Presumably a homeowner lists their home because they want to sell it. We know there are some folks just testing the market, and others who for some reason don't really want to sell, or they won't accept a price below a certain number which is well above market value. But let's assume, for purposes of this discussion, that they do want to sell. 

The issue of making your home available to agents and their buyers is kinda important, as is getting the word out on-line and off-line so folks know about it. If buyers can't see it, or it's hard to see, guess what? It won't sell. So there are lots of ways to make your home easy to sell. But there are also plenty of roadblocks that folks put up, including the agents. 

A few recent real life examples: 

I have seen several listings that were a bit confusing in terms of the nature of the property - was it a short sale? And REO? What are the showing instructions?

The agents comments in the remarks were...I kid you not...DO NOT CALL AGENT. 

Hmm, so I have questions on your listing and I am not supposed to call you? Really?! Will you respond in a timely manner if I email or am I not supposed to do that either? Does your client know this? Read William Johnson's terrific post, "How Often Do You Check Your Email?" on this very issue.

Property can be seen on Saturdays from 12 - 4.

Oooh, that works for my buyer's schedule. Out of 7 days, using 9 - 6 as a typical showing time frame (that's 63 hours of availability for many properties) you have a window of 4 hours?  This was not a tenant occupied property either. I guess that's better than "showings only with accepted offer." 

Will be available for showings June 30 (but listed June 1) 

Is the house so wonderful that folks will wait a month to see it? Or perhaps it's the psychology that making folks wait will make it more desirable? I guess I don't get the point of listing a home that is not ready to be shown fairly soon after listing, if not right away. Am I missing something? 

And of course there are the lousy listings, as I call them. The ones with no photos whatsoever, (some buyers still say they won't even bother with these), or one crummy out-of-focus picture of the front of the home, and those listings with the barest of information and no remarks. With the reliance on the Internet that we see with so many buyers, and agents, this makes so sense in terms of doing your job to market the home for your clients. Granted, some of these are listings by agents who have never seen the home and live 100 miles away (especially the short sales and REO's). 

I have been showing, or trying to show, a lot of property recently. Perhaps I am just impatient, or annoyed that I can't get my clients in to see the properties they want in a timely manner.  But there are times I have to wonder...

Are you really trying to sell this home?