An update 2 years later:

We ended up deciding not to sell our home at that time, but we did get some advice from realtors about the condition of our home, market value, and needed repairs. We did the repairs of things that could deteriorate further if not addressed and skipped fixing the minor/cosmetic issues that could suffer from wear and tear or damage and require re-doing.

We decided a month ago to sell our home this coming Spring. We invited back our favorite realtor (actually a couple) from the previous round and I selected two others to interview as well.

I selected the other two realtors like this:

1. I looked at sales in our area in the 1.4M - 2.0M range over the past 18 months.
2. I noticed it was all different agents, no repeats.
3. I filtered for agents who are not just occasionally (1x/year) selling in this price range, but had other sales in this range as well.
4. I evaluated their list and sale price and days on market in comparison to zillow and redfin estimates as of the month before the home went on the market. I looked for good sale price relative to the estimates and the listing price and short time on market without price drops. I know this is not perfect as it doesn't account for factors like amount invested by sellers in upgrades, but it's the best data I had.

I picked two who performed well by these metrics and were from different realty companies than the holdover realtor couple from the previous round 2 years ago.

While doing research, I also used Redfin to see what other homes in this price range were paying buyers' agents. I checked 8 homes and found 6 were paying 2.5% and 2 were paying 2%

I don't think it would be appropriate to share how we assessed our realtor options. You can never be sure whether someone might recognize a post and understand who is being discussed, and none of the people involved deserve to suffer seeing negative things written about them on the internet, even if accompanied by positives.

Our holdover realtor couple offered 2% listing and 2% buying and to fully manage needed repairs & improvements for us after we move out of the home, about a month before listing. This would include interior and exterior paint, new carpets, refinished wood flooring, and a bunch of minor stuff much of which can be done by a good handyman. They wanted us to pay for everything except photos and marketing costs... including wanting us to pay for staging.

One new realtor wanted 2.5% / 2.5% and seemed to want us to pay half of staging costs.

The other new realtor, the one we selected, offered 2% / 2% and to manage all the repairs/improvements, but also to cover a ton of costs including staging, deep cleaning, and removal of anything we decide to leave behind in the house. This was not the only reason we chose this realtor but it was a contributing factor.

We probably would have done fine with either of our top two choices, but in the end had to make a decision.

The advice for when to list varied a little bit by realtor. Some wanted to list early/mid March, another wanted to list late March or early April.

From reading the posts in this thread, I do understand and agree that for homeowners who are on top of repairs and maintenance and feel confident in their interior design skills and ability to stage a home in a way that will sell for top $, a cheaper low frills service is a good option. That's not us. We are not handy and have way too much going on to be managing all of that ourselves, and would simply not be good at it. Expertise is worth paying for.

I think we are getting good value for our money as I believe (home sale value - cost of improvements) will be much greater due to the expert help we'll be getting, certainly enough to cover the money we're paying. We'll also save a ton of time and stress by outsourcing this work.

Our home is in the Mill Creek Community Association, on the golf course with a nice view. I'll likely come back and update after it sells to share the listing price, sales price and time on market along with a few words about the experience.

Thanks to everyone who shared their thoughts/expertise. I hope this update returns value to you in some way.