Choosing Types of Listing Agreements

Have you ever stopped to consider the type of listing agreement your agent is asking you to sign?

Odds are no. In fact, odds are nobody has explained the various types of listing agreements to you. That's because when most agents hand a seller a listing agreement to sign, it is an exclusive right to sell agreement. But there are other kinds of agreements you could sign that carry varying degrees of complexity.

A seller in Sacramento had signed an Exclusive Right to Sell listing agreement with his agent. After a few months on the market, a neighbor who wanted to buy the home emerged. Turned out this neighbor had been engaged in on-again-off-again negotiations for years with the seller. But the neighbor was not excluded from the listing agreement.

Arguments could be made that if the neighbor was serious, the neighbor could have made an offer to purchase the home long before it was listed. But the fact remained, the seller owed a commission to the listing agent when the neighbor finally made an offer during the listing agreement term . . . read more about listing agreements.

More Articles by Elizabeth Weintraub:

• 10 Reasons to Hire an Agent
  
• How to Choose a Listing Agent
  
• Full-Service Agents

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