Listing Termination Advice

[timothy.hardy]

I'm seeking advice on terminating my listing. I've had a property listed for 8 months nowin Perry County, Ohio; my listing extends to approximately 30 July, but I wish to legally terminate my listing at the end of this month if I don't have an offer, or real progress towards an offer and list the house with someone else.

It is listed in the MLS, it gets a newsprint advertise, which I realize many listings don't, but nothing is happening, with little to no "showings." I can't afford to carry an empty homw another 4 to 5 months and then change realtors.

Thanks

[Micheal Pannell Realtor]

Call the broker of the realtor that is helping you. They might be able to help you

[Saodavi]

It sounds like the agent is working on the property. If it's not moving it could be that 1) Realtors are eliminating your property and not showing it 2) Customers are eliminating it based on price/location.

Is your house in good condition? Make sure it's immaculate. Clean, paint, keep the yard trimmed and fences in good shape. Repair torn carpet and cracked tiles, etc.

Secondly, you might want to make a price adjustment. Price will overcome EVERY objection. Your Realtor should have given you a CMA. What are comparable homes selling for (per square foot). Also, what are the average days on the market in your area?

And finally, you are entering into the busiest time of the year. It's more likely that you will get more traffic between April and August.

If your house isn't in excellent shape and/or it's overpriced and/or you're in a slow-moving market then it won't help you to change agents. You'll get more of the same from the new guy.

Otherwise, do what NuHomeSource says.

[judyo]

This isn't the best market right now as we're still in our slower, winter season that also included major holidays. Not many buyers out looking.

So don't be so quick to judge your brokerage, esp. if you're getting some marketing besides being in the MLS. What you might need to reconsider is feedback you've received. Is your property priced too high?

Many times when I take over a listing that was languishing on the market the reason is because it was overpriced and I get the seller to reduce. So, let's say you get out of your listing & you re-list with another brokerage that convinces you to reduce price and here comes the busier spring market, and you're going to think you finally found the best broker/agent in the world!

But if you just reduced price with your current agent/broker and wait it out for the busy market the same thing will probably happen. If there's other things you're not happy about with your current agent that's a different thing. Sometimes when an agent has a stagnant listing it's hard to keep motivated with it, especially if they're asking you to reduce or change something else and you refuse.

If they're not reviewing your situation and giving you current market facts or communication/rapport is breaking down then maybe you do need to move on. You need to read the listing agreement you signed to see if you can easily get out of the contract and see if there will be any fees to do so.

I can't imagine ever wanting to force an unhappy client to stay with me and always offer an option to cancel but I know other agents would stick to the listing agreement.

[BaltimoreAgent]

Hi!

You mentioned that you have an empty house. Have you tried seeking out a home stager in your area? An empty house (even in pictures) doesn't leave much to be desired. Let the buyers envision the possibility of the house by actually letting them see it.

Stage the property, get good pictures, and have your agent advertise using the new pictures. You want to entice buyers to see your home. Think about it, new home builders have models and what do they do to the rooms - they stage it so we can envision what our home could look like. If all you saw was empty space, it's not as breathtaking. You want to create the emotion of "Wow! This is home!". Empty spaces just has echoes.

So try a stager before you drop your price (that's assuming that your home is priced at the market value) or change agents.

Just my thoughts...

[Bob Crain]

First, You signed a Contract with this agent to have him or her sell your house. This is a legal contract the broker of record can assign it to another agent in the office, cancel the contract (most likely won't happen without some consideration $), or withdraw your listing from any further advertising (including the MLS).

That contract stated the terms and conditions you were willing to sell your home. When YOU wanted to list this home at the current price with this agent what did the agent tell you??? Others have mentioned a CMA. Did you receive a CMA? Have you received one lately? Market conditions change UP and DOWN.

When a home is properly listed in the MLS (correct price and average commission to the buyers agent) and is being advertised in the paper it will sell. It will take as long as the rest of the homes in the neighborhood to sell.

Now, if NO HOMES in your market are selling then there are other issues. IF ANY HOMES are Selling then YOUR home is PRICED TOO HIGH for the terms and condition of the home.

Have your current agent give you an new CMA. Ask him or her what the buyers commission, price, and condition of every one of the homes that have sold withing 1/2 mile of your home was and ask them to explain the differences in the active listings to you. Shoot, go look at the active listings with your current agent.

IF your home is in Average Condition then price your home 1-2% BELOW the Average Price of what has sold from the time your home was entered into the MLS AND make sure The Buyers Agent Commission is NOT below average.

This isn't really a hard financial decission. How much money are you throwing away in the form of a mortgage each month?

[blakeeu]

We use an "Easy Exit" Addendum with all listings... it basically give the Seller and/or listing agent the right to terminate the listing at any time. We have been using the tagline "If your now happy with us.. fire us and pay nothing" for a while and it really works... SO MANY sellers are scared to list their property for fear of being locked in with an agent that they hardley know...

My feelings are: "I want us to work together because we both want to.. not because some piece of paper forces us to..."

[Bob Crain]

Sounds like a great gimic.

But, this doesn't solve the sellers problem of not pricing their home correctly. They can burn through every agent in their mls and if their home is not priced right all they have done is waisted a lot of time and money.

[blakeeu]

it is no "gimick"... we work hard not to take overpriced listing in the first place... and make sure we set proper expectations with sellers...

please accept my apology, i thougth the thread was about listing terminations not pricing of homes.

[judyo]

We are talking about someone that wants to terminate their listing and without proper knowledge we can only assume that after 8 months this property is overpriced. I hate when other agents say, "Oh no, it must be lack of marketing. It needs advertising, open houses, etc." No one has said this yet in this thread, but I've seen it on this forum before.

Even though the market has changed to a buyer's market in most areas, the bottom line is price. If a home has been sitting for 8 months no amount of advertising will sell it if it's overpriced.

It's difficult coming out of the past seller's market and we all have to learn to make the price adjustments necessary for today's market. Many newer agents have never been in a buyer's market. Couple that with a seller who knows his neighbor sold for x amount of dollars a year or two ago & it can be tough, especially if it's a basically nice property.

Another agent might say there is something that needs to be changed with the property (new carpet, more neutral paint, etc.). That might be true, but if a seller is unwilling to make these changes they need to reduce their price accordingly.

As I said before, I also allow easy out listings because I'm not afraid that my sellers will want out. If they ever did, so be it.

With all the years I have behind me I have a listing that has been sitting. It's a unique property that we priced similar to 2 other units in the building. The prices did not seem wrong for the area. But none of the units sold.

We have taken several price reductions and are finally where I think we should be with all of the feedback we've received. This was not done overnight because of the area.

If my seller gave up on me the results would have been no different with any other agent. The comps keep changing downward and luckily I'm able to convey this to the seller, who lives out of town and hasn't seen the unit since it was purchased around 5 years ago. In fact, he'll probably lose money and will be lucky to just break even. There's a long story behind it.

I'm rambling now but I want to convey to the original poster, a home seller, that they should really look at the price of their home and try to pair that with any feedback and suggestions given by their agent. If their agent is not conveying any suggestions or problems, maybe they should try to get out of the contract. But not all brokers will give a listing up and they have to abide by their contract.