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If
you’re selling your home privately, here’s one of the most
important pieces of advice you’ll ever read here: It is never
in your best interest to sign a listing agreement with an
agent; it’s only in the agent’s best interest.
You will lose control
of your sale and you may end up with your home listed on the agents' listing service
long-term.
There
have been a recent spate of incidents reported to us where an
agent has pressured a private vendor into signing a
listing agreement on various highly questionable pretexts.
One
instance occurred after the vendor, a ComFree customer, had
already accepted and signed an offer to purchase presented by
the agent. He then asked if the vendor would mind signing a
"5-minute" listing so he could get bonus points toward a plaque.
The deal fell through because of financing and her home is now
on the agents' listing service, unsold. She has had to turn away private-sale
prospects because if anyone buys or is introduced to the
home during the listing period, the agent can claim a
commission, even if he did nothing.
In
another instance, an agent told a ComFree customer she must
sign a listing agreement before he could bring her an offer
because that was the only way he |
could be paid
his commission. That was information any agent would know is
incorrect. A signed offer to purchase is the only protection the
agent needs.
There
are other dodges agents are using. Some may seem harmless, but
there can be a great deal at stake. The agents' listing service listing agreement is
a document fraught with unexpected perils to the private vendor.
For
instance, what if the deal doesn’t go through after you’ve
signed that "5-minute" listing?
And the
Withdrawal Agreement an agent might offer you to sign to get
out of an unwanted listing is even worse. It specifies that,
even though you’re now off-listing, you still can’t sell your
home for 60 days without being liable to pay commission. That’s
in the fine print, or course.
The
safest course is never to sign an agent’s listing agreement,
even if you think your home is already sold.
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