How long is the average contract with a realtor?

Question

I'm selling my home. I'm in a six month contract. Everybody tells me I'm being taken advantage of. They say most contracts are no more than 3 months. It's been 4 months and I can't sell this thing.
Any help?

Answer 1

although there is no industry standard and each contract is negotiable, I am seeing 6 month contracts around in Southern California. I personally do two months myself. If I can't sell a house in a month, let alone two, I don't deserve the business.

You need to distinguish your property from other available property. Think about who your potential buyers might be and market to them and appeal to their needs. My buyers were first time home buyers who probably had little or no savings for a home. So I made my listing appealing to 100% financing buyers by offerring to pay for all closing cost and gave them enough money to buy down a point on each of their two loans (80/20). I just sold a property in two weeks where it sat on the market for 6 months in this manner.

Good Luck.

Regards

Answer 2

The contract is in force until you either sell or it expires. The last property I sold took me a year to dispose of. About 3 months of that was for repairs and remodeling.

How many times has it been shown? What were the comments from the prospective buyers? What have you done to address the issues raised by them?

Talk to your agent. Find out what you need to do to generate some interest in your property. You need to stay actively involved in the sale process. If you just dump it on an agent and don't follow up frequently, don't expect much action on it.

Answer 3

what's defined interior the solutions as favourite is often negotiable in accordance to the regulation. If a Realtor the two lists and sells a belongings, he's entitled to the full negotiated cost, yet he can not pocket the full element, as there are a number of expenditures taken out of it. If he lists it, and yet another Realtor sells it, the quantity of the cost chop up for the advertising agent is indexed on the MLS (diverse itemizing provider).

Answer 4

"Everybody" is wrong to be advising you on how any real estate company conducts its business. That IS the business of the broker who has to pay the bills. They determine what they need to do in order to be profitable, and contrary to popular belief many go out of business annually because they failed to properly plan the cost to do business.

Nobody has "taken" advantage of you.

I will never accept a listing for less than the average neighborhood market time; typically I do minimally a 6 month listing agreement for residential, 1 yr plus for commercial. Why should I spend my time and my money to build an ad program around your property if you will not agree to allow me reasonable time to sell your home and recover my expenses, the money I spent and the expenses I committed to incur when you agreed to employ my services? My expenses include the following and more: use of newspaper ads, magazine ads, brochures, website maintenance, travel in my car at $2.58 per gallon to show your home, time spent answering questions from both the public and other brokers about your home, preparation of a home book with color pictures and local information to re-enforce the idea that YOUR house is THE house for that particluar buyer. The digital camera, computer, education, car and related maintenance, building I occupy, office furnishings you see, copiers, printers and more cost money and I pay for those things with the proceeds I receive form the sale of real estate- yours included. And believe me, this IS NOT all the expenses people in my buisiness typically incur, this IS A PARTIAL list of those costs to do business.

You also must realize the real estate market is returning to a "normal" state, that meaning there are no longer people lined up to bid on a house and pushing the price up to unrealistic, unsupportable levels. Even CNN and MSNBC have reported that. You need to revisit your pricing, home condition, what buyers are expecting in seller concessions like paid closing costs, are there a lot of "new" homes competing for the same buyer, and more.

Furthermore, it is a great injustice to your agent to talk to "arm chair" quarter backs and not talk to them about what it will take to get your home sold. If you are unhappy with the agent then talk to their broker or manager. They want your property sold as much as you.

So stop talking to self declared "experts" that have never worked in the real estate industry and never sold more than a couple properties-if that- in their entire life. Ask them specifically what makes them so knowledgable about real estate operations and sales. Licensed real estate agents are required to have training. In Tennessee, that is 60 hrs before they can even sit for the license exam, 30 hrs following passage of the exam within 6 months of getting a license, then 16 hrs every 2 yrs continuing ed, and that is the minimum (I have over 500 hrs excluding continuing ed). We typically sell 20-30-100 or more housing units annually per agent. This is our vocation, that is what we do.

How does the home look for the street? Mulched flower beds? Yard clean, cut and trimmed? Shrubs cut back or appear jungle like and overgrown? Front door paint look fresh? Too much "stuff" in the house or closets creating the optical illusion of the house being smaller than it really is? Paved driveway looking old and tired? Paint inside or out looking old and tired? How about appointments- is it "easy" to show? If they can not see it they won't buy it.

If what they DO see is not "eye candy" they will probably not get out of the car, or if they do get out and go in they leave quickly because it lacks the "wow" factor. You have 15 seconds to start to overcome objections before they leave, but only have 10 seconds to make a good impression, even less to make a bad inpression. Buyers will spend at least half hour if they like the first impression.

What YOU do is important too. DO NOT leave dirty bras or under shorts laying around and especially evidence of sexual activity (yep I've seen that and more) or nude pictures. Do burn a cookie scented candle when you are home, it gives the home a "home smell" that people will relate to. Dogs or cats need to be elsewhere- people with allergy issues will go right on to another home regardless how much they liked your home. Clear the table of dirty dishes and minimally leave them in the dishwasher- that is what it is for. Get rid of "pink" rooms, especially bathrooms. "Normal" men will not buy pink bathrooms, women will buy masculine looking bathrooms. Neuturalize brilliant colors to pastels. Floors in good shape? If not get new carpet or vinyl installed. New hardware for kitchen and bath cabinets and drawers looks fresh and great. Add a brass kick plate to the front door. Repair defective plumbing, cracked or broken glass or other defects including the HVAC system, show the receipts to prospective buyers so they know you kept the maintenance up.

There is more I can say but you need to have this conversation with your agent. It is unlawful for me or anybody else to interfere with a written agency contract, and in this case your listing agreement is just that. It is not my desire to do that nor casue issues with your agent, but YOU do NEED to be just and fair to them. So go ahead, call and get an appointment and ask them to do a current CMA and advise you on what to do to get it done- that is THEIR job, let them earn their commission, and help YOU sell you house.

Answer 5

typically a few months...