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I've read a few threads via the search function - want to post this again to see if there's updated info, etc.
Long story short, I signed an agreement with my realtor - a family acquaintance - for a year back in July of '09. I signed for the twelve months despite my gut feeling - I went in thinking six months. Eight months later, and approximately 2-3 viewings per month and without any offers, I want out of the contract.
Long story short, we don't feel that she's done enough to market the house or get the word out. I've placed ads on my own and have made many calls myself. When I ask for feedback ... I get "your house is well regarded, it just isn't the right family for the house." When I ask what we can do to improve our odds, I get nothing.
Our neighborhood has seen 5 houses or so sold in the time our home has been on the market; homes that were in the same price range as ours and some that were higher. All these homes were listed by other agencies.
I told her a few weeks ago that we were disappointed - and told her we were looking at 1 March to make some big changes. She said she, too, was disappointed.
We're going to ask for the agency to cancel our contract and move on. My questions:
* Do I need to contact our realtor first, then the managers of the agency to request cancelation? I suppose that would be common courtesy.
* When I do this, do I need to request anything within my request to terminate? Meaning, "cancel the listing" or something along those lines? What is the best way to handle the cancelation without negatively impacting our ability to sell the house - and what do I need to say to avoid any legal impact? To be clear we have no buyers and would not sell to anyone that our realtor was working with before 1 March ...
It is unfortunate ... and we've explained our concerns many times. At some point, though, we have hired a person that - in our opinion - isn't performing and a change needs to be made.
I can request to "unconditionally" terminate the listing agreement. Of course, there's an option to "conditionally" terminate as well, so I'd have to stipulate which one I would like.
I...and what do I need to say to avoid any legal impact? To be clear we have no buyers and would not sell to anyone that our realtor was working with before 1 March ......
Why would you not sell to someone that your agent worked with? A buyer is a buyer. Seems like you'd just be hurting yourself. Usually, listing contracts have a hold over period where the agent is due a commission for a certain time after listing expiration/termination, and is due commission for buyers that they had previously brought to you. Read your listing contract.
20 showings with no offers means something else is going on.
I don't begrudge you for wanting out of the listing agreement - but when you have a property that has 20 showings and no offers, there's something else going on ... and not necessarily the agent.
Is there anything detrimental to your location? Power lines, railroad tracks, busy intersection, crappy neighbors?
To have 20 showings, no offers, means the home isn't selling itself and that's your problem. Now, your agent may or may not be doing a good job but ultimately the house needs to sell itself. I suspect you have either a condition or price problem.
And to answer your question, everything in RE should be done in writing, including a release from a buyer or seller agency contract.
While there is a lot of work an agent will or should do to market a home, I have to admit, there is a lot of luck and timing that comes into play. The right buyer with the right agent at the right time. In our area of the country-mid atlantic SE Virginia, the market has been horrible for sellers since the end of 2007. Showings are way down which lessens our chance of finding the right buyer quickly. It has to be priced right-first and foremost-for the condition,location and terms a seller seeks. The one and only thing the REALTOR (or real estate agent if they are not a member of NAR) can control is the marketing. I've seen agents spend thousands on an improperly priced or prepared home, and never sell it. Then the next agent comes along, drops the price and/or improves the condition and terms and it sells quickly without any marketing dollars spent. The location is what it is and can't be changed, but you have to make sure it's priced accordingly. The rest is up to my sellers and I'll offer my suggestions with regards to condition and terms
To answer the questions as to why the house isn't selling -whether that be condition or price or location - isn't that something that our realtor should be able to answer?
That's why I've asked her for feedback ... asked for showing agent feedback. I am not kidding - the bulk of the feedback is "your home is wonderful ... we just went with something different." In my opinion, and that could be wrong, the realtor should be able to say "I think "x" is the problem, let's try to fix it." Obviously she wants to sell the house too, to make a paycheck, so if I was her I'd be working with the seller to improve the house if that's what's needed. That's what I would do if I was in the business.
As far as the price goes, the price was set by her and she says it is competitive within the area. As I mentioned, similar homes have sold for the same prices, and if a few thousand lower (like $5,000 lower), the price per square foot for that property was higher.
Anyway, I appreciate the input. I agree something is obviously going on, and I would hope that someone would - or could - provide me that input. When the only negative comment - no kidding - in 8 months is "your driveway isn't suited for the buyer to work on his cars" ... that's not much to go on. Bottom line - I think our realtor COULD be doing more to either market the home or work with us to take steps to improve our odds of selling it. Simply waiting, doing nothing, isn't helping. Only getting info from her, once a week only when I initiate, doesn't give me a warm fuzzy. I'm not the professional obviously, but I expected more. I'm willing to consider or understand that I'm expecting too much. I don't think I am, though.
Is there anything detrimental to your location? Power lines, railroad tracks, busy intersection, crappy neighbors?
Well, the only problem, physically, is that our driveway has a bit of a grade (see my earlier response). That was a comment I received once .. and it didn't prevent me from parking cars on it or washing cars or doing minor maintenance work. But that's just me, of course.
The house is only 4 years old and kept in immaculate condition. It is now empty as we've since moved on due to work. We thought maybe it would show better empty but that hasn't resulted in any additional interest ...
Most of the responses are "your home is in their top-3" but ... hasn't worked out yet. Like I said earlier, I'd be happy if someone just said "your kitchen is terrible" or "why weren't the walls painted" or "the flower bed will require too much work" ... something like nothing. Zip. If it is so great, perhaps we're just missing out or that extra special something about it just doesn't exist to make someone absolutely want to buy it.
...Most of the responses are "your home is in their top-3" but ... hasn't worked out yet. Like I said earlier, I'd be happy if someone just said "your kitchen is terrible" or "why weren't the walls painted" or "the flower bed will require too much work" ... something like nothing. Zip. ...
When I'm asked for buyer feedback after a showing, I tend to keep it very generic if I say anything at all. I'm representing the buyer, not the seller. I don't want to say anything that may impair our negotiating advantage if we should decide to pursue an offer.
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