I made an awful mistake and signed a contract with assist to sell. There hasn’t been much assisting going on. He had us sit for an open house today and the only advertising he did was the sign in front of the house and it’s not a high traffic area at all. He also has become obnoxious and very hard to deal with.
Question is - can I get out of the contract? I am considering a lease option or just scrapping the whole sale and move in myself.
Thanks for the help… Rick
I dont think it costs anything to have a Realtor sell your property. Why did they want you to assist? List on Craigs List, MLS, Newspapers, Flyers, Local REI meetings, Church Groups, etc.
Odds are you can get out of the contract… just ask the broker and he will probably allow it.
Happens all the time.
It’s an all too common story.
The listing agreement you signed is actually with the brokerage. The Realtor is just a sub-agent for the broker. Best bet is to approach the Broker and communicate the issue to him/her stating that you’re unhappy with the agents performance.
They have the option of enforcing the listing agreement for the entire term or releasing you so that it will not cause any negative press.
Good Investing,
Darin
HHI Investing
Thanks for the time to reply. This guy is the broker. I guess I could complain to “Assist to Sell” corporate office but he is his own boss who owns a franchise.
Did ya catch the name of the company maybe before you signed the agreement…
“ASSIST TO SELL” that means you do some of the work… The discount brokers are discount because they don’t do “everything”.
What kind of agreement did you sign… If it is an “Open Agency” or exclusive Agency you can still sell the thing yourself without incurring a commission. If it is an exclusive authorization and right o sell then you’re out of luck until the listing expires.
Open ended Listing agreement
An open-ended listing allows an investor to sell a property themselves. However, he, or she, could also hire a single or multiple agents to list and sell the property.
Exclusive agency Listing agreement
An exclusive agency listing is somewhat similar to an open listing with one major difference. That difference is if the broker, hired by the Investor, sells the property to an able buyer and the investor accepts the offer from said buyer, then the broker will represent the investor as well.
Thus, the Investor is obligated to pay the entire commission, both to the selling and listing sides.
Under this agreement, the broker may also cooperate with other agents and if the investor accepts an offer from a buyer represented by another agent then the investor is still obligated to pay both sides commissions.
Exclusive authorization and right to sell
An exclusive authorization and right-to-sell listing is the most commonly utilized listing agreement. It gives the broker the exclusive right to earn a commission by representing the owner and bringing a buyer, either through another brokerage or directly. The owner pays both the listing and selling broker fees. The owner cannot sell the property himself, or herself, without paying a commission, unless an exception is noted in the
Also if the broker will stop assisting you make certain they sign a “Cancellation” not a “Withdrawn Listing” form… the withdrawn form still requires you to pay them a commission if the property transfers or an agreement to transfer takes place within the listing period.
If they wont play call the boards Ombudsman and file a grievance…
Assist to sell listings are for a reduced commission. The reason the commission is reduced is because the agent doesn’t do any work, except for placing the property on the multiple and writing up the paperwork.
If you want a full service real esate agent, you have to pay full price commission.
You shouldn’t be expecting to drink champaigne when all you’ve paid for is Brown Derby beer.
You say that as if there is something wrong with Brown Derby Beer.
Im not an idiot, If I had been told I needed to advertise myself I would have. He sold us on him because he said he did everything including the open houses. Than it changed to he will do the first one to show us how to. That would have been fine too if we knew all the facts. He turned rude and is not following through with what he said in he never ending sales pitch. Now we can get 2 minutes of his time.
All I wanted to know was if there was an out for me. I didn’t need wise ass comments. He sold us on how he was going to go about selling the house not on the discount rate. Not that that wasnt considered, it was. But we went with him because he seemed good. I even googled him and he won all kinds of awards with Century 21.
Thanks and for the record I’d take the beer every time.
I have to echo Michael’s comments. The AssistUSell and the HelpUSell franchises are set up for the FSBO sellers who also want to put their property in the MLS. The seller pays a nominal MLS listing fee, maybe gets a lockbox from the real estate agent, then is pretty much on his own.
Regardless of what the agent may have said to your face, I am sure his listing agreement with you tells you that you have to do most of the work yourself if you are going to get your property sold.
Are you able to just take it off the market and list with another agent? I’m not sure what the rules are regarding that.
You get what you pay for sometimes. You can get released from the broker contract and judging by what this agent promised and then failed to deliver it shouldn’t be an issue. However, you may have a clause in the agreement that covers some time frame after the release that you would still owe the broker a commission even if you sell the place yourself. These discount brokers don’t really do anything for you because they can’t afford to. They’re offering nearly all their commssion to a buyers’ agent.
Randy that clause only applies to the buyers who viewed the property. And only if the agent reserves them. It doesnt apply to anyone new.
It isn’t your broker. It’s your asking price. If you had it priced to sell you would get traffic.
Hi, hope I’m not to late to respond to your post. The first thing you need to do is read your contract. In it, you will find the proper way to terminate you contract.
I am an Agent myself, I hope this is helpful to you