owner wants to hold open house w/ listed property - Posted by Elena

Posted by BTI on August 23, 2006 at 17:51:43:

Elena

My father was a contractor and built spec houses. He would only give out exclusive agency listings. That means you reserve the right to find a buyer yourself and pay no commission. The agent puts it on the mls and trys to sell it before you can, and if they are any good they usually do.

After this guys listing expires find another agent to work with, do not relist, as a matter of fact I would start looking now. In the meantime I would still try to find a buyer even if it means paying this guy a commission. Also if some other agent were to bring in a buyer, he normally would split the commission with them, maybe he will amend his listing agreement to reduce the commission by the same amount if you guys find the buyer. Doesn’t cost anything to ask.

I used exclusive agency listings with several spec builders that did business with me and it worked out fine, once in a while they would beat me in finding a buyer, but they always gave me the buyer prospects that weren’t interested in buying the property they had, and that more then made up for the times they found a buyer before me.

BTI

owner wants to hold open house w/ listed property - Posted by Elena

Posted by Elena on August 22, 2006 at 15:41:53:

Is it legal to have the builder/owner of a property try to sell the property themself even if it is listed with a broker? The broker said we are not legally allowed to hold an open house or even allowed to discuss pricing with a prospect unless we are licensed realtors.

Re: owner wants to hold open house w - Posted by BTI

Posted by BTI on August 23, 2006 at 15:04:16:

Elena

Just to be sure, you are the owner right?

Secondly, I would suggest to your agent to quit spreading false information and for him to contact the state dept. of real estate for a refresher course, apparently he needs it. As a broker for over 40 years any agent of mine that said this would be in definite trouble with me.

Legally the agent can only do what you authorize him to do, not vice versa.

BTI

wants to hold open house w/ listed property - Posted by Max-Va

Posted by Max-Va on August 22, 2006 at 20:06:00:

An owner can do their own marketing and advertising of their own property. They can sell their own propertywithout a R/E agent. If the owner signs a listing agreement with a broker they may still owe a commission to the broker, depending on how the listing agreement was written.

Re: owner wants to hold open house w - Posted by Elena

Posted by Elena on August 23, 2006 at 15:27:09:

I am part owner of the construction co. who built the house (spec house). Our broker has done minimal to market the listing so we wanted to do what we could ourselves. We are frustrated that he would get a commission from our hard work. We need the mls, but I really want to try and sell these homes myself to save on commissions. I do not want to become a realtor. Is there any way to get on the mls legally without listing with an agent? Or are we stuck with FSBO as our only other option.

Re: wants to hold open house w/ listed property - Posted by Elena

Posted by Elena on August 23, 2006 at 07:29:01:

Thanks, I appreciate the advice. Are there any guidelines for open houses? I am assuming as long as we are clear that we are not realtors then we can discuss freely with any prospects?