My house is supposed to be listed today...

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by Mike78613

If no sell, no realtor get commission. What's so hard about that?

That's how the game works when I hired my past two realtors.

That's how it works. Technically I guess a Realtor could go after a seller who decides to withdraw the listing, or who refuses to accept a reasonable offer, but I've been doing this almost 20 years and I don't know any Realtors who would do that.

It's a better use of time and effort to just move on to the next deal and not pick losing, costly battles.

[FalconheadWest]

Originally Posted by FromCalitoSteinerRanch

We have had a few withdrawns in our neighborhood, a couple in our section. I know these people, and none said that they had to pay commission, what state are you talking about here? Not Texas, yes?

Yes, Texas. I've been a Realtor for 8 years. Everything in a contract is negotiable. ALL of my contracts have a termination clause so a seller cannot just say, "oops, I don't want to sell anymore." I run a business, and I don't get paid until your house closes, so if you're not going to allow me to get to closing, you owe my expenses, so yes, I have a termination clause, and the amount varies depending on the price range.

And no, the contract does NOT have to be at full price for the Realtor to deem they did their job. If they marketed the house and brought a ready, willing, and able buyer, and the seller doesn't want to accept that offer, that's fine, and the house is still marketed waiting for another buyer... However, if the seller then decides they don't want to move forward and wait for another buyer, excuse me, but I did my job, and I expect to get paid.

Some agents charge upfront fees, I do not. Some agents charge NON-REFUNDABLE unfront fees, I do not. I do charge someone to terminate a listing as I don't work for free.

[FalconheadWest]

And just to make sure we're on the same page, an "Expired" listing is completely different than a "Withdrawn" listing. If a seller takes the house off the market because the listing agreement has expired, and they've decided not to sell anymore or renew the contract, that's completely different than someone just terminating/withdrawing their listing after a couple of months when the listing agent has not had the opportunity to bring a buyer yet, though the agent has spent marketing dollars in the meantime.

[austin-steve]

Some agents charge upfront fees, I do not. Some agents charge NON-REFUNDABLE unfront fees, I do not. I do charge someone to terminate a listing as I don't work for free.

Well, we all (Realtors) do in fact "work for free". It's called uncompensated effort. Unless you are charging a buyer an upfront fee (I don't know any agents who do), getting paid by the hour, or you have a 100% closing ratio with buyers and sellers, you do in fact perform a lot of uncompensated tasks.

This is true on both the buyer side and seller side. I do think it's up to each agent to determine how best to run their business, and the terms and conditions under which they enter into client relationships. I learned a long time ago though that my time is better spend looking for the next person I can help rather than chasing down people who I think might owe me something.

We just listed a house in Teravista that had been for lease for more than two months. Two days after we listed it, after having it staged, the virtual tour done (about $500 out of our pocket for those two things), printing flyers, entering it into the MLS, our website, etc., someone came along who wanted to rent it and the owner decided to do that.

We didn't ask to be reimbursed, or make a fuss over all the trips to the property and the marketing effort. This outcome was actually best for the seller as we had priced it aggressively due to the season and general maarket conditions. He'll do better listing it next summer or in a couple of years. He'll list it with us again next time, so I'm not going to gripe over $500 in staging/virtual tour, and time/gas. That would sour the relationship and make me look petty. So I choose to take those lumps and move on to the next person who needs help.

Steve

[TexasHorseLady]

I have to agree with Steve here. I'm aware of what the contract says (used to be a legal assistant, don't sign anything I don't read), and it would have to be a VERY unusual situation (say, the contract has come to closing and the seller decides at the last minute not to sell) for a seller to owe the agent's commission if they chose not to sell the house. Yes, technically, an agent could go over them for the commission, but that would seem to be very bad for business, as Steve describes.

More likely for an overpriced listing and/or an uncooperative/unmotivated seller would be for the listing agent to cut the seller loose to cut their losses. Part of the business of real estate is knowing when taking a listing isn't in the best interests of your business plan.

[looking2tex]

Wow there are some pretty sweet places in Teravista...Hopefully the prices will stay affordable there like they are now...Probably going to be about another 8 - 12 months of more until we get all our "stuff" together in order to be able to make the move to TX.