Is there any way out of my contract? (appraised, auction, new agent)

[MoMark]

What you're going through sucks. I'd do the obvious thing first, tell him you are unhappy with his apparent lack of service, his lack of providing information, his trying to lower the price but not seemingly making an effort to direct buyers your way, etc. Then I'd ask for the release like mainbroker suggests. If he's not willing to let you go, you can still 'fire' him, but I believe he'd still be entitled to any commission if you sold under anyone else.(not sure about that!)
You can play too y'know So far he's using his own money to do whatever he's doing...Insist on an open house that forces him to be present. Nag the sh*t out of him, be on his phone every day and leave voice mails on every phone number pertinent to him and his office. Become Gladys Kravitz on high heat. Call his colleagues to give him messages.
I'll bet he'll be thrilled to release you if you annoy him that much.

[WendyK]

I always make it a part of my initial listing presentation to tell the sellers that if they are not happy with my service in any way, that they can cancel the contract. I don't want unsatisfied clients and I think that knowing they have my commitment to perform keeps them committed to me. I wouldn't be satisfied getting paid on a transaction where I hadn't done all that I can to make sure the listing was properly marketed and represented. It's true that the listing agreement is with the actual broker, but my broker would see to it that if a seller was not satisfied with my performance then another agent would be assigned to the listing. That has never happened.

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by WendyK

I always make it a part of my initial listing presentation to tell the sellers that if they are not happy with my service in any way, that they can cancel the contract. I don't want unsatisfied clients and I think that knowing they have my commitment to perform keeps them committed to me. I wouldn't be satisfied getting paid on a transaction where I hadn't done all that I can to make sure the listing was properly marketed and represented. It's true that the listing agreement is with the actual broker, but my broker would see to it that if a seller was not satisfied with my performance then another agent would be assigned to the listing. That has never happened.

My own personal experiences with realtors have been terrible in 2005 when I was looking to buy, and then I accidentally found a great realtor in the same office representating the home I was finally interested in and purchased.
I watch Buy Me, that real estate show out of Quebec where people try to sell their homes and they often get frustrated, refuse to take the advice of the agents to make repairs or clean up homes, etc. Then they get mad, rude, abusive to the agents, and often fire them, hire someone else, go through the same procedure all over again and either get lucky and sell or they don't. You sound like a good realtor.

[kawgpz550]

Hello,
I was wondering if you realtors could help me out here. We have had lower end investment proeprties that we have been selling so we can reocate from the Arizona desert to Texas. We have fixed the other places up enough to make them sellable at reasonable price, however, we are down to selling our home.
We have a 4 bedroom 2 bath 2000 sq ft home. What WE use as the 4th bedroom (has a closet etc) was converted from the garage. It was previously used as a second family room, but we needed more bedrooms and made a closet etc, this is a HUGE master bedroom, but no bathroom. There is no garage now. The house was built in the 70's with original cabinets etc.
We are planning on updating the kitchen with new cabinets (at minimum new faces/doors), either granite or silastone, new appliances, either tile through out with carpet in the bedrooms, or possibly laminate flooring in living area, tile in wet areas and carpet in bedrooms. For the outside (stucco on top wood at bottom) I want to re-paint the stucco and add rock to the bottom portion of the house I think it will give it GREAT curb appeal.
I would like your professional opinions as to what other updates and cosmetics are important when trying to update an older home and getting the best bang for the buck so to speak. I don't want to spend more than what we need to in order to get the max we can out of it.
Should we invest the money into building a new garage? Or should we give an allowance?
How much landscape should we do and how much should we leave to buyers? What kind of landscape is important (remember, we live in the desert not much lives here...no grass and mostly only palm trees and oleanders surrive)
Would we be better off putting out the money and adding a 3rd bathroom into the 4th bedroom, thereby having 2 masters? The main master bath only has standard tub/shower enclosure. Would we be better off putting in the other bath and making it more of a luxury bath? Or not worth the extra $$.
I know this is a lot of info, and I really appreciate any advice any of you are willing to offer. We have a realtor, very sweet lady and really can't replace her, but she tends to always think everything "looks good" rather than giving tips on what to do to make better. Neither my husband or myself are very good architechs or interior designers, therefore we reall need some professional input. We already made a mistake on one house we sold and put way too much into it for what we were able to get out of it and do not want to make the same mistake again.
Thanks in advance!

[kawgpz550]

OOOOOOOOOPS!
Soooooo sorry. I don't know how I managed to post my "new thread" onto your exisiting thread...
My apologies

[mainebrokerman]

Then I'd ask for the release like mainbroker suggests. If he's not willing to let you go, you can still 'fire' him, but I believe he'd still be entitled to any commission if you sold under anyone else.(not sure about that!)
from momark(above)
i believe if a broker is released (fired) and the ex-client signs an exclusive right to sell with another broker, that trumps any right of commission from the previous broker however, if the incompetent broker procured a willing and able buyer(showed the property) to potential buyers, and they later (after the broker is fired) decide to place an offer on the property, the incompetent broker has a right to commission, if he established a buyers agency relationship, with the potential buyers, in maine a broker can be an appointed agent, and practice dual-disclosed agency (representing both buyer and seller, upon permission of both parties)
for example, momark lists my house , as listing broker, a potential buyer calls momark for a showing, (this buyer is a CUSTOMER at this point, with no buyer broker representing him/her.
the potential buyer shows up to see the house, they ask alot of questions, about the house, and even a question about the price tolerence and motive of selling, momark, states, he is working for best interest of the seller, his client, the buyer says, hey, i dont have a broker to represent me, will you be my buyers broker? (this also depends on each r.e. companies policies)
the buyer then says, if you wont represent me, as a broker, i'll get another broker to do so.
so, momark, at this point, can enter into representing both the seller and buyer on a client basis, ONLY WITH THE APPROVAL OF THE SELLER(and this can be done in the listing process)
momark's client(seller, states, hey i hired you, you are working for me, not the buyer, and momark, explains to the seller, there are advantages of this situation, first, as your listing broker, i got you comps and made suggestions on price, etc, when it was listed, YOU THE SELLER already have a price tolerance, you wont go lower than(and momark, if he knows, cannot divulge that to the buyer, or he can lose his license) momark, also explains, by being a transaction broker, he cant divulge motive to either party, and on the upside, the seller wont have a shark of a buyers broker (or lawyer) trying to rip him apart, on price, terms, and conditions, the seller ultimately approves, and momark, is also the buyers agent. moamrk writes up an offer, the buyer sets the offering price, and seller has the ultimate say of acceptance.

sorry i got so long-winded, but its a gray area, and ive could have written a book, of rules and laws and guidelines to follow.

pertaining to the original thread, if i was the incompetent broker, but had established a written agency relationship with the buyer, then yes, i believe i'd be entitled to some commission, we have a "carryover" clause ..up to six months of expiration of listing.(tho again it is trumped by the exclusive right to sell) from another agency (listingagreement)
i hope i havent confused anyone, i'm feeling somewhat confused myself,,lol

[2bindenver]

Having been on the market for more than two weeks, and having a few showings indicates that the property is on MLS and attracts the interests of real estate agent/brokers enough to show the client/customer.

Showing agent/brokers rarely give feedback. I use an email system and I tell my clients we will be lucky to get a 10% response rate. Showing agent/brokers are unwilling to give away any information about what their client/customer liked or not about your property, just in case they enter in negotiations with you. I give feedback about half of the time. And only in those cases where I know the listing broker, or there is absolutely no interest on the buyers part.

Sometimes I call the listing broker and tell them the truth why we could not complete the showing like the *friendly* dog barked/growled upon entry, so we exited.

If your property has had more than 12-15 showings you may be priced close.
If your property has had two or more second showings you may be priced close.

It is a solid strategy to underprice a property to solicit mutiple bids to get more than fair market value. Even in Denver where the market has been flat for 6 years, this works. Nobody says you have to take an offer.

Are you comparing your properties price to those active properties or the ones that have recently (0-3 months) sold?

[RESteve]

As a real estate agent, I am not allowed to interpret the law of your contract with your agent/broker so it would be best to consult with a local real estate attorney or the agent's broker for your particular situation. I would lean toward the attorney as it's obvious the broker would have a vested interest in you staying in the contract.

[movingoutofCA]

Thank you everyone for your help. I know part of my problem is my emotions connected to my house. I am going to see what happens in the next few weeks as busy season starts to kick in. I really don't think a bidding war will happen with a low price. People in our area are already asking for below listing price and the seller to pay for closing costs. Some sellers are even offering weekend getaways. We don't really need to move for at least 1 year, I'll ride it out, I'm not going to give my house away.

[HDL]

That said, I follow real estate pretty closely all across the US and know the CA real estate market fairly well. It sounds to me that your agent/broker knows the market and is trying to get you to price accordingly so that you will have a 'chance' of selling and he can make some money, as well as you.

You on the other hand state that you are in no hurry. HELLO??? We have a conflict here ! Why should any realtor spend a lot of time on someone who does not appear to be 'serious' about selling??? That is how they make their money!! You may not want to give your home away (nobody does ), but that doesn't mean that the market will bear the price you want. Not now and maybe not for quite a few years to come .

How did you come up with the 'my house is woth $35K more'? Is that from a past appraisal? What your home is worth today is what the market will pay today. Not what it was worth yesterday. Or even last month. And especially not last year or 2005 when the market was HOT HOT HOT !

Are you reading the paper about all the foreclosures and short sales happening in CA? Do you actually know what your competition looks like? How many homes are currently for sale within a 1 mile radius that resemble yours? Drive by them. Check out pics and data. How long have they been on the market? Have they been taken off MLS and relisted 1 or more times? What was their original asking price versus where it's at now?

I'm not trying to be mean. I'm trying to give you a 'wake-up call' . A home is a lot of money and you cannot rely solely on a Realtor to get yours sold. Do your homework! We are just starting to come out of winter when sales are almost non-existent. When spring hits (and it will HIT, believe you me ) there will be a TON more homes on the market and you will wish you had done what this Realtor told you if you really wish to sell !

If you want out of this contract, my best guess from what you said here, is that the Realtor will gladly let you go . I've been reading for the past year that Brokers don't want listings where the sellers won't get real about their pricing and you certainly sound like one of them. I heard that they waited until the contract expired and if the seller wanted to renew, but was not willing to reduce their pricing, they said 'adios amigo' .