Real Estate in Barrington & The Northwest Suburbs: Barrington Realtors Listing Homes - How Long Will The Agreement Be?

If you are about to sell your home you'll likely be calling on Barrington Realtors to list your home and expose it to the largest part of the real estate market - the other Realtors. The reason for this is quite simple. We as Realtors are the ones with the majority of the buyers.

To list your home for sale requires what we refer to as a listing agreement. A better term is an exclusive right to sell your home utilizing our MLS as a vehicle to expose to other Barrington Realtors. It is a written contract laying out what the Realtor is expected to do and in what timeframe.

Today we are talking about that time-frame, what it can be, what it should be, what effect the time-frame may have on the marketing of your home. An agreement can be anything from 1 day to 1 year. After a year you can agree to extend the agreement but it must be in writing. If another year passes, another written extension can be agreed and so on.

Barrington Realtors prefer longer agreements.

Why? Any Realtor that lists a home for sale does so on a commission only basis. No income from the broker, no help with marketing costs, no salary for any time spent during the sale process. Payday is a few days after closing day once the broker pays the agent. With an average market time in Barrington over 6 months, it's a fair assessment to assume it might take this long to sell, even more. A sale rewards the Realtor for the work, and reimburses for any costs incurred.

The longer the agreement, the better chance a Barrington Realtorhas of  selling and closing the sale and getting paid.

Sellers prefer shorter agreements.

Why? Some sellers don't like the idea of being tied to long term agreements. In the event the partnership does not work well, there are disagreements with no resolutions, the seller feels they are not receiving the service they expected, it stands to reason they would want to be able to get out of the agreement.

So how long should Barrington Realtors & Sellers Agree to stay with each other?

Well there is no rule, it's up to both parties to reach an agreement. If a seller wants a 3 month agreement but the Barrington Realtor wants a 6 month minimum, one of you will compromise. Don't be surprised though if you stick to your guns to find the Realtor will not take your listing. We have to do a risk assessment, if the risk if not selling is high, the brokerage may decline the listing based on office policy or the Realtor may decline.

What's Fair to both parties? I would say the seller should give the listing agent enough time to get the sale and the Barrington Realtor should be fairly sure they can get the sale in the time-frame they agree to based on price, condition and market reports. Interview a few Barrington Realtors before you sign an agreement, find out what they are going to do to market your property.

Question? If a seller wanted to be able to cancel an agreement at any time for any reason, would they be prepared to buy that ability by paying an upfront fee to help cover the administration and marketing costs incurred? ( Not legal for short sales.)