Saturday, July 10, 2010

I have listed a home with a real estate agent in Washington. Can I sell it for sale by owner?

I have listed through an agent. But someone has contacted me to sell the property to them and save on commission. Is this possible? Will I have to wait until the listing ends,..to sell it?I have listed a home with a real estate agent in Washington. Can I sell it for sale by owner?
Beware of the many scam artists out there that may claim they want you to reneg on a valid contract %26amp; fire your professional representation to buy your property %26amp; save you money.





Many will talk you into lease options (ties up your property %26amp; then they sell their option to someone else for more money %26amp; pocket the difference at closing or other various schemes), terms %26amp; conditions you know nothing about %26amp; you end up on the short end of a sharp stick.





A reasonable compromise might be for said Buyer to work with your agent %26amp; perhaps she might agree to negotiate %26amp; follow this transaction for only her listing commission %26amp; the buyer would be on their own with no representation. It is obvious that the Buyer has no problem not having an agent to represent their best interests. The amount of the selling office commission could be subtracted from the sales price.





The market here in Washington (Puget Sound) is still slow, but not totally dead %26amp; I don't know as though your agent would agree to this proposition, but it wouldn't hurt to ask.





Updated:


Portion of NWMLS Form 1A (or W.A.R. Form No. L-102-R) Exclusive Listing %26amp; Sale Agreement (if this is the listing agreement you signed) that is specific to this question:





Further, if Seller shall, within six months after the expiration of this Agreement, sell the Property to any person to whose attention it was brought through the signs, advertising or other action of Broker, or on information secured directly or indirectly from or through Broker, during the term of this Agreement, then Seller will pay Broker the above commission. Provided, that if a commission is paid to a member of MLS or a cooperating MLS in conjunction with a sale, the amount of commission payable to Broker shall be limited to the amount of commission which would have been payable pursuant to this Agreement less any commission so paid to another member of MLS. Provided further, that if Seller cancels this Agreement without legal cause, Seller may be liable for damages incurred by Broker as a result of cancellation, regardless of whether Seller pays a commission to another MLS member.I have listed a home with a real estate agent in Washington. Can I sell it for sale by owner?
You can cancel your listing, do it in writing. READ your listing agreement. It may say any sale to anyone who has seen the house during the listing agreement, if they buy within X days, you owe commission. Most realtors will let home owners cancel contracts, even before the term expires, but will watch for a sale within 60-90 days. Usually you can terminate one listing contract and sign with another realtor.
It depends, but you'll have to commit purjury and lie about the sale. If the agent finds out the person came to you during the listing period he could sue.





Plus if the agent might bring a contract before the period is over. What will you do then?
You would have to review your contract, but smart Realtors have a provision that you cannot cancel the contract and sell within a specified period without paying a commission.





I have been looking at and answering questions here for awhile, I wish I could give you a link to how many ';I went FSBO and it is going sour'; questions are posted here.





And, you are dealing dirty here. The potential buyer probably found your property due to the Realtor paying for your advertising, and if you don't use them, that is crap. You don't expect to pay up to do your job and then get the shaft, do you?
Yikes! you can't have it both ways. Read your listing agreement...it probably says that the agreement can be terminated at any time by mutual agreement between the seller and the listing agent...who YOU hired in the first place.
Hi. Depends on the contract. If you signed up with them, they usually have a set amount of time to sell the house. If they just listed it for you and are not the selling agent, (usually disclosed at time of agreement), then you could, but you might have to still pay the listing fees. I would check your contract then contact the agent and tell him/her your situation and maybe they could bring down the commission since you found the buyer....


When we purchased a building, we had a friend who was a real estate agent and since we had already found the building, we had him do the paperwork and negotiated the commission.
Usually the seller pays the commission and not the buyer so I'm not sure why a buyer would suggest this unless they have some plan or trick up their sleeve. I would be careful and interested to know why they want you do a transaction without representation for yourself. The others are correct though, your contract probably has a provision that will not allow you to do this and the legal fees you could have to pay if yuu get caught wouldn't be worth the money you might save.
You can FSbO (For Sale by Owner), but are you an agent and are you prepared for the potential lawsuits?
Most real estate contracts include a provision that you can not sell the property within a set amount of time after listing with them. Realtors work very hard for their money, they don't want you to list with them, so that they advertise your home, bring you potential buyers, etc, and then you make a deal with a person they brought to you on a side. After all, then real estates will make no money at all - because clients such as yourself will quickly become smart enough to save on the commissions and just use a free buyer finder service!





So usually these contracts tell you that you can not sell by yourself within 6 months (though it may be a different period) after finishing a listing with them. Or else they can sue you for their commissions.





LEM.





P.S. You can terminate a listing at any time though (as if you changed your mind), but you still can not sell or re-list with any other agent but the same one you originally listed with until that period of time expires.

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