Real Estate Advice / Chris Farrugia
Do not hire an agent that will not let you out of the listing agreement should you not be satisfied.
The Naples Area Board of Realtors standard contract to list property contains a section that says that should you terminate the listing for any reason, you still owe the broker commission.
If the transaction is not closed because of the refusal, failure or inability of SELLER to perform, or if SELLER fails or refuses to enter into a contract with a ready, willing and able buyer of the Property, SELLER shall pay the Compensation to BROKER in full upon demand by BROKER. In such event, this Listing Contract shall not be terminated, but shall continue in full force and effect.
What? So it doesn’t matter if you’re unhappy with the services of your agent. You’re stuck and in it for the long-haul until your listing agreement terminates.
I tell my customers that they can fire me at any time. If I have a client that is truly unhappy with my services then I want to part ways. Although, in all of these years of listing properties, I have never been fired. You can be my first!
Do not hire an agent that does not pay for professional photography.
This is one of my pet-peeves in this industry. With nearly all buyers starting their search by looking at photos of properties online, why wouldn’t an agent hire a professional photographer to really catch the eye of buyers?
The answer: These agents are dirt cheap and do not deserve to have your listing.
It is the agent’s job to pay for marketing. When you hire your next listing agent, make them put in writing that they will hire a professional real estate photographer to capture the best pictures of your home.
Do not hire an agent that works for a brokerage with a high commission split.
When you hire a REALTOR® to list your property, you agree to pay a certain commission to the brokerage. The part you may not know is that all of that money doesn’t go to your REALTOR® in many cases. Many brokers take a piece of that commission (sometimes up to 50%!) and pay the remainder out to the agent.
To be clear, let’s say you list a $500,000 home and agree to pay 6% which comes to $30,000. Of that 6%, 3% will go to the listing side and 3% will go to the buyer’s side meaning each brokerage will get $15,000. Then, a broker may keep 50% of that $15,000 and pay out the remaining $7,500 to the listing agent that listed the home.
At my brokerage, I keep 100% of my commission—the entire $15,000. Compare that to the agent that only gets $7,500—who do you think will do more advertising? Me, of course! I have a much larger budget for advertising because I’m going to keep twice what the other guy would get!
In no way is it out of line to ask REALTORS® you interview to tell you what their split is at their brokerage. Please, do so and make an informed decision on who has the budget to truly serve you in your sale.
Do not hire an agent that rents.
I’ve always found this funny. There are a lot of agents that rent their homes yet turn around and tell you that you should buy. Does that seem right to you?
I was recently discussing this with another agent and she said, “Well, maybe the REALTOR® is new to the area so they want to figure out where they’d like to buy during their lease.” Really? Now you really don’t want to hire them. They are just learning the area and completely lack expertise on the subject.
I’ve yet to come up with a reason why a REALTOR® would rent yet encourage others to buy. Maybe you can come up with one and enlighten me!