signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

DH is thinking of using this guy who own the dry cleaning place down the street to list our coop. he sold the unit across from us within a few months last year. only thing is that he's asking 5% commission and 1 year contract. is this normal? we used another agent more than 1 year ago and she was horrible. her terms were 4% and 7 months and didn't resign with her. is it normal to be 1 year? kinda long to me.

TIA

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

i just signed with Beth and the terms are 6 months and 4%. your guy seems to be asking a lot.

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

I did 3 months and 4.125 percent for my coop. My agent sold in less than 3 weeks!!!!!

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

We were 2 blocks off little neck parkway I will fm you her details. She did a great job for us

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

I would not sign any RE agreement for more than 6 months and I would really push for 3 months with an automatic renewal.

I am sure there are plenty of agents out there that would take a 3 month listing. Just because the 3 months are up that doesn't mean the agent loses the listing. Assuming they are doing a satisfactory job, they would keep the listing. Maybe i'd push it to 4 months.

But that's me and how I like to negotiate. I am sure other people may be different.

ETA: 4% is fair... but I would also add in a clause that says if the listing agent gets the dual commission (sells it herself with no other agent), total payout would be less, like 3%.

Message edited 9/23/2011 2:13:38 PM.

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

Sign with someone who devotes full time to real estate. I would be nervous that his dry cleaning business would interfere with his ability to show and sell.

I would pass

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

4% and 6 month were pretty much standard. We tried to get less than 6 months, but no one would (We had 3 months in CA)

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

We had 4% and 6 months. Our first realtor had a clause that we could break contract with one month's notice. Beth's contract stated that we could cancel at any time.

I would want someone who does this full time. How much time can he devote to RE when he has a dry cleaning shop?! If you really like him i would find out what the deal is with breaking contract.

Re: signing with an agent to sell..(1yr and 5%?)

6 months is not unreasonable. I've had listings for 12 months, 9 months, 6 months... like everything else it's negotiable, and it depends on the circumstances.

But you have to understand that the realtor is taking a risk here in he (and his company) are investing all of the time and money to market the property upfront, and if the property doesn't sell, he doesn't get paid anything. Until the property sells, he is working for free. In this market, properties are taking longer to sell (the last national statistic I heard for average "days on the market" is 180, or 6 months). And co-ops tend to take longer to sell. So if it were me, I would want at least a 6 months listing for a co-op ... at least to give me time to execute my marketing plan and to allow it to work.

The commission is negotiable as well. There is no "standard" commission, but I think full-service realtors typically work at 4% at a MINIMUM. Realtors often get more. I base my commission on a variety of factors -- including, but not limited to what type of property it is, how reasonable the list price is, how motivated the seller is, and what components of my marketing plan the seller wants me to implement. I would be suspicious of any realtor who agrees to work for less than 4%, because it is standard to offer out 2% to cooperating agents on MLS. Why would the listing agent agree to work for less money than the selling agent, when the listing agent incurs all of the marketing burdens and expenses? I would think a listing agent who takes 3% either does not plan on doing much, if any, marketing OR doesn't plan to offer out the standard 2%. In either case, it doesn't benefit you as the seller. A good agent can get you a significantly higher price than a so-so agent (by using innovating marketing, good negotiating tactics, etc.). So sometimes it's worth it to pay an extra percentage of commission but get several times that back in the final net price in your pocket.

Finally - I agree that you are better off with a full-time realtor. Real estate is service profession; you need someone who has the time to fully service your listing (including communicating with you). Many part-time agents work in teams to be able to provide a higher level of service. If that is not the case with a part-time agent, I would really question how they intend to work your listing.

Good luck!