Which is why I suggested you should get the Realtor on board, and drop the price to the buyer.

If the NY market is as bad as Jersey, which I suspect it is, get your house sold.

You say you have a second house to sell? If you try to cut out the commission, news travels fast, you won't get showings.

Yeah, when selling you need to consider the broker commission into the net which affects a sellers negotiating position.

Just to be straight I'm not looking to try and beat anybody out of anything they may be due.

I don't think that's right.

I feel like they gave up on us when we hit the current asking price knowing I have more upside if I refi and rent the place vs dropping the price any more.

This buyer fell into the brokers lap the day before the listing expired. Broker did nothing to earn this buyer and did nothing in 10 days to try and close the deal.

If I sign up with a new broker and this guy comes back to the table the new broker would get the commission, old broker would get nothing. The language in the contract is very clear on that.

The old broker knows that and has not approached us about any further extensions while she tries to close him. I just don't feel like she wants it bad enough.

In "defense" of the broker (and brokers generally): For this one listing, where the broker "did nothing" to find a buyer, she/he might have a dozen other listings where he/she had to spend weeks -- for each property -- working with potential buyers showing properties, spent thousands of dollars advertising the properties and spent dozens of hours with the sellers working with them to make their properties more sale-able.

Those here who are seeming to have the reaction that "real estate agents don't work for their commissions" should try the business (or spend some more time around those in the business) before drawing their conclusions.

Not really unusual verbage at all. Most listing contracts have a clause if the listing agent brings a buyer through the home during the listing period, and the buyer purchase the home within a specified period of time, the agent is due the commission on that buyer. This clause is waived if the property is listed with another brokerage. Usually in this case, the same agent could claim "procuring cause" with that buyer and receive the co-broke.

General contract terms depend on geographic area and your local board of realtors.

This is why I recommended listing with a flat fee broker and not offering a co-broke. The letter of the contract is met for that buyer.

Broker or agent? I can't imagine a broker that lax. Talk to her boss, unless she somehow is the boss. But, you don't have a lot of room to negotiate.

To sell a house quickly and for a good price it simply has to be the best in the category. Fresh paint, clean carpet, clean kitchen and baths and lots of flowers. You have to do your part. Around here, real estate agents are rearranging furniture, removing some or entirely furnishing the house with their own inventory, including paintings. There is a lot of subliminal stuff going on in doing this. My cousin sold a dog for full price after the Realtor re did almost the entire thing on his dime taking the expenses out of the escrow. It was a dog and pony show, for sure, but it worked.

Spoke to my attorney. I'm pretty much stuck with this buyer/broker combo for the 180 days.

House was freshly painted 7 months ago before it went up, has new carpets, I have a cleaning service and landscaper so the house and yard are immaculate.

I think we made a mistake with the broker we decided to use. They have a prominent presence in the local area and are known for handling premium properties which ours is.

They do not have a presence elsewhere on the Island.

From what I understand there is so much inventory that brokers are not finding the need to show MLS houses out of their network.

It would explain why houses in our area that went with the big box nationals have already sold. Houses that were in the same price range but not in the same condition as ours or with less features than ours.

They had a lot more eyeballs on them.

Live and learn.

Signing with Prudential tonight. They contacted me 2 weeks ago. They have been watching the property and were surprised it had not sold. They claim they can move it inside of 3 months and get me more than my current asking price.

We'll see.

Are you sure they have been watching the property? They could just be watching the MLS and sending letters to owners with listings about to expire. (Basically ambulance chasers)...

I would want to see a list of their recent sales, with statistics of age on market. Will they be doing anything out of the ordinary to market your property?

Are there 'Agent tours' in your area? If so, try to be on it, especially if your house is truly a premium property.

Find an agent (don't worry about the broker so much) who works in your area with your higher end properties. They will know how to market it best. Pay attention to RECENT sales and comparables. Usually if a property expires, it is almost always related to price.

Agent tours are way overrated. Most areas do not have them any more. They tend to only attract the agents who dont sell and want free donuts on Tuesday mornings. The top producers are actually working.

Good advice, I will ask.

This agent did not call, she came to the house with a portfolio already put together with a 10 page write up on the house. All the recent comps, recent sales, comparative analysis. She put some work into it, or at least it looks like she did.

We call them Brokers Open Houses here.

We had easily 4-5 Brokers Open Houses. It was a good day if 1 other broker showed up.

I know the price point is critical. We are NOT overpriced. We had two recent sales in the area, based on what they got for those two houses we are actually underpriced.

The closest comp is around the corner, just went on the market, they are asking $100,000 more than we currently are.

I think they are overpriced.

They had a full page "article" in the real estate section 2 weeks ago. The wife and I watched, they had 4 people come by to look in one day.

In 6 months my house was shown to 8 prospects. Only 2 came from outside brokers.

I really believe that we suffered from using a smaller exclusive broker with a limited area of customers to pull from.

Whatever. Last two out 3 of my new home sales were the direct result of an open house. Then again, we serve shrimp & other apps, not donuts. ;)

Yeah, see I told the agent I'd happily crank up the BBQ and sling Margaritta's.

I like the way you think. Wanna sell my house.

You said original broker gets commission if within 180 days a potential buyer makes and offer and no new broker is signed.


Go to a new broker and say I have a solid buyer, will you take 1%

Was going to do just that.

Spoke to my attorney.

She said regardless of the contract wording if they want to push it I'm still on the hook for the original broker and I need to make sure I get an exception for the new broker or I could end up paying commisions twice.

What would I do?

1. Sell the house
2. Pay the broker
3. Move on.

While you will have to grit your teeth paying that much to a lazy broker, in today's market the best thing to do is do whatever it takes to close the deal.

Yeah, that's what I'm doing.

I'm just tired of this already.

Just spent 4 hours with the new broker.

I'm a happy guy. Wish I had found her 6 months ago. She's an animal.

She will do interactive video tours. Catered open houses for brokers and buyers. Ads every weekend in the classifieds. She will even come by and personally clean the house on the odd weeks that my service is not here and she has a showing.

She already has prospects that she will start bringing by this week.

I believe she will sell my house. AND she is raising the asking price. She thinks at our current price we are giving the house away.

Time will tell if she is full of BS or not but I got a good vibe.

And she only asked for a 3 month contract. She thinks she can turn this place in a month.

Update.

Prospect that was causing me grief made an offer. 45K below asking.

I countered him, 5K more than the last asking price.

Original broker was flabbergasted, she asked my new broker how we could counter higher than we were asking. New broker flat out told her the "old" asking price was too low for this house. New asking price is higher, she should have wrapped her prospect up when she had the chance.

A house 5 doors down from me, smaller, old as dirt, no updates, smaller property just went into contract for the same as the prospects offer. It was on the market for less than 3 months. 4 other houses that are closer comps to mine have sold in the last 6 months for more than my "old" asking price.

Price is not the issue in house not having sold. The 1st broker just did not do the work necc in todays market.

New broker already has a video tour done. Came over the morning of the taping to help clean/prep for the shoot.

http://go.WebVideoPlayer.com/view/jF8TksXNnIUbuVLRim154458

She also set up 4 appts to show the house 2 days after signing with her.

Tonight she is cooking/catering a lunch for tomorrows brokers open house.

The woman is an animal.

Last broker never even put out cookies during open houses.

Do you have a link to the listing? How far are you from the city?

I would be bitching to the real estate board and if the person is an actual RealtorTM I would be talking to them about the old agent you had.

Being lazy/inept isn't against the rules. If so, there'd be a lot of real estate agents out on their arse. She'd have to do something blatantly negligent, criminal or unethical to warrant a complaint.