Exclusive Right to Sale

Giving a real estate agent the “exclusive right to sell” your property does not mean that there will not be other agents involved as more often than not the buyer is represented by their own agent. Your agent is the listing agent and their job is to market your home to other agents and prospective buyers. Those agents will show your home to their clients. Regardless of who sells the home, even if you sell it yourself to a friend at work, your listing agent will earn a commission.  An exclusive right to sell is the only type of listing an effective real estate agent will accept.  Your agent will spend a considerable amount of money marketing your home and promoting it in addition to managing the entire transaction process, and therefore, they have a reasonable expectation of earning money for their time and investment.

Other Listing Agreements

• Exclusive Agency Listing – An “exclusive agency” listing allows an agent to list and market your home, guaranteeing them a commission if the house sells through any real estate agent or company. It also allows sellers to seek out buyers on their own. This is not a popular type of listing agreement. The reason is that there is not much incentive for agents to spend money marketing your home. If you come up with your own buyer, they have spent money they cannot earn back through the real estate commission.
• Open Listing – The “open listing” is mostly used by people trying to sell their home by owner who are also willing to work with real estate agents. Basically, it gives a real estate agent the right to bring buyers around to view your home. If their client buys your home, the agent earns a commission. There is nothing exclusive about an open listing and a home seller can give out such listings to every agent who comes around. For that reason, no agent is going to market your home or put it in the Multiple Listing Service. If your home fits the criteria for one of their clients, and it is convenient, they may be willing to show it to their client.
• One-Time Show – A “one-time show” is similar to an open listing in many respects, as it is most often used by real estate agents who are showing a FSBO (for sale by owner) to one of their clients. The home seller signs the agreement, which identifies the potential buyer and guarantees the agent a commission should that buyer purchase the home. This prevents the buyer and seller from negotiating directly later and trying to avoid paying the agent’s commission. As with an open listing, agents will not be spending money on marketing your home and it will not be placed in the Multiple Listing System.