Can I Back Out Of A Real Estate Listing Agreement?
strong>Question: What happens if you list a home with a real estate broker and then decide you don’t want to sell? Can the broker make you sell the property?
Answer: No. You cannot be forced to sell. However, there can be financial consequences.
A listing agreement is a contract between a property owner and a broker. It provides certain requirements for a sale — say the price, deposit size, what\’s being sold with the property, etc.
If you list with a broker and decide you don’t want to sell before the end of the listing, the broker does not have a chance to complete his or her marketing efforts and thus loses the potential to earn a commission. In this situation, a broker could demand a full commission for such a lost opportunity.
Usually, though, brokers are community-based business people. They want to deal reasonably with folks in the neighborhood and avoid bad PR. Most likely if an owner wants to end a listing early, a broker will agree to such a termination if the owner pays the broker’s costs to date. How much is paid, if anything, is a matter of negotiation. Some brokers, in fact, have a built-in listing clause which allows termination with little or no cost. For details, review your listing agreement.
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