When To Do Your Home A Favor And Fire Your Agent

(Selling a home in today’s market can be tough, regardless if you are the actual homeowner who is trying to sell or the agent who has the listing.)

With the surplus of homes on the market and prices falling daily, it may be better to take the home off the market and wait for things to get better.

But how do you know when to call it quits? It is definitely not as easy as it seems.

You basically have to fire your agent, especially if they have not been doing a very good job all along.

A November 29, 2006 article by Elizabeth Weintraub of about.com, “Letting go: How to fire your agent or client,” gives some tips for knowing when to say goodbye and end the home selling transaction.

“So your agent hasn't called you in weeks and you want to cancel your listing agreement. Can you? How do you do it? What if the shoe is on the other foot, and you're an agent who wants to dump a client. You don't want to get a reputation for being unreasonable or mean, so how do you do it?”

The first thing to keep in mind is that if you are having problems with your agent (on more than one occasion), you should probably get out before things get worse than they already are.

It is best to end things on a fairly good note as opposed to a sour note.

“The best thing you can do for yourself (and for others) is to end a relationship before it escalates to the point where you want to choke each other. “If you’re a client who is unhappy with your agent, your entire home selling / buying experience -- which should be a pleasant and happy time for you -- will be affected by this negative attitude. You will probably need to fire your agent.”

If you have never done anything like this ever before in your life, you will probably feel a bit unsure of the situation in general.

Unless you are used to firing someone on a regular basis this is probably going to be fairly uncomfortable. So, here are some telltale sign of when you should do your home a big favor and fire your agent:

“Both of you vehemently disagree, are at opposite ends of the spectrum and believe you will never see eye-to-eye. When you talk about the situation, your voice rises a notch or two in volume. Unflattering adjectives proceed the person’s name every time you talk about them. Irrational thought processes begin to cloud your judgment. You’ve made repeated requests that are ignored by the other party. When the person’s name shows up on your cell phone, you send the call to voice mail.”

After you have decided that the arrangement is not going to work, you need to canceling your listing and the agreement with the buyer’s agency (if your have one).

“Ask the agent to cancel the listing. Be aware that Exclusive Right-to-Sell listings contain a safety or protection clause. If the agent refuses, call the agent’s broker and request a cancellation. If the broker refuses, ask the broker to assign another agent to you. Most reputable brokers who want to maintain good community relations will cancel a listing if the seller insists. If there are no workable solutions, call a real estate lawyer for termination assistance, but first, tell the broker of your intentions to do so. Sometimes that’s enough to get a release.”

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