In today’s video Misty Weaver from the Dream Weaver Real Estate Team discusses the seller’s Listing Agreement. There are a number of pages to the typical listing agreement and it’s important that sellers know what’s in the listing agreement, what’s involved in creating a complete listing agreement, and how to prepare to engage the Dream Weaver Real Estate Team to sell your home. Watch the short video below, or if you prefer to read, a short transcript of the video follows it.
Video Transcript:
Hi, everyone! Misty here with The Dream Weaver Team at Samson Properties, and I want to discuss listing agreements, what you are signing when you are selling your home; what is involved and the things that you need to think about.
First is going to be, of course, the property. We want to make sure we are selling the correct property, it is the property that you own, and we’re going to make sure that is in there.
Next up is the term of the agreement, which is essentially when does this agreement end? I do six months minimum for a listing agreement. That gives us enough time to get marketing out there and it encompasses the average days on market in our area, which can be 90 to 100-plus depending upon neighborhood and price points, so we need that time to get it in front of enough buyers to get you an offer.
After that is the listing price. Of course we’re going to have the entire conversation, but that does go in there. It can be adjusted and changed at any point in time, so it’s not critical that we have the appropriate listing price in there, but we do put it in there.
Next up is very critical, and that is the conveyances; what are you conveying with the house to the buyer? This is going to include your appliances, any leased items such as propane tanks, and we’re going to get very nitty-gritty — down to the garage door openers, your screen on your fireplace, and that type of stuff. We want to make sure that this is correct and then when you get an offer from a buyer we want to make sure that this list in here aligns with the list that they bring in the contract so that you are not giving away things that you did not want to, et cetera. So if you are not selling your washer and dryer with the house, if you need to take it to your next house, we need to make sure that is correct in both the listing agreement and the sales contract.
Up next are utilities. We want to make sure we know what systems are there so that the buyer understands that. Any septic issues, if you’re operating under a waiver, we need to disclose that.
Next up is broker’s duties. It’s going to discuss everything that we will be doing for you and the things that we are not responsible for, such as managing your property.
After that we are going to discuss whether or not you want your home on the MLS and the internet. I’m always going to tell you that yes, you do. You’re going to get exposed to the most number of buyers, so we would want your home listed in the MLS. If you are on the upper end of value and a very special property and you’re looking for kind of a discreet sale, there are some other options, and we can go over that.
Next is the type of representation that your agent will be doing for you. So this is something you may not have thought about before. So there is I’m just representing you. There is designated representation, which is I am representing you and someone in my office is representing the buyer, so we both have the same broker overseeing us, but two separate agents. And then third is dual-agency. And that is I am representing you and I’m representing the buyer.
So if you think about these things, if I am representing you, I’m trying to get you the highest price. If I’m representing the buyer, I’m trying to get them the lowest price. So those two things kind of go at each other, and it can be difficult to represent both sides to the best of my ability equally. And in order to do that, basically I can’t advise you on some things, like price. So if we have that situation, both parties would have to sign a paper that kind of goes over everything.
I do not do dual representation unless it was two clients that I already have and they just happen to be interested in the house that I was representing and that stuff, we can talk about that. But this is something that if you have an agent that does do dual representation, you really want to think about this and what it could mean for you.
Next up is broker compensation. So it’s going to go over what circumstances I get paid and how much. Now, it’s not your agent, it is their broker that is getting paid. So just know that. Secondly, it’s going to have two numbers in here. One is the total compensation; the total commission you’re going to pay.
I charge 6 percent. Others can charge whatever they would like, and that is fully negotiable in any deal. Of that 6 percent, the next number that’s going to be listed is how much of that goes to the buyer’s agent. So you, seller, are paying your agent and the buyer’s agent, and that kind of ticks a lot of people off, but if you think back to when you bought your home, you did not pay your agent out of your pocket. It was paid by the seller from the sales price. So the same thing is going to happen when you sell your home.
Now, of course you can say that I do not want to offer anything to a buyer’s agent. It’s going to lower your pool of buyers, because most buyers are not going to have that additional cash to pay their own agents. So like I said, everything is negotiable, but you need to think about these issues.
After that, let’s see what we have. If you are relocating there are some things. If your home is located in a condo or a property owner’s association, we’re going to need that information and we’re going to have to order docs and let the buyers know all of the fees and all of that stuff.
After that, if your home was built before 1978 we are going to have a lead-based paint disclosure that needs to be signed, and then we’re going to go over what mortgages you have an all of that to make sure everything gets paid off.
And then we are pretty much done. There’s some questions that you’re going to answer about whether it’s tenant occupied; if you have a recording system on the property. That can be a big thing coming out now. We don’t see too much of it, but if you are recording in your home, you do need to let buyers know. And then there are some other questions in here to be answered, but those are the main ones that you need to be concerned about.
I’m just going through, and then we have a section for additional terms. So there may be something, of course my mind is blank and I can’t think of anything that I’ve had to add recently, but there could be something added into the additional terms that you agree upon between you and your agent.
So that is essentially what is covered in a listing agreement. There are usually some additional forms that need to be signed as well, such as a disclosure, and we can go over all of that. It’s basically any material defects, anything like that that you need to disclose to buyers. Typically the broker is going to have some forms that you need to sign, like we have a wire fraud form. It’s just letting you know the potential for wire fraud and things like that. And then any associated businesses.
So my broker has a closing company associated with them, so we need to legally let you know that, and then we’re going to have a form for that. So there can be quite a few forms for you to sign, but that is the main listing agreement and what is involved in signing that and the things that you need to think about.
If you are thinking of selling, I would love to go over all of this with you in person and give you a free consultation on what your home value is right now in our shifting market. We are still seeing a lot of price decreases and longer days on market, so it is important to get everything priced correctly and the marketing really top-notch. And I would love to go over how we do that with you.
So I will see you soon! Thanks, bye-bye! <end>
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