How/What to do Upon Terminating Listing Agreement?

[EvilWizard]

What is the name of your state? VA

My wife and I have decided to cancel our listing agreement/contract with our Realtor after 7 months of trying to sell our home. We both felt that the realtor was not doing the best s/he could to move this house and think at this time it would be best to try a new person with new strategies/ideas. That being said we have a contract with this Realtor stating that our listing fee is approx $8000 which we paid an initial retainer of $2000 which is non refundable. We then chose the option to pay the first 3/4 of the listing fee up front in monthly payments where as the last $2000 would be paid at closing (This was done to get a 10% discount of the fee, but in hindsight was stupid on our part because I believe it gives less incentive for the realtor to really work to earn the money at the end). In any case the realtor is now saying that s/he will not be refunding the $6000 we have already paid since they earned it. I understand without looking at our contract the legal advisors here can only guess, but my questions is basically that if there is no direct statement within the contract about the listing fee being "money earned" is it refundable? Also are there any federal or state laws that I should be aware of before and during this cancellation process? One thing I wanted was a list of everyone who has visited/been shown the house (Upon finding out that we were going to be terminating our contract with this individual s/he stated that there was an interested buyer who has been looking at the property for 3 months, but later stated that her realtor has talked to her in weeks so we believe that the story was made up to keep us from terminating our agreement with our realtor...)

To sum it up: What are the key things that can help us as sellers in this situation to smooth out the transition from one realtor to another? I really would like to see a list of potential buyers/realtors representing buyers and have read in another forum that is law, but I am guessing it is not a law what-so-ever...

Thank you.

[pojo2]

Your house is overpriced lower the price in order to get it sold. Or there is something people just aren' liking, in that case find out what that is.

we have a contract with this Realtor stating that our listing fee is approx $8000 which we paid an initial retainer of $2000 which is non refundable. We then chose the option to pay the first 3/4 of the listing fee up front in monthly payments where as the last $2000 would be paid at closing

What the heck does this mean? NORMALLY the agent is paid WHEN and if the house sells and USUALLY at the closing table and not before?

Now just why would you want a list of people who have looked at the house? Going shopping for a buyer behind the agents back, tho in this case I think sumpin' stinks.

[Gadfly]

Most listing agreements are for 6-months with no up front fees. Are you with a regular real estate agent, or are you with one of those "by owner" places?

[EvilWizard]

In response to Pojo we have dropped the price $50k. We were in an unfortunate situation where someone torched our new house so we missed selling during the hot period in Northern VA last summer. Now we understand the market is not as good and have adjusted the price to be very competitive. We now are terminating our contract with the current Realtor who is a regular real estate agent, but we would like the list of folks who have broached interest in the property while we were using him. This is to ensure that our new realtor can go and re-initiate contact with the folks who have visited the house in the past and let them know that the price has been dropped significantly and that some upgrades have been done as well to better the property.

I honestly do not believe our ex-agent was actively working as hard as he could have to move this property. This is not a jab at all realtors what-so-ever. I just want to try someone new and want to ensure that if I am due anything in the form of information or money that I can have access to it.

[Indiana Filer]

Originally Posted by EvilWizard

but we would like the list of folks who have broached interest in the property while we were using him. This is to ensure that our new realtor can go and re-initiate contact with the folks who have visited the house in the past and let them know that the price has been dropped significantly and that some upgrades have been done as well to better the property.

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The problem with having your new realtor "re-initiate" contact with previous viewers is that the old realtor would probably still be owed a commission since the old realtor was under contract when the people first saw the house.