Selling Your Los Angeles Home? What is an Exclusive Listing Agreement?

You are getting ready to sell your Los Angeles Home with the help of your Los Angeles Realtor®.  So what is involved in order to start the process?

The first thing you will do is sign the Listing Agreement, which will be an Exclusive Listing Agreement.  What does this mean?  A sample of such an agreement is below:

California Residential Listing Agreement

Item 1:  ”Listing Period”.  This is generally six months.  The period is negotiable and in a sellers’ market your home is going to be sold very quickly, but six months is usually the standard period for a listing.  Don’t worry, most Realtors® will let you out of your commitment if your are unhappy.

Item 3B:  ”Additional Terms” this would be a good place to add a note that if the property does not sell in a reasonable time period that a drop in price should be considered.

4A:  This is the commission due the brokerage.

4A(2):  If the seller enters into a contract, after the end of the listing agreement, with anyone introduced to the property by the listing agent and cooperating agents during the course of the listing contract, then the listing broker shall be entitled to full commission.  A time period will be inserted here and also the listing agent must provide a list of appropriate names within 3 days of the end of the contract.

4D(1):  The commission agreed to will be split between the listing brokerage and the brokerage bringing the buyer.

4F(1):  If the seller was under contract with another brokerage then this must be disclosed here.  If they are still under contract then that agreement would need to be cancelled, prior to the current agreement taking effect.

4F(2):  See 4A(2).  If the seller was under contract with another brokerage which was cancelled or expired and that brokerage had a list of potential buyers who had been through the property while they were under contract, this is where the names would be entered.

5:  An excellent explanation of the benefits of listing the property in the Multiple Listing Service (MLS).  This should be read carefully before allowing an agent to handle your property as a pocket listing, meaning it will not be exposed to the general public.  There are very few, if any, reasons to handle a listing in that way.

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