- SellForSure University Home Page
- Module 1: Introduction
- Module 2: Sell By Owner, or With Agent?
- Why You Should Use a Real Estate Agent to Sell Your House
- Drawbacks to Using an Agent
- Real Estate Agent Designations
- How to Choose a Real Estate Agent
- How NOT to Choose a Real Estate Agent
- How to Interview a Real Estate Agent
- Questions to Ask your Real Estate Agent
- Dual Agency
- Check an Agent's Work
- Communicating with your Real Estate Agent
- How a Real Estate Agent gets Paid
- Discount and Flat Fee Brokers
- Your Real Estate Agent's Job in a Nutshell
- Module 4: Valuing and Pricing your Home
- Today's Real Estate Buyers are Savvy and Empowered
- Real Estate Values and Pricing
- What Matters and What Doesn't in Pricing your Home
- Every Home is Unique
- Three Major Factors affecting Real Estate Values
- Online Real Estate Price Evaluations
- Real Estate CMA or Comparative Market Analysis
- Real Estate Appraisal
- Realtor Property Report (RPR)
- Which Real Estate Valuation should I Trust
- The Real Estate Auction Sales Model
- Overpricing Your Home for Sale
- How to Maximize your Home Sale Price
- The Virtue of Underpricing your Home
- Selling your home with little or no equity
- Module 5: Preparing Your Home for Sale
- Inspecting your Home Prior to Selling It
- Preparing a Full Disclosure Package for Home Buyers
- Contents of a Real Estate Disclosure Package
- Making Repairs to your Home prior to Selling It
- Required Retrofits of your Home
- As-Is Real Estate Sales
- Selling as a Certified Pre-Owned Home
- Preparing your Home for Sale
- Enhance your Home's Curb Appeal
- Home Staging
- The Cost of Preparing your Home for Sale
- Module 6: On the Market
- When to List your Home for Sale
- Living in a Home vs. Selling One
- Getting the Word out about your Home
- Showings and Open Houses
- When Buyers are In the House
- Make your home Available, but make Yourself Scarce for Showings
- Offers and Negotiations
- Selling a Home that is Tenant Occupied
- Selling your Home in a Tough Market
- Recognizing the Wrong Price for your Home
- Real Estate Price Adjustment Strategy
- How to Sell a Home and then Buy Another
- Moving after Selling your Home
- Module 7: Negotiating and Closing the Sale
- The Residential Purchase Agreement
- What Happens when you get an Offer on your Home
- Negotiating the Sale of your Home
- Top Negotiation Tactics to use when Selling your Home
- The Buyer's Due Diligence
- The Real Estate Closing Timeline
- Delays in the Home Sale Process
- The Buyer's Appraisal in the Purchase Process
- Real Estate Tax Information for Home Sellers
- 1031 Tax-Deferred Exchange
- How much it Costs to Sell a Home
- Module 8: SellForSure System Walkthrough
- Goals of the SellForSure System
- The SellForSure Home Sale System Guarantees
- Traditional Real Estate Marketing Methods
- Active Real Estate Marketing
- Free Home Inspection and Termite Inspection
- SellForSure Pre-Sale Services
- The SellForSure Web Portal Status System
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 1
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 2
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 3
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 4
- SellForSure Preparation Phase 5
- Launching your Home on the Market
- SellForSure System Listing Syndication
- How to Manage Showings on your Home
- Real Estate Open House Events
- The Perfect Home Sale Schedule
- While your Home is on the Market
- The Two Week Review Cycle
- What to Expect Once your Home is Under Contract
- Closing the Sale of your Home
- Module 9: The Realty World Advantage
To begin formally working with a real estate agent, you’ll sign a listing agreement. There are three standard types of real estate listing agreements used in California: exclusive right to sell, an open listing, and an exclusive agency listing.
The exclusive right to sell listing is the most common form of listing agreement, and most agents you’ll talk to will want you to sign an exclusive right to sell. That means that no matter who brings a buyer – you, your agent, some other agent, whoever – the listing agent gets paid the commission on the sale.
An open listing agreement is one that says the seller agrees to pay the agent a commission if the agent brings a buyer, but the owner is free to sell the home on their own, or with the services of another agent. In this type of listing agreement, the home owner is not actually represented by the agent – the owner is only agreeing to pay the commission to the agent in the event he is able to find a buyer for the home.
An exclusive agency listing is like an open listing except that it allows the agent to represent both the home owner and possibly the buyer as well, but the seller still reserves the right to sell the property on their own, in which case the home owner would not have to pay the agent a commission.
Your listing agreement will specify the commission that is paid to both the listing agent, and the buyer’s agent. Typically the commission is split 50/50 between the buyer’s agent and the seller’s agent, however this can vary. It’s also possible for the listing agent to write in that the commission be dual or variable, that is, if the listing agent represents both buyer and seller, the total commission to be paid could be lower than if there were two separate agents.
The listing agreement will have a beginning and ending date. Most agents will try to get a six month, exclusive listing agreement. Many sellers are not comfortable giving such a long listing period – after all, what if your agent does not perform as promised? You could opt for a shorter listing period, or ask your agent to add language into the listing agreement which gives you, the homeowner, the right to cancel the listing agreement at any time.