When Is It Time for a New Real Estate Agent?
Selling your home? Frustrated with the results? Houses used to sell themselves with little effort from an agent, but these days sellers need talented agents they can trust. Find out when it time to say goodbye, and what to look for in a new agent.
Is it time to say goodbye?
Most people are a bit strange. Let's face it. Buyers and sellers are a bit nutty. Agents and brokers are weird, too. We’re all just a little bit different in our own special ways. These things that make us unique and interesting are also the things that enable us to work better with some people than with others. Have you heard the saying, “your crazy matches my crazy”? That saying alludes to the fact that in a working business relationship where you need to develop a sales strategy to get the best possible price, you need to be working with someone who:
Collaborates and works well with you.
Understands your priorities, what you value.
You feel is ethical, values aligned, and trustworthy.
Is an experienced and competent real estate agent.
When it comes to real estate agents, it takes time to get to know a person and figure out if their crazy is a match for yours. Usually, we don’t truly know someone until we’ve seen them under stress. Here are some signs that you and your agent are headed for a break-up.
You feel that you rarely see eye-to-eye.
Whenever you talk about the reason’s the home is still on the market, your voice rises a notch or two in volume.
When discussing the sale with friends and family, you add unflattering adjectives to the agent’s name.
You sometimes think of selling for less, simply to end the business relationship.
You feel that your requests are being ignored by the agent.
When the person’s name shows up on call display, you let the call go to voice mail.
When prices increased 10% every 6 months, real estate agents could easily please their clients. The homes sold themselves. In slower markets, quality agents prove their true value.
Whether you and your agent are butting heads or you simply feel they aren’t prioritizing your home like they should be, there’s usually some sort of contractual agreement in place that keeps you committed to them for a few months. So, how do you get out of it? How do you break-up with your agent?
WARNING: Threatening your agent is never a good idea. Never tell the agent to cancel the contract or you will report them to the regulator or write a nasty online review. That approach is unlikely to gain cooperation, it could be considered blackmail, and in rare cases agents sue clients when they feel they’ve been cheated out of a commission.
Canceling a Listing Agreement
First, make sure the agent knows that you’re not happy. There surest path to a bad break-up is to blind side them by walking away without giving them a chance to turn things around. Reiterate the problem and ask them how they plan to solve it. If they realize, that there’s nothing they can do to salvage the relationship, the agent may simply offer to cancel the agreement.
If they don’t offer to cancel the agreement, you should ask the agent to cancel the listing. If the agent refuses, call the agent’s brokerage (e.g. RE/MAX) and request a cancellation.
If the brokerage refuses, consider asking the brokerage to assign another agent to you. However, 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.
The same approach should work for an agent representing a buyer.
How to Find a New Agent
We have developed Match Finder, an easy to use matching tool, kind of like eHarmony, that matches you with pre-screened, local professionals, with aligned values. We believe aligned values lead to better working relationships and a more successful home selling experience.
Try match finder today!
