You need to read you listing contract to confirm if there is a cancelation clause in it or a cancelation fee attached to it.

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First I have a couple of questions for you - Did the original listing agreement have the $285 in a cancellation clause? How long will the listing run, 90 days, 120 days? You don't mention those details.

MOST area (your are in my NW area) contracts have a 30 day written notice policy which I sometimes enforce and sometimes I don/t depending on the circumstances. If the seller is no longer able to sell (job transfer fizzled) then I let the seller out of the contract. Sellers can get very very ingenious with scenarios when actually they are not happy with the service the realtor is providing. If you have had no contact with your realtor for say the last 60 days what's up with that! Your realtor should be contacting you & following up with market updates at least once a week depending on whats going on with your home in particular.
There's actually too many scenarios to discuss here!
Lyn Sims
Schaumburg IL

Now I know why Deborah asked the question on another post if we are too quick to judge. I'm in IL. I've bought and sold several homes here over the years. Just recently, listing agreements now seem to have a cancellation fee. My guess is that if Justyna looks at the listing agreement, she will see that fee clearly stated. Personally, I don't think this is unfair. The real estate firm does spend time and money even if your home doesn't sell. It is along the same lines of having to pay your agent commission if they find you a buyer who can close but at the last minute the seller decides they don't want to sell.

Justyna:
Just ask them to remove the sign and lock box. If it is not easy to show, you won't be bothered and can wait until it expires without withdrawing the listing. Having your home on the market is extremely stressful. If you can, just wait until after the holidays and list it with a new agency.

Good luck,
Ruth

Hi Justnya,

You can pull your house from the market ANYTIME you want. It's called WITHDRAWING the listing. The only downside to this is that the agent will still collect a commission if you sell the house before the expiration date of your listing. What some people do is withdraw the listing, wait until the official expiration date, then re-list with a more competent agent. This option is open to you at any time.

Meanwhile, the market is soft, so you SHOULD expect more from your agent. At the very least: A property website for your home, advertising in the Daily Record at least every other week, open houses at least once every 3 weeks or so, constant updates showing recent sales and listings in Rolling Meadows, and having a professional stager look at ways to improve your home's curb appeal. In addition, your home should be listed not only in the MLS, but on every home listing website around, such as craigslist.org, trulia.com, oodle.com, postlets.com, and many more. It's all about the internet these days, and your home needs to be on ALL the sites to get the exposure you need. Make sure your next agent agrees IN WRITING to a SPECIFIC advertising and marketing schedule. "I'll take care of it" is no longer good enough in this tough market.

Hi,

Without knowing the details of what was agreed upon in the beginning, and what was done, I will not jump the gun and make any assumptions on either side. It isn’t that I don’t want to believe you, Justyna, it’s just that I don’t have all the facts, from you, or from the listing agent, or broker.

As a Broker, and an Agent, I will go through back breaking efforts, above and beyond, and attempt to move mountains for a client. I, through much criticism of my family and friends, put my clients needs above my family, my friends, my social commitments, to the point of detriment. And, by gosh, there have ben times I have told a client “no” to their displeasure.

Remaining impartial since I do not have facts and details in your situation, I will make some suggestions for you. However, I will not jump the gun and start saying that you should hire an attorney, which may result in you paying legal fees in addition to paying the $285. Neither will I jump the gun and tell you to go to any type of court. Neither am I going to suggest that you contact the real estate commission for your state. Real Estate Commissions are regulatory bodies that oversee licensing. Their role in protecting the public through the enforcement on several fronts, such as agency disclosure (who represents whom) and property disclosure issues. Real estate commissions are not customer service monitors.

I don’t know if you have a breach of contract or not. What did the agent and broker represent to you when they listed your property? Did the agent tell you he/she would do open houses? Did they tell you that they would do advertising?

From a business ethics viewpoint, and from a practicality position, one would reasonably expect to get more if they paid more. The might mean that you would expect to get more if your agreed upon fee was on the higher end within your marketplace. Anti-trust laws prohibit any type of price fixing, or terms of service. Therefore there is not legal foundation of your fee was “x” so you have the legal right to expect ‘y.” If someone would pay me a 10% commission for only introducing a buyer, and doing nothing else, that is legal. There is a common sense foundation for expecting more when you pay more. An attempt at passing minimum service laws have been shot down in some states, and are heavily debated as a violation of anti-trust. None of us can assume what services you should have received. What you pay and what you get such as ads or no ads or other marketing and services, are the result of the agreement between you and the service provider. Similarly, some brokers have a policy that they will simply release a contract upon request. Because a few brokers have this policy, it does not give you, or any of us on this Voices board the authority to policy making for the Broker on your listing contract.

Did you get a written proposal when you listed your property? Does it describe what marketing or services you would receive? If you have that documentation, and the broker/agent did not perform accordingly, you may have a breach.

Gather your documentation to support what you believed you would receive in representation and marketing. You can also construct summaries from the conversations that you had. Now, compare your contract, proposal of services offered and notes about the verbal representations to a list of what you actually received. Do you have the grounds to demand a release? You might. And, if so, by all means make those demands known. Put your demands and expectations in writing, deliver in person or via trackable delivery (USPS certified , FX, etc.) and place a time limit for response. If you believe you have just cause for a no-fee release, and such is not granted, I would next suggest that you contact the local association to see if they have an established method of dispute resolution. Some associations have that; others do not. It’s worth a phone call to find out before incurring any expenses.

If the above fails, you will then have to make a choice to pay the $285, contact an attorney, or file in small claims court. Personally, I would probably pay the $285, as the attorney fees may consume more time and money that I could justify. Likewise, I could not take a day in small claims court for $285. If the Broker did not provide this out for $285, you might have to hire an attorney because without the release, you would have difficulty hiring another Broker to proceed in getting your property sold.

Good Luck.

That ill will is not worth the $285 on the brokers side.
1) Make a list of what was discussed with the agent such as how was she/he going to market your home? Did you agree to have open houses?
2) Once you have this list, send this to the broker and notify the agent they agreed to do this marketing
3) If they did not agree to do anything, the question is did you pay for a discounted commission rate or otherwise not the standard agreement?
4) Check your agreement, do 1 -3, then set up a meeting with the broker and come to some viable solution.

I am surprised they will not release you. This creates ill well and is certainly bad press. Are you still considering selling your home? If so I would give them the $285 to get a release and maybe consider small claims for breach of contract.

A couple of thoughts: 1) There's nothing like word of mouth. Start talking to folks about your experience. Be honest....don't slander them. 2) Contact your local association of Realtors and file a complaint 3) Is the broker part of a larger franchise? 4) When does your litsing expire? It may be best just to pay the $285 and move on....

Read your contract carefully, if you need to pay the $285.00 it might be the best way out. Do you still want to sell? If not just refuse the showings until the listing expireds. Did the listing agent give you a written marketing plan up front? If she did and didn't follow through you could claim breach of contract to get out of it.

I would call an attorney and have him send a rather nasty letter to your listing broker and the agent. Did you say they want $285.00 to get out of the listing? After you've spent $500.00 to have an attorney sent the letter, pay them the $285.00 and get an addendum to the listing agreement which states you are categorically not obligated to pay them any brokerage fee for any clients shown the property in the time of their listing. Most agencies don't want a relunctant Seller as it creates bad PR and is a real pain to deal with!!