Jeremy, I always want 180 days. I work very hard to produce the buyer and I have to protect myself. You are free to sell it if you produce someone but if your agent with his or hers efforts produced that buyer they should get paid. You would not believe how many people are trying to take advantage of us. Good Luck with your sale!

The Protection Period in the NC Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement is provided in the event the the listing agent does not fulfill the terms of the agreement. I focus on marketing the property and typically use 30 days. If you would like to discuss this paragraph or have any other questions, please feel free to call or email me....I promise not to try to list your property!

180 days is my standard. The reasoning is this: No one will wait six months. There are always buyers who want to wait until the listing is up in order to get a price reduction. No one will wait that long. We put in long hours and spend a lot of money marketing the property and it is too hard to see it sold a few days after the agreement ends

Jeremy
I personally use 180 days. A properly priced home will sell in market time. However, an overpriced home will not sell, period. With longer market times (in my area it is currently about 120 days) I invest more in the marketing of the property, so extending the protection period, in my view, makes sense.

Identifiying the seller's level of motivation is key in a successful sale. Sometimes sellers start off being motivated, then circumstances change. When a listing fails to sell (an expiered listed), sometimes the seller, faced with the truth that the home was listed at a price that did not attract offers, will be more likely to lower the price when they re-list.

If I am unable to persuade the seller to lower the price, then they re-list with a lower price with a new Realtor, the property will usually sell quickly because it was simply over-priced, so I invested six months of marketing to help the other Realtor sell the property in a month.

So the protection period is related to the overall market conditions (IMHO).

Jeremy,
I usually do maximum 60 days. But, it is usually either an office guideline or the personal agents guidelines. I focus on getting the home sold not on protecting myself if it does not sell. Of course it will also depend on how much you are asking compared to market value. You can negotiate the term and tell the agent you want something else.


Larry Story
Coldwell Banker Triad