Real estate question: selling (ethics?)

zhen_rogue

I live in Colorado, and my wife and I are planning to sell our condo immediately and buy a single family house.
We will find a realtor, who will be listing our condo.
However, we will also be spreading the word that our place is for sale to all our friends and relatives in the area.

Question:
If we find a buyer for our place on our own, with no help from the realtor, what can we do?

It would sure be nice to save all or part of that comission money, but at the same time, the realtor has done legwork to get our place advertised - it just didn't draw a buyer before we found one with our own contacts.
What are my options here?
What does the law say regarding realtor contracts?
What is the ethical thing to do, both for the realtor and for us as the seller?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Wezoin

At least in Canada, so your mileage my vary, you sign a contract that says "If my house is sold within the next x (usually 6) number of months, I will pay a y % commission." It's unlikely you'd be able to do anything to get out of that even if you did do all the work.

Example: We put our house up for sale, and told the agent we didn't want anyone seeing the house for 3 days cause the basement had just flooded and we needed to do repairs. Sign went up on the lawn but no other advertising on his part. That same night a couple knocked on our door and wanted to look around, but were only in town for the day, so we let them (they had just happened to be driving by) the next day they put in an offer, we still had to pay not only the commision to our real estate agent but also the commision to theirs who helped them put in the offer.

CooterTKE

most likely you will be stuck paying the realitor if you sign a contract.

Hawkstone

In PA, they always have a contract, and it usually states that they get a certain percentage if they sell it, and they have exclusive rights to sell it for a certain period of time. After that any realtor can sell it and they share that percentage. Also as the home owner you could find a buyer after that period usually a month) in the same way.

You could also consider trying to sell it yourself for a couple of months and if this doesnt succeed then get a realtor if your state works the same way. The advantage to this is you can get more money in your pocket if you are in no rush, or alternatively lower the price by the cost of a realtor commission for a fast sell.

CoJoeTheLawyer

What Hawkstone said about real estate agent contracts is fairly accurate. The agent generally requests exclusive rights to sell the house for a set amount of days, and then they allow it to be listed broader for less of a cut. Even if you did all the work selling your condo (including finding a buyer), the agent gets the same cut of the proceeds regardless.

It's worth your time to at least list the home on your own and try to find a buyer without an agent. There are lots of websites/books that will help you prepare a listing, advertise it, etc. If you have trouble or find it is too time consuming, then re-consider a real estate agent.

If you do decide to use an agent, read the contract very carefully prior to signing it. Maybe try to negotiate to ask for her to accept a less amount if you find a buyer directly...but don't hold your breath: Real Estate Agents are a cutthroat lot.