In my area, 6 months is the typical listing contract. 1 year for unique properties. I know its been said on here time and time again to not sign a contract for more than 90 days. I don't take listings for 90 days either. It sounds like a long time to a seller, but in actuality, it takes at least a month to get the advertising out there. Most ad books come out every two weeks, depending on your listing date, you might not be in the book for a month. Another way to look at it is, if most people are looking for homes on the weekend, and you're looking for a 60 day contract, you're basically giving your agent 16 days to sell your house.

I would walk away from a 60 day listing in this market too. Average days on market in my area is 4 months. Do I really want to spend money advertising, print flyers, DVD's, spend all the time getting it in the MLS's, websites, ads, to have it expire before I even have a chance?

Is this sort of dictatorial attitude common? Do realtors have so much business that they can turn down listings on points like this?

Right now, listings are sitting. Buyers are in short supply in most areas. In my opinion, a 60 day listing contract is not reasonable in most markets today.

We went for 90 days with the option to renew in increments of 30 days. That period is extremely common around here, and the average DOM is also 90 days; the agent did try to nudge us into 180 but I just didn't trust him enough to commit to that long. I'm glad I didn't because we can't stand him and think he is not doing a good job at all!

I have never signed a contract with an agent for longer then 90 days. (especially if the agent boasts they can sell it in weeks) That is more then enough time to get the ball rolling and sell. If an agent can't sell in that amount of time then a fresh approach is needed. Not to mention if you don't like/don't trust your agent it is a long time to be dealing with them if you sign for a longer commitment. NancyLouise

The only people who will ever recommend to you that you sign a six month listing agreement are other real estate agents. I have never seen one - not one - business or real estate column in a newspaper or magazine that recommended a six month contract. That said, I believe that 60 days is too short a period of time. The "standard" recommendation is a 90-day listing agreement.

We signed a 90, but are willing to add more time to it. The market has stopped, it's not my agents fault.

Right now it is hard to say what the average DOM is here. I know that before we put it on the market my parents house didn't get an offer (except our's which wasn't accepted, nor would they negotiate with us) until there was 2 or 3 weeks left on the 6 month contract. Taxes were high for this area (normal is $3,000 - theirs was over $6,000) and the house was cold due to them taking most stuff out to storage. If I had my hand in that, it wouldn't have shown like that.

My neighbor was another 5 month before offer. They did nothing to the house. Selling point is a large garage, master was torn apart, plywood floor, no sheet rock on the walls. He'd ripped the master bath out, so there wasn't even that. From my understanding, she didn't even clean the house... Price started high at $215,000 ended up selling for $190,000 because he'd mortgaged the house so much & blew the money on other things (instead of putting it into the house) that he couldn't take anything less than that. He walked away with $700, then got $5,000 from escrow. The couple that bought it saw potential in the house and caved in on the price.

IMO, to a seller 6 months is a long time. To an agent, 3 months may not be enough. Agents need to realize that homeowners need to CYA, what if we aren't happy with them as agents? Not all agents will let someone out of a contract. If the agent is doing their job, then I don't see why a homeowner won't sign another contract with them for an added 3 to equal 6.

Herus, see if the agent will allow a 3, telling them that if you are happy with them, you will sign for another 3. Or you can tell them you will sign a 6 if they will give you an out if you aren't happy.

90 days - move on if the agent insists on six months.

I do agree that 60 days is far too short unless your market is on fire. You can always re-up if the agent is doing a good job and the market is slow.

We signed a 90 day and sold in 60. If we hadn't sold by then, we would've extended the contract 30 days at a time. I can't imagine tying up 6 months with an agent, especially not knowing how they'll perform for you.

That's pretty much what I thought, with the lone dissenter so far appearing to be a realtor. She replied this morning, stating 90 minimum, so based on your feedback I can go with that.

On another issue - she is very insistent we do staging. We have moved a lot of our stuff out of the house, including ourselves! Each room has 2-3 items as I have read about, ZERO clutter, spic-n-span, rooms painted, pro cleaned, the works. But it is OUR stuff that remains, all of it in decent to very good condition but perhaps not model-home quality.

The stager will start at $300 and go from there based on if we follow recommendations. I am almost sure there will be more expense to follow; after all, that is what they do. We have already spent good amounts so far on paint, repairs, etc, yes I know all necessary and minimum required today. But now the house sparkles.

Is it standard for the realtor to pay for the stager, or does the client? The amount she is pushing I can't help but feel there is a vested interest to her to get the stager in (kickback?) and like I said, that $300 will probably lead to over $1 or $2K when all is said and done.

We sold my parents 2 family house empty. I was surprised it sold so quickly (3 months IIRC) - the house needed serious updating, but the 1st floor was move in ready and was partially (kitchen w/ 60's bathroom) updated. Upstairs apartment still had everything original in kitchen & bath.

What you might want to do is go to the house with your camera, take pics of the rooms, put them on a site like Picasa - if you have a gmail account, click on photos to get going. Get opinions on whether you need to stage and rent stuff to do it. You may be able to buy a few things cheaper. The members here are very good at giving opinions.

I LOVE empty house shopping (and selling) - did the realtor give an indication as to why she wants a stager? Is your house high-end? Is it expected in your area? How many rooms? What's the scope of the staging? I know when we sell our current house I will have three rooms staged (living, family and master) but not the entire house; the rest of the house will be empty.

I'm torn about the stager for you. Can you let us see the interior?

On one hand I'm thinking that you're only a "New Listing!" once and want to be as perfect as you can be. On the other hand, if you don't stage and nothing happens, then you can stage and become a "New Presentation!" (or whatever).

Well, I remembered I have a Photobucket account, so have loaded lots of pics that should give you a very good idea of the home. It is in a desirable North Atlanta suburb with excellent schools and is considered a 'close-in' suburb nowadays.

Home sales in the n'hood last year were 460s-470s. Some of these were synthetic stucco, none had the kitchen updates or home theater that we are offering. A recent contract under escrow is expected to close between 510-520K. It also is syn stucco and on a downhill slope with poor lot, but a number of upgrades including pool. We have brick, flat yard and creek as exterior features, in addition to lots of privacy.

Here is a link to the writeup on Craigslist, with photo link below (be sure to view page 2 also):
http://atlanta.craigslist.org/rfs/370721185.html

Here is a link that might be useful: For sale pics

Your house is beautiful, herus. Did the realtor mention what she wanted staged? As an upscale house, people will expect an upscale finish.

I think to make the most of your house some staging would be in order. I'm not sure having 2-3 pieces in every room is necessary, and smaller rooms might actually be helped by having nothing in them. Did she mention fully staging some rooms and leaving others? The whole enchilada? And, at 4,000+ sq ft that's going to cost. What are DOM in your area? Can she show you that staged homes sell faster making the investment in staging worthwhile?

Another REALTOR here who does not take any listings for less than 6 months. The DOM just don't justify it, unless it's priced far below it.
I also allow an unconditional cancellation to the seller.

xamsx, the agent said the standard price is $300 for the consultation, but the stager also offers additional services such as renting furniture and accessories. Reading between the lines during the conversation, we got the strong feeling that the stager would exert pressure to sign up for the services. I do not doubt that it can run into $4K or so additional. Whether this is ultimately worth it who can say? If I don't do it and it doesn't sell, they can say it's because you didn't stage.

If we do stage and it doesn't sell, they will say you didn't price right or need to stage more. If we do stage and it does sell, who's to know if it might have sold anyway?

I am aware of stepping on various toes here, but some of this starts to feel like extortion.

berniek, can you explain the value of the 6-month listing if it is unconditionally cancellable? Isn't this effectively a 'listing at will'? Or is there an element of the seller being reluctant to cancel due to the benefit of the doubt, vs being able to simply walk when xxx days are over?

"berniek, can you explain the value of the 6-month listing if it is unconditionally cancellable? Isn't this effectively a 'listing at will'? Or is there an element of the seller being reluctant to cancel due to the benefit of the doubt, vs being able to simply walk when xxx days are over?"

Very, very seldom do I have a seller cancel a listing prior to its expiration.
Value? I donÂt know, probably in having less paper work for everyone involved. Is there a reluctance by the seller to cancel at will? Maybe, maybe not, IÂm not going to over analyze something that so rarely happens to me.
If a seller does not want to work with me, I donÂt want to work with them, selling a home demands teamwork and if there is no common ground, both of us are working at opposite ends, which cost both of us.

I would not sign a six month listing contract. I was shown a contract last year (entirely different market) which the agent had filled in the space for listing length as 6 months, telling me it really didn't matter-something had to be in the blank. She orally said that she would release me from the contract any time I wanted to cancel. I refused to sign the 6 months and made her change it to 90 days. In real estate transactions, written documents are legally ruling. Her oral promise was useless. This is a really tough market but I really have no patience with all the whining from the real estate agents. You weren't whining when bidding wars were taking place in the high flying market of years past. I rather see a breakdown of expenses and an agreement to pay for those if the contract is broken prematurely.

You weren't whining when bidding wars were taking place in the high flying market of years past. I rather see a breakdown of expenses and an agreement to pay for those if the contract is broken prematurely.

Listing contracts in most areas has all to do with the current market. You most likely can get whatever you want from a real estate agent; IE, length of contract, commission rate, how, where, what you want advertised, but I guarantee it will be with one of the hungry, inexperienced agents that will promise you the world and will not have resources or negotiating skills to get the job done.

As for bidding wars. The only one who wins on a bidding war is the seller. Agents have clients they are trying to get the house for, with bidding wars, you're not always on the winning end of that stick.

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Listing contracts in most areas has all to do with the current market. You most likely can get whatever you want from a real estate agent; IE, length of contract, commission rate, how, where, what you want advertised, but I guarantee it will be with one of the hungry, inexperienced agents that will promise you the world and will not have resources or negotiating skills to get the job done.

I disagree with that. When we sold last year we interviewed several agents. Two of them actually became agents at the same time, attending the same class (18 years ago). We went with the flexible agent who was the top regional seller. Why? He was flexible down to 90 day from the six months the other guy insisted on. Both were well seasoned, well thought of realtors. Neither was "hungry" nor "inexperienced". One was flexible, one was not. The flexible agent got the sale just because he was willing to go 90 days over six months.

What I have been reading a lot here (on the forum in general) is that realtors chime in with their input, viewpoints, experience and opinions. Sometimes this helps the other users, sometimes not. Sometimes this input is widely accepted, sometimes not.

I am beginning to realize (the 'hello!' moment, I am sure most of you have already had this) is that the input of the realtors here is just that... the input of the realtors HERE. There seem to be no hard and fast rules of the RE game (besides the ones put down by the law, obviously). So when one agent provides input, there are often real-life refutals by the members of the public who have learned the hard way.

Or maybe the realtors here see their role as defending their profession, and will always present a certain POV. Natural, of course, but the others, self included, should recognize such input as a POV, not fact or gospel. I know many, if not most, do so already.

"There seem to be no hard and fast rules of the RE game (besides the ones put down by the law, obviously)."

That's correct. That's why homework by the RE customer is so important. If certain things are important to a RE customer, they should be put in writing and not relied upon by promisses.
I don't have to defend my point of view, it's how I work. Every agent has a different approach and personality (and ethics), and every customer has a choice to work with me or any other agent.
The public has to do their due dilligence in life, and that includes real estate agents.

YOu have a lovely home! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the wainscotting! Your kitchen is fabulous! The only thing I don't like and this is totally personal preference is when people put a bed in the corner at an angle. To me, that is showing the room is small and they're trying to "stage" it to look bigger.

I agree that flexibility is necessary on both sides. I don't think in this type of market that 60 days is a reasonable period of time to give the realtor. If it was a hot seller's market, it would be, but not in a slow one like we have now.

BTW, do you remember the shade of green in your downstairs bathroom??? It's a gorgeous colour!

We've bought and sold a number of hoes over the years and the one thing we learned is ALWAYS go with your gut and NEVER sign for more time with an agent than you have too.
As in all things there are good and bad. You don't know which type of agent you have till you've worked with them. What worked for Aunt Jane may not work for you or your house. If for whatever reason you don't work well with your agent you want out fast, you don't want your house sitting on the market any longer than need be because you and your agent have issues.

Berniek, I couldnt have said it better myself. People have to do what works for them.

I'd like to add that I am also a "seller" in this market. I have a summer home that we are selling that is not in my service area. After alot of persistence of trying to find out what was customary in that area, and believe me that wasnt very easy to do because each agent I spoke to was more than willing to promise me the world. I finally picked my agent, his percentage rate there was 2% higher than what is in my area and a 9 month listing period was customary there. (slower market). Was I happy about that? Of course not, but that is what works in that area. The proof? he and his wife sell 80 homes per year. Did I have other choices to sign for 3 months with a lower percentage? Absolutely, but thats not going to get my house sold. It isnt always about the time period and commission rate, it is always about the market.

sparksals, thanks for your feedback and compliments. Now for the sortof badnews.

We checked the paint can, and it is from Ralph Lauren, Rosette Green. (or Green Rosette; we are in the other house now).

When I look at this color on RL's site, it is hugely different.

This happened to us before with a variation. Years ago, we used another RL color, British Tan, that we wanted to get back to. Well, no longer being produced. there is an "English Tan" but not the same thing.

In my experience, the realtor pays for the stager. After all, the faster it sells, the quicker they get their cut.

Also, you should think about asking your realtor whether she'll hire a professional photographer to take the photos. That makes all the difference. Realtors are not photographers.