What does your contract say? I wouldn't give her more than that. The contract is up. You are not required to pay her a commission on those people unless the contract says you do. You negotiated the exceptions you put into the contract. If she wanted exceptions she should have put it in the contract. She couldn't give a name, because she didn't have them. But she could have said that if she shows the property to someone and the listing expires, you still pay a commission if they sign a P&S within X days of the expiration. I assume she didn't do that.

The one that came through you should have been on your 30 day contract no? You should have a copy that they should be excluded from her list. Other then that you do need to read the contract as they are all different. You may legally be bound for 90 days on two of them.

I don't know why I didn't do this in the first place, but I just looked at the contract & there is a "protection period" 60 days after the contract ends.

As far as the one guy that contacted us before we listed, she said they would only let us list 5 "exclusions" so we had to narrow our's down & he was not on our final list. I was surprised to see him on hers, but whatever.

Really I don't think we'll have any offers due to the horrible property next door - but I'm working on that : ). I think we'll start FSBO again hopefully in the fall and might have better luck if we've resolved the problem. We had lots of interest, not one person said it was overpriced but everyone was concerned about the mess next door.

This agent is a "friend"?

I've learned a lesson. No more business with friends.

"You learn in this business.. If you want a friend, get a dog."
Carl Icahn

Or maybe: "You can lead a friend to a commission but you can't make them be fair...." haha!

5 exclusions? IDK, maybe one of the agents can say something about that. If it was me, I would say that on that one since she knows you brought them in to begin with and that you understand she eats if she sells, how about splitting it if they do buy? If she's a friend she'll understand where you are coming from.

When it's said and done, it's all about money. They earn a living by showing houses; so far I haven't read more then 1 good agent / friend story.

Did that one person (that contacted you prior, but didn't make "the list") come through during her listing period? If not, I think according to that contract, she can't use them. Mine says it only pertains to people that contacted you or came through DURING the listing period.

For the sake of the friendship, I'd let her do what she is asking, especially since you think she has no prayer for success.
Jo

I don't know if she showed the property to the guy that contacted us (and that we showed it to prior to her listing) during the list period. We never got got names of who was being shown. Is that standard? Should we be get a list of people that they show to?

I think we will just give her the 3 names for 60 days. I honestly don't think they'll come thru. If they do, yipee, I guess, because the property will be sold without me having to deal with the neighbor.....

I know she has had some expenses for advertising & I do feel bad about that, but that's the nature of the game. She did make her full commission on a house we bought in December though, so all was not lost.

I don't know if she showed the property to the guy that contacted us (and that we showed it to prior to her listing) during the list period. We never got got names of who was being shown. Is that standard? Should we be get a list of people that they show to?

IMO - since you did show them it, it is fair to save the "friendship" splitting it halfway.

You may want to go over to citydata and post it there. Link is below.

Here is a link that might be useful: City data real estate

Any buyer who has contacted the listing broker or owner during the listing period, would be on the 60 day ("holdover period") list. If the property was a FSBO before, and someone had contacted the owner, the owner should have excluded, or negotiated a commission with the agent at listing time, if that buyer wanted to make an offer during the listing period.
Both parties, owner and agent, should have a list of potential buyers names that are excluded/included, should one of them want to make an offer.

"I honestly don't think they'll come thru. If they do, yipee"

Well.

There ya go.

If the one person who concerns you looked at the property prior to October & still hasn't bought it now, then that showing nearly 11 months ago evidently didn't procure a sale.

If an agent can get *anyone* to buy a troublesome property, whatever list the buyers' names are or are not on...

I'd pay her & thank my lucky stars that she got the property sold.

OMGosh guvnah, I've driven by there several times & always wished it was open! I've been trying to get my dh open to move to Forreston. Not in town, but outside. I didn't know there were no city taxes. A monthly flea market right there would be great too. I guess 3rd Monday is still open?

marti8a - howdy neighbor!! With some notice we can open it up for you. Do you mean the 3rd Monday sale in Waxahachie? I think it's still happening. Have you ever stopped at Bon Ton in Forreston? Texas Monthly says it's the best vintage clothing store in Texas - I'd probably have to agree. They've been there for 20 years or so, so I know that Forreston will support a niche business or two. We did well, just want our weekends back!

I will email you more info about Forreston off the forum if you'd like. We lived there (not at the bank) for 7-8 years. It was a nice, inexpensive place to live. We sold our house there in December. I linked to pictures of it below. There are some nice houses there that would be candidates for renovation if they hit the market.

Here is a link that might be useful: our old house in Forreston

Howdy neighbor! I love your house & gardens. Did you ever meet Denver Pyle? I've never stopped in Forreston, just been to the cemetery & sometimes drive that way to Waco when I don't feel like battling traffic on I35. I'm just north of Waxahachie in a small town but we do have taxes & nothing to show for it.

You should read your contract to see what it says about "after the listing expires". In NY, the listing office can still collect a commission "after the listing expires"; if the owner hasnt relisted with someone else; to anyone who has seen the property during the listing period who may decide to come back after the listing expires. The time period is whatever number of days agreed to when the contract is signed. Typically, 90-180 days.

Linda, what about the validity of only allowing 5 exclusions from the original contract; is there really a limit?

Correct - when I looked at the contract there is a "protection period" of 60 days after the listing ends. So, OK for the 60 days, we'll give her the commission if it sells to one of the 3 people she listed. Even the one we sort of brought to the table. Not a huge deal - no problem. More than anything I thought that the 90 days she mentioned initially (and turns out she was incorrect on - it is 60) was unfair since they were so strict on the front end with the people we wanted to exclude. All in all, if it sells to one of them - great. I just thought it should have been more fair, that's all.

Also in the contract they limit themselves to 10 names "whose attention the Broker has called to the Property during this Listing" for the "protection period".

I should have read the contract more closely on the front end & fought to have the same terms they had - 10 people for 60 days. But really, it's all sort of moot anyway because we never had an offer from my people or hers. One of the reasons I thought I'd bring it up on here was so that any other FSBO people converting to a realtor listing would have a heads up and could maybe negotiate a better deal.

I know she tried hard & did a good job. It's an odd property in an odd location & it will have to be someone looking for a specialty property to buy it.

Now to a topic that marti8a mentioned..... No, we never met Denver Pyle. We moved to Forreston after he had already died. We had lots of people stopping in the Bank when we were open asking where the Forreston Cemetery was so the could go see "Uncle Jesse". Lots of Dukes of Hazard fans out there.... Strange that a "hollywood type" would live in the middle of nowhere - but cool, too!

Guvnah, if you are relisting with another real estate office, then she cannot come back to claim ANY of those buyers even if it happens within a week. If you do not relist, your contract states 60 days, thats what it is, no more. Are you planning on relisting with another agent?

I was under the impression that the spirit of these forums was to offer insight, information and most importantly, opinion on a variety of subjects in a free and open way. I always felt that it was more of an "opinion poll" type venue where you could come, post a question and get helpful feedback.

When I posted this question, I came here for third party information/advice on standard practices because I am unfamiliar with them. I wanted to get knowledgeable opinions before even bringing it up to our realtor. If I was wrong, I wanted to know. Several of you rightfully said to READ THE CONTRACT. I did, and was satisfied to abide by the contract. Once I read it, never did I question the validity. At that point, there was nothing for me to do or say. It was resolved.

My issue was always one with the contract, which I felt was one sided. My fault for not negotiating it differently on the front end, but again, fine with honoring it. My problem was with the industry - not the individual.

I wanted to get it straight in my mind before I addressed it with my agent. Fair enough? I would have thought so. Never once did I say anything negative about the agent, who I still feel did a good job with a very difficult property.

I did address the point that it is hard to do business with friends & I think that point is proven. Put plainly, it is always awkward to address issues no matter how small. Even if the issues are solely business or contract related, it is uncomfortable to question someone who is a leader in their field and that you respect immensely. It just is. I had no intention of opening up a "can of worms" if I had no leg to stand on - which is why I came here first. I appreciated the advice I got here to just READ THE CONTRACT. My initial impression was wrong. I had already said that I was going to abide by the contract. End of story?

No. Someone in this forum read my intent as an insult to the listing agent and forwarded her the post, actually causing problems where I had already determined none existed. I never had a problem with her and after getting your advice, realized there was no need to question anything. As I have said repeatedly, she did a great job and I have always considered her a friend. IÂm quite certain she no longer feels the same.

So gardenwebbers - consider this a cautionary tale. I never assumed this forum was totally confidential - nothing on the web is. However, I did think that it was a forum you could go to for honest, helpful feedback without retaliation for asking a question. I guess I was wrong.

"No. Someone in this forum read my intent as an insult to the listing agent and forwarded her the post, actually causing problems where I had already determined none existed."

Are you sure? I can't imagine any regulars doing that here. I hope everything works out for you and am sorry for what someone might have done on this board to discredit you. Your questions were sincere and without malice.

No. Someone in this forum read my intent as an insult to the listing agent and forwarded her the post, actually causing problems where I had already determined none existed.

guvnah, it could have been the agent traced the gardenweb site through the hotlink and read on her own. It is easy to trace linking, and if she noticed hundreds of hits from a particular origin she may have been curious.

However if indeed someone emailed your agent a C&Ped post - that is lame.

I have to agree and if it did happen, how would that person feel if it was done to them?

People come here to get information. I know I do. Any thoughts that I posted here could have been questions on my own house for sale as this is not something I would have thought about until it was posted. I've shown my house to a few people, as a matter of fact, today someone came through. Our contract expired the other day, so this is really hitting close to home.

The problem with the internet and message boards is that there is no voice to go along with the post. If we are in a bad mood, an innocent post can read otherwise. There are days when I read stuff only to come back later and have the post take on a different meaning depending on my mood.

I don't feel that anything that was said in this post is anything the agent should take as negative. It was a question that was asked so that when you spoke to the agent you understood everything in advance.

Places like here are a valuable tool for those of us buying & selling. I can't begin to say how much I've learned here. If people stopped posting questions because they worried someone was going to turn around and use it against them, then heck, most of the posts here wouldn't exist. How would we learn then?

That's terrible. I can't believe someone would do that, and especially knowing you were friends with the agent. I hope she read your post carefully & saw that you were not upset.

I just followed guvnah's link on this thread to the other thread & from the other thread to guvnah's website of the property. I didn't see a real estate agent listed anywhere. How did someone find the agent to email her?