I would thank her profusely for her hard work, then give her a gift certificate, not cash. You are certainly under no obligation to do so, but if you wish to that is great.

I wouldn't giver the realtor anything..Her job is to sell your house,which didn't happen(although perhaps not due to her ability)...Part of the business..

I am not a good touchstone here as I am a new realtor and haven't had that happen. But if it did, I would not accept money. I would simply say call me if you decide to try again and I would wish you the best of luck.

As a seller, I would probably give a gift certificate to a nice restaurant.

Odds are, I won't be such a great realtor, but I'll have my self respect. (The reason it took so long for me to join this profession was because I've met more than my share of nasty realtors. Perhaps living in Fairfield County, Ct, contributed. I find the realtors in upstate NY to be a generally caring group.)
Jo

Just refer people to her. She'll love you!

A thank you note with a testimonial and personal recommendation to friends goes allot further than money or a gift certificate to a restaurant.

Lots of lookers - no offers. That could be another post.

IMO, maybe you should look into why it didn't sell. You may not know if the opens were advertised right, or if it was something else.

Thanks all. I just feel badly not giving her anything for all her hard work. Maybe a gift certificate then. Rose...believe me, we have looked at why it didn't sell. It was not because she wasn't doing her job. And, we are retired so no hurry. The house we were supposed to build in SC just didn't materialize (again another story) and so we just feel like we are meant to stay here for now. I do appreciate everyones thoughts.

Gee, if you had lookers, you were lucky.
Her advertisements worked.
Were you priced higher than THIS market would bear?

I have this theory about RE. IF you have lookers & OTHER homes are selling then you're priced too high. If nothing is selling then there is nothing you can do. However, Spring & Summer are the months to sell. Winter is difficult to predict.

I do not like most realtors behaviour. I had bad experiences. However, you do feel guilty IF they have done everything including spending THEIR money on advertising & you decide not to sell. I, too, would think of some type of compensation. In most states RE gifts are illegal. But there are always ways around it ;)

A gift certificate would have to be at least $500. Advertising is VERY expensive. When I was selling, one RE add ran me $160.

Not to be impolite and hijack the thread but since we are talking about various theories...I also have a theory and it is quite simple -

If other houses are selling then you are priced too high.If nothing is selling then everyone is priced too high. Every house sells if the price is right for the current state of market.

I disagree Try 99, there are 34 homes in our subdivision, 8 of them are for sale. They are all similarly priced. One has been on the market for 9 months. Here in our county (FL) last year there were 90 foreclosures...this year to date 900.

all being similarly priced doesn't mean that they are priced to sell in the current market..if they are on the market for 9 months then ...I call them - "priced to sit"

The reason why you have 10 fold increase in foreclosures is human greed

Everyone wanted to be rich and make money the easy way without any hard work by just flipping houses.

Why the anger?

marcia you do not owe anything to the agent. Aparantly your agent did not know your current market well enough to price it accordingly and hence it set on the market for six months with no offers and many showings.

I am not angry...just afraid that we taxpayers may end up paying for the bailout.

I think all you should do is a nice note and thank you gift around $100, a token to show that you appreciated her, a nice floral or a gourmet basket delivered .

I also don't think you should compensate the realtor.

The system is set up to only pay the realtor, if the house sells. Some realtors get full commission 6% after a few days of work, if they are lucky and represent both the buyer and seller. Some realtors get nothing after 6 months and no luck.

If you think that you should compensate the realtor, even if the house didn't sell, do you also think you shouldn't pay the realtor, if the house sells after 1 day?
After all there are lucky cases, where a buyer shows up before the realtor did anything and I guarantee you, the realtor will not surrender the commission in such a case.

Jrldh, I negotiated 1 1/2 percent back should we bring in the seller. My rea is savvy enough to know it's not very likely, but, I like having it in place. That way, she gets paid very very well for bringing in the buyer, and very well, for her marketing and helping us with the contracts and everything else should we bring in the buyer.
I think it's fair. (especially since, if another agent brings in the buyer, they get 3%)
I think it's win/win for all, and very fair.

Your agent failed to sell your house for six months and you think you should give her something?

MAN!

She should be refunding money to you.

I understand your desire to compensate in some way a realtor who you believe has worked diligently for you. There is just no rhyme nor reason in this business. I sold a home a few years ago and experienced more realtor errors than any one I know. I had decided to just let the listing expire & then move on. Well, my RA pulled in a buyer & closed on the property 11 days before listing expired. His commission -- $30,000 & he had done nothing to earn it.

Now I'm a buyer & trying to be fair to a realtor who we had been working with (even though we had not signed an exclusive buyer's agent contract. He had showed us approximately 10 properties during past 6 months. We found a FSBO & brought the realtor in -- the seller agreed to pay half the buyer's commission. So I agreed to pay $5,000 -- as I said in the spirit of fairness. I wish I could say that the realtor has done a terrific job & saved us time & money in the transaction. No, he actually has ended up making the house more expensive for us (not including his commission).

So, I know how that you feel that the realtor shouldn't be left with nothing, but then again, so often they end up with such a hefty check that is hardly warranted.

Good luck
Susan