I would not list it for 10 months as I feel any realtor could do all she needs to do in a much shorter time span.
Could you rent it out, with a possible lease option to buy?
Also if they feel the house is so great, why is insisting you drop the price so much--just to get a listing? I did not like her immediate suggestion to drop it 23,000--that is too much. People can be so nice and sweet until they get there ways, and then BOOM-they drop the ball. Many times in a rural area, people will rent and later like it so much want to buy it. If you do rent, get a rental aggrement signed, get insurance on the house, and are you near enough to keep an eye on it. Also if you rent and then sell, you could have to pay capital gains--check with your tax person and get a book and keep track of all expenses. Good luck

Thanks very much for your practical suggestions, mariend. We are close, just a half mile away; can almost see the house from our deck.

Personally, I think a ten-month contract is too long for you as a seller (good for the REA though). There's no sense of urgency for the REA to get your property sold quickly.

I'll just toss this idea out knowing you might not like it. When I had properties that hadn't sold in several months despite active marketing plans & the REAs wanted six-month listings, I offered an 8% commission for the first 30-days then dropped to 7% for the next 30-days. From 60-90 days, the commission was 6%. Then, for the remainder of the listing agreement (another 3 months) the commission was dropped to 4.5%. The selling agent always received the standard 3%. It was a reasonably successful technique, for me. I sold several dozens houses on that commission agreement.

The largest benefit is getting the listing agent more actively involved in selling the property. Most sales don't come from the listing agent. On the above schedule, every single sale came from my listing REA's office.

In my case, time was money & I was glad to pay an extra 1-2% to move out the property quickly. I also had significant bargaining power with my REAs because I was feeding them hundreds of listings.

Just food for thought...

Good luck.

/tricia

I'd see just how "hesitant" she is.
Set the contract for the term YOU are comfortable with and be clear that you understand that she may not be willing to take it under those circumstances.
You are in the driver's seat, take the wheel.
Best of luck!

tricia, that is really food for thought! Thanks. I'll see what DH thinks of it. I understand the motivational point; my guess is the REA won't like it, since the highest commission potential is in the poorer winter months.

gardenspice, you're right. I knew I had somehow gotten into a poor negotiating position when she expressed hesitation. I think in this circumstance, where we're half thinking we should rent it anyway and wait for a better market, I will go with what we know we want in terms of contract length. We really have nothing to lose if she doesn't want to take it, with or without the commission step-down tricia suggests.

Thanks again, both (and you too, mariend).

A 10 month contract sounds very long, on the other hand we don't know what the average DOM in your area is. It may well be that 10 months is needed to turnover inventory in your area. It wasn't that long ago, however, that a 6 month contract was considered unnecessarily long.

The absolute only way we would consider a 10 month listing is if the agent said we could get out of it if we were not happy.

Is the link to your listing still working? If so can you post it?

Hi, roselvr -- No, it's been taken off realtor.com. The new agent will be doing a new one if we go with her. Thanks for trying to help. I'll ask her about a getting-out clause if we do put it back on the market.

mfbenson, the average DOM in this rural area is about eternity, as far as I can tell. Seriously, I don't know, but very nicely described houses are just not moving.

That tells me that she doesn't think it will sell by June. Are you ok with that, or would you rather rent it and re-list later?

Can you rent it out and still show it to prospective buyers? Not sure how the rental laws work in that aspect (the ability to essentially evict your tenants when you do sell).

thanks olga_d. By law we can; I don't want to put tenants in that uncomfortable position, though. Would rather rent it for a specific term and then decide if we want to put it on the market again.

I wouldn't sign for 10 months. If you feel she is not doing a good job you are stuck with her. You should explain that you are only comfortable signing for 6 months (I'd only do it for 3) and that if you feel she is doing everything she can, and is responsive to you, then, whether or not it has sold, you would extend the listing. I think that is very reasonable and fair.

I really don't believe she would be hesitant about taking the listing for 7 months. I think that is a not so subtle sales pressure and unless the DOM is really high, she should be ashamed of herself for doing so. As a realtor, I would love to get a year. As a seller, more than 6 months would make me uncomfortable unless the realtor could logically explain the need (DOM, etc).Tell her you'll do what she requests, but put in an out in the contract that lets you walk earlier. Be prepared to incur some of the advertising costs if you pull out early. Also, to me it is a red flag if a realtor (through his/her broker) won't let you out of a contract. Hopefully, yours doesn't feel this way.
Jo

Yes, this felt really heavyhanded and like a power play. Nothing in it for us and everything in it for her, which is a very bad sign, I thought. I'm getting really disillusioned about REAs, given our previous experience with a realtor we thought very highly of, and now this situation.

Why lose money on your house when you have the option to rent. Being a landlord isn't easy, but rental properties do come with some very nice tax benefits. Don't give your house away because the market is slow. you have better options.

Yes, we spoke with a property management company yesterday and, pending a few questions, think we will try to rent the house until the market improves.

I think this agent was being straightforward with you. Before she took the listing, she was giving you realistic figures about what your house would sell for.

While conventional wisdom calls for a short-time listing agreement, I can see her point that she would want the listing through the prime selling time summer months (in the North).

I think you have made a smart decision to rent the house. There is nothing in the market forecasts that would indicate an improvement in sales any time soon.

One thing puzzles me. If I understand your post correctly, you were trying to sell the house for $13,000 more than you paid a year ago in a market that has been sinking steadily. Did you make improvements on the house?

You generally cannot evict a tenant with a valid lease if you sell the property.
They have a prior contract that cannot be abrogated unless the lease terms allows it (and anyone who leased on those terms would be a fool).
Since you are so close to the property I would NOT hire a management company.
They will take a cut of the rent every month.
Hire an agent to find a tenant, pay them their fee (I pay half the monthly rent to the agent I use), and handle the rest yourself.

graywings, we did make improvements. Our realtor thought we still had it listed too low. Of course, he didn't manage to sell it!

We've signed with a property management company that takes 10% of the monthly rent, plus an extra 15% of the first month to cover their advertising, interviewing clients, etc., etc. DH just doesn't want to get those midnight calls about the plumbing, and this is about the only way he could make himself agree to renting it.

brickeye, we won't be trying to sell it while it's rented. I posted earlier, I just don't want to do that to a renter. Until it is rented we've told the previous agent he can show it if someone comes into his office and is in the market for this type of house, but with no signs and no advertising. This is okay with the property management agency.

I told the new realtor we just weren't comfortable with a 10-month listing and had decided to rent it. She's the one that recommended this p.m. agency to us in the first place.

Next step is to see if it will rent; wish us luck!