What Does Exclusive Right To Sell Mean In Real Estate?

The process of selling your home can be full of adventure and headaches. Still, before you start doing things like deciding pricing or making improvements, you should probably hire a real estate agent.

But here’s the thing: Hiring a real estate agent isn’t always straightforward, and there are certain agreements that you may want or need to make with them in writing before moving forward.

Here’s what exclusive right to sell actually means in real estate, and when you should consider this type of agreement.

When you decide to sell your house, you’ll have a few listing options when working with an agent.

One of the most popular options is known as the exclusive right to sell listing. It’s basically an exclusive contract with a real estate agent or real estate broker that gives them exclusive rights to sell and market your home.

This means you can’t hire another broker or agent while your agreement is in place.

The exclusive right to sell agreement also requires that the seller pay the real estate agent a commission regardless of who ends up selling the property, as long as the agreement is in effect.

The good thing about an exclusive right to sell listing is that they’re allowed on the MLS (multiple listing service), and usually, that’s where you’ll find them.

If you’re selling your home, you absolutely need it to be on the MLS to find the most buyers.

An exclusive agency agreement is a contractual agreement where the listing broker acts as the agent, or the legal representative of the seller. Under this agreement, the seller must agree to pay a commission fee to the broker if they sell the property.

Based on the terms of each agreement, the biggest difference between an exclusive right to sell and an exclusive agency agreement is who pays the REALTOR^® fees. Under an exclusive right to sell agreement, the seller is responsible for paying the REALTOR^® fees regardless of whether they or the owners sell the property. Under an exclusive agency listing, however, the seller only pays the fees if the agent sells the property.

Under exclusive agency agreements, the broker does not receive a commission if the seller is the one to find a buyer for their property.

There is also a ton of monitoring required from the broker’s end when it comes to an exclusive agency listing.

The broker will have to manage things like contact with other brokers and buyers to make sure it’s clear the sale of the home happened with their help.

Unlike an exclusive right to sell, the exclusive agency also puts an agent at financial risk if they expend a lot of resources to sell a home, and they end up not getting paid for any of it.

This fact alone is the reason most agents won’t agree to an exclusive agency agreement.

Now, if an exclusive right to sell listing or an exclusive agency listing doesn’t quite fit what you need, there are a few other options you can choose if you’re thinking about listing your property.

Open Listing

Open listings give the most benefit to the home buyer. Unlike an exclusive right to sell listing, an open listing allows the owner to place listings with multiple real estate brokers.

On top of that, the homeowner can still sell the home themselves and avoid paying any commission to an agent.

You also won’t find an open listing on the MLS. Instead, sellers rely on the real estate brokers to bring them a buyer.

You’ll probably find it hard to get an agent to agree to this type of listing since they work on commission.

Net Listing

Net listings allow a real estate agent to keep the difference between what the homeowner wants to sell the home for and the actual sales price.

Unlike exclusive right to sell listings, where your commission rate is set, net listings can be a gamble for the agent.

For example, let’s say you go into a net listing with an agent, and both of you agree that you want to sell the house for at least $332,000.

That would be the base price. Anything above that sales price, the real estate agent gets to keep.

If they sell the house for $372,000, then their commission would be $40,000. On the opposite end, if they sell the home for $334,000, their commission would only be $2,000.

This is probably one of the most complicated listings available because it could end badly for both the seller and the broker.

You probably won’t see this listing much because it’s illegal in several states, and even in the states where it’s legal, there are a ton of restrictions.

Multiple Listing

This listing gets your property featured in the multiple listing service (MLS), and usually, that’s it.

The MLS is a tool used by almost every real estate agent to find properties for their buyers – think of it as Google, but specifically for finding houses that are for sale.

You’ll find that most of the exclusive agency listings and right to sell listings are on the MLS.

One downfall for someone who decides to go the For Sale By Owner route is that they have to pay a fee to be placed on the MLS, and probably won’t end up selling the house for as much as they could have with an agent.

Now, before you sign that exclusive right to sell agreement with your agent, there are a few more terms you need to be sure to discuss and have placed in your contract.

Duration Of The Agreement

You must know how long your exclusive right to sell agreement is contracted to last, because if you sell your own home (without the agent), you could still be on the hook for their commission.

As long as your exclusive right to sell agreement is in place, the agent will get their commission.

However, if they’re unable to find you a willing, ready and able buyer before the contract is up, and you’ve found your own buyer, you won’t have to pay it.

Financial Obligations

Outside of the agent’s commission, you must also consider the other potential costs that pop up when selling your house, like renovations you make on the house before listing it, paying for capital gains tax (or other taxes), closing costs or even fulfilling any components of a contingent offer.

Having an agent by your side through this process could make things much cheaper, especially when it comes to making changes to your home or helping you negotiate on contractual contingencies.

Contract Cancellation Rights

What happens if the buyer can’t get financing? If there are problems found during the home inspection, appraisal or title search, the buyer might be able to just walk away from the contract.

Understanding your contingencies is essential, because there are several, such as:

• Insurance approval contingency: If your buyer is unable to get any home insurance before closing on their home, the lender will not fund the mortgage. This would give them the ability to cancel the contract.
• Mortgage approval contingency: Essentially states that if a buyer is approved for a mortgage outside of the terms stated in the agreement, they can walk away from the deal. For example, if the contract says the mortgage has to be a 30-year fixed with a $5,000 down payment, but the lender comes back with a $10,000 down payment, the buyer could walk away.
• Appraisal contingency: If the house you’re selling doesn’t appraise for at least the selling price, then your buyer could decide to cancel the contract. You could be put into a position where you would have to lower your selling price so the buyer could get financing.
• Closing date: If you’re selling your home, the closing date is important because if your buyer still hasn’t closed after that date, you would have the ability to either extend the closing or walk away from the deal. This would be a great option if someone were to offer you a better deal.

Selling your home is a huge process, and you shouldn’t go it alone. As you’ve now read above, there are several listing options to choose from.

You should contact a Rocket Homes^Ⓡ Real Estate LLC Partner Agent to help you make the right choices as you list your property for sale.

If you want an agent to put in the work and make selling your home much more comfortable, the exclusive right to sell listing is probably your best bet.