Are you in a listing agreement with a real estate agent? Are you having second thoughts about whether your real estate agent is right for you? We’re here to help you decide whether changing real estate agents is the right idea.
(If you need a new real estate agent, you can compare agents at LocalAgentFinder, including their commission rates, marketing fees, sales history and homeowner reviews to ensure that you find the right real estate agent for your needs and to help you achieve your property selling goals.)
When are you committed to a real estate agent?
When you’re signing a listing agreement, you’re committing to a professional relationship. However, there’s nothing wrong with having a back up plan in case your selling experience turns pear shaped. Of course, everyone has a difference in opinion from time to time, but if you’re really struggling to work efficiently with your real estate agent, it might be time to pull the pin.
Can I change real estate agents?
In most cases, you’ll be able to change real estate agents by cancelling your listing agreement contract. Here are some steps to follow to determine whether or not it’s time to change agents:
- Document all of your issues. If you note down all instances in which your real estate doesn’t meet his or her expected requirements, by writing it down, you can really get to know whether or not you need to take things further and have a conversation with your agent about their performance.
- Have an honest discussion. The chances are, you’re already having communication battles with your agent. There’s no point bottling up your frustration internally. If you go to your real estate agent and have an honest and open conversation about what they’re doing wrong, they’ll be much more likely to admit fault and give an explanation of why they haven’t been performing.
- If appropriate, give them a second chance. If your real estate agent comes back with a legitimate reason for their lack of performance, you can give them another shot. If they don’t start working hard to achieve your expectations straight away, it might be worth looking at cancelling your listing agreement.
- Don’t waste precious time. If they’re still not performing, there’s no point dwelling on it. Your agent won’t appreciate it if you lead them on, and there’s no benefit to ending your relationship on bad terms. If you’re upfront straight away, you’re saving your own time too!
Signs that it might be time to change real estate agents
One of the most important roles that a real estate agent plays is alleviating the stress of selling your home. You should be working with an individual with whom you relate to and can trust. If you’re having the opposite experience, it might be time to change real estate agents.
Here are a few signs that you and your agent are not working well together:
- You and your agent see a situation in two radically different ways, and don’t believe that you can rely on one another.
- Talking to your agent makes you feel physically anxious or uncomfortable.
- When you talk about your real estate agent with a third party you find yourself adding expletives before or after their name.
- Either party fails to respond to requests for action, and doesn’t follow through with promises.
- When you see a call from your agent come through on your phone, you decide to let it go to voicemail rather than answer it.
Other reasons you may want to cancel a listing agreement:
- Bad photography
- A marketing strategy that doesn’t appear to be working
- Unethical behaviour
The Importance of Communication
The most common reason that homeowners become unhappy with their real estate agents is a lack of communication. One way to prevent this is to discuss your preferred methods of communication from here on in. An indication that you have a good real estate agent on your hands is if they create a communication policy early on in the process.
When a real estate agent doesn’t reply to your text messages, phone calls or emails in a prompt manner it can be frustrating. As with any relationship, healthy communication is important. Don’t be shy about letting the other party know what you expect from them and then if the estate agent fails to live up to these communicative tasks it’s probably time to start looking for a new professional relationship.
Real estate agent contract cancellation
In most cases, the best outcome will be mutually agreeing on a listing agreement cancellation.
The first step is to ask your real estate agent whether you can cancel your listing agreement directly. If your agent won’t agree to cancel the listing, the next step is to request a cancellation from the Principal agent at the agency you’re working with. If they don’t agree to cancel either, they may assign you with a different real estate agent from within the same office. In most cases, real estate agents will cancel the listing upon request because they want to protect their reputations.
As a last resort, if you’re still looking for a solution and your real estate agent won’t budge on cancelling your listing agreement, you might need to hire a lawyer.
How to Change Real Estate Agents
If you can successfully cancel your listing and you’re looking for a new real estate agent, you can compare real estate agents at LocalAgentFinder.com.au.
If you’ve never used LocalAgentFinder before, you’ll be excited to know that it’s super handy for homeowners like you. You’re able to compare real estate agents including their agent sales history, commission rates, marketing fees and importantly, independent homeowner reviews so that you can find out what the agent is really like in terms of their personality and other attributes.