I'm serious about selling and my place is in line with the comps in the area, I've already closed on our new place, and would take a much lower price just to get it done; I am listing at the price the broker set. But my question was is missing an open house a firing offense? and what are the downsides to switching brokers?

Posted by: bhcoop at February 25, 2008 7:51 AM in response to When to fire a broker?

thank you all for your help. I think I can get out of the contract and will hire someone else.

Posted by: bhcoop at February 25, 2008 4:59 PM in response to When to fire a broker?

thanks, my other question was how do you put a window guard on it to block kids from falling out? does it have to go all the way up to the top of the window?

Posted by: bhcoop at February 28, 2008 3:10 PM in response to changing sliding sash window for casement

Your realtor is not your employee so you cannot fire him or her. If you signed an exclusive I doubt that you can get out of it because they missed an appointment, likely they will have some excuse.

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 7:54 AM in response to When to fire a broker?

Read your contract with the broker. Nothing else anyone here says to you matters.

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 9:50 AM in response to When to fire a broker?

Is 7:54 your broker? Those might be the most ridiculous pieces of advice I've ever seen.

Posted by: Emigre at February 25, 2008 9:55 AM in response to When to fire a broker?

What do you mean when you say the broker missed an open house? Did he/she not show up and it was cancelled? Did they send someone else?

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 10:55 AM in response to When to fire a broker?

Where's the place you're selling and how big is it?

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 11:15 AM in response to When to fire a broker?

This is absurd. Of course you should fire your broker (who does work for you) if they don't show up for the open house. You ask what is the downside of firing them. You should be asking what is the upside of keeping them. They have done nothing for you so far except piss off the potential buyers who saw it listed too high and those who showed up for an open house that didn't happen.

Call another brokerage. Tell them what the situation is and ask them how to proceed to get out of any contract.

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 11:54 AM in response to When to fire a broker?

I believe the situation is called "Abandonment" if the broker isn't doing the job she was contracted to do. That is cause to fire her sorry ass.

Posted by: rh at February 25, 2008 12:01 PM in response to When to fire a broker?

Ok, since you seem to want to sell (despite initially listing it too high), here's my advice (as someone who successfully sold very quickly in the past year):

1. Make sure your price is in line with pices things are SELLING at, not just at what they are LISTED at (there are a bunch of brokers out there who still list things too high (and I'm not one who thinks the market has dropped, just that they seem to think it is rising more than it is) - these brokers do no service to sellers or buyers.

2. Make sure your place is staged well. Get rid of (or store) your clutter - all of it - not some of it - your paper, almost all of your books, extraneous furniture (you can lose 1 or 2, or perhaps more, pieces of furniture from each room), your rugs if your floors are nice, half the stuff in your closets, curtains in the rooms where you don't need them (living rooms), so as to let the light in, wash the windows, store the screens for more unobstructed views, etc. (Need I say clean well?) Really, it all helps, really a lot. It is worth it.

3. If you have a month or less on your contract with the broker, let it run out and don't sign another contract with them. In the meantime, stage your place, go to open houses, scope out competing apartments (to check your staging and what buyers' reactions are to the prices of similar properties), and check out other brokers by chatting with them (you can pick your next one this way.) But realy, pick the one with the best website for easily finding the apartments you would want if you were a buyer. (I picked Corcoran based on that, and their co-broking, but you need to choose a particular realtor that you can communicate well with. There are a few other big ones with good websites who also co-broke.)

4. Go with a broker who co-brokes. None of this refusal to share the commission with brokers who bring buyers. It doesn't serve you.

5. If you have a lot of time left on your contract, contract the broker and complain seriously. Realtors work for the broker - complain to the boss. Then see if you can be enough of a pain that they will let you out of the contract. If not, at least they should step up marketing efforts until the contract runs out. Hold them accountable until you can dump them.

6. Market it a bit yourself. They'll still get the commission, but you will close. Craigslist, newsletters at work, other organizations you belong to, mass email to everyone you know (they know people who are looking).

7. Stay in really close touch with your realtor.

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 1:08 PM in response to When to fire a broker?

I'd call broker's boss are brokerage firm, complain, ask for a new realtor immediately and a make good for her/his lame behavior (sep. ad in Times for 3 weeks, etc)

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 3:00 PM in response to When to fire a broker?

1:08 is SUCH a Broker with Corcoran. Please try to not gag.

Posted by: guest at February 25, 2008 4:49 PM in response to When to fire a broker?