Listing a home for sale with a Realtor is a fairly quick process but there are items to be aware of in case you find yourself resolving real estate disputes. You’ll want to avoid disputes if possible and a good what to start is to make sure all your t’s are crossed and i’s are dotted. Realtors can avoid disputes as well as assisting their clients in avoiding disputes if they plan and execute properly. Once way to avoid a real estate dispute is to know the property, know it’s bedroom and bathroom counts, accurate and permitted square footage and utility structure.
Sellers looking to list their home should beware if the agent isn’t aware of the bedroom and bathroom counts as well as square footage when evaluating pricing. Realtors have many ways of obtaining this information such as past listings in the Multiple Listing Service or MLS and by consulting a title company. Having the accurate information on the home seems like an obvious thought but many mistakes are made with bedroom, bathroom and square footage counts. The data that goes into the MLS based off these items are mostly auto populated from a title company but the items that aren’t can surely get you and your agent in trouble if it’s not accurate.
Resolving Real Estate Disputes is Second Best to Avoiding them!
Another dispute that frequently comes up are commissions. These disputes are sometimes between agents but often between the seller and the agent. On any listing agreement, whether it be an Exclusive Right to Sell Listing or Exclusive Agency Listing, it lists the amount the seller will agree to pay the broker for selling their home. The listing agreement also dissects it further and asks how much the agency your hiring will agree to pay a cooperating broker meaning if another agency brings the buyer. Additionally there is another item regarding commissions and that’s the term variable commission. Variable commissions is a term that basically means if an agent agrees to sell your home they’ll charge you 6.0% commission of the sales price of which that commission might be split 3.0% to a cooperating agent and 3.0% to the listing agent but if the agent you hired brings the buyer than the “variable” rate might be reduced to 5.0%. These commission items absolutely should be completed and are always found on the first page of the California Residential Listing Agreement.
Lastly sellers and buyers might have a dispute on what items are included in the sale of the home. There is a difference between Real Property and Personal Property and items that are Real Property that the seller wants to keep should be indicated and reference on the “Reserved Items” section in the Listing Agreement. Furthermore this information needs to be included in the MLS as well.
It’s always a good idea to get things that potentially could harm you later or might appear unclear in writing. In the event the other party prefers to do business by phone then you might want to just follow-up those conversations with a quick email of what you discussed to keep everyone on the same page.
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