First and foremost, you must speak honestly and frankly with your agent about your concerns. If your agent is your uncle’s grandson and you have to use this person, you still have rights as you are the homeowner and the final say on anything that concerns your property.
Information is one of the most important keys for success in the real estate market. Ask your listing agent for all the information on comparable properties and selling prices as well as listed and expired listings. All this information will help you and your agent determine if the problem is with your agent or market fluctuations or even if you are the problem. After analysing all the data and reviewing it in relation to your property, you will undoubtedly come up with a few reasons why your property hasn’t sold. Whether it is the location, the curb appeal or lack of curb appeal, the presentation of the inside of the house, the difficulty that agents have when trying to book showings, (that could be the agent’s office dropping the ball or you restricting showings in some manner that makes it difficult to show.)
In the real estate market of 2010 to 2012, the most glaring reason why a property does not sell, is price. If the property is listed too high, agents and their clients will pass on showing and seeing your place in favour of another property that has more to offer for the same price. Sometimes, the listing price is too low for the neighbourhood and agents and their clients will take the stand of, “there must be something wrong to have it listed so low.” , so again they will not show your property. Whatever the problems are, you should be able to analyse and solve them with your agent and get the property sold. If the problems are with the listing agent for not doing his/her work correctly or not at all, then there are courses of action that you can take.
The first and only course of action that I can firmly suggest would be to call the Broker/Manager of the listing agent’s office and explain your position and your concerns. Sometimes that is all that is needed to correct the problems. It is possible to terminate a listing agreement but because you signed a binding contract with the brokerage (not the agent) the broker has to agree to terminate the listing agreement. If you provide valid cause most brokers will grant the wish or attempt to match you with another agent in their office that will better meet your needs.
Please understand that it is against the rules for another agent to interfere with a valid active MLS listing. If you call another agent while listed with a different agent to query that agent about what is going on, you are putting both agents in an awkward position. Agents can be fined or suspended for saying the wrong things and you should be aware of such difficulties.
The final course of action that is available to you would be to call your local real estate board, explain your concerns and position and they will give you solutions that are available to you.
