Hopefully this story is not too long but will attempt to keep it short. I recently stopped by my broker/realtor's office and asked if she would kindly release us from her listing of our house. Of course she asked why and I politely replied that in over a year she has only shown our house two times and want to try to go another route to get more exposure. She does not truly advertise in the paper nor does she have a website - only depends on word of mouth and drive bys. She said she would but asked who I was going with. I told her I had not made up my mind but had thought about going with my company's relo agency, a large nationally recognized firm. She agreed and I told her of course I would recommend her as the referral agent to show our home since the main office for the relo company is 1 1/2 hr drive from my location. In the meantime I phoned my company's relo agency and they never returned my call for five days. I was fed up with that and approached two more local agencies here in our county. I decided based on the interview to go with another local agency because I like what they said to me and they at least have a website that is searchable. My new agent phoned this past Friday and said that my former broker still had my home listed with her agency. She asked her why and the former broker said I have not made up my mind whether I am going to release these people or not since they went with your agency a competitor. Can she legally do this to us? I phoned her up and she told me the same thing. She said she was mad at me and thought I was going with an out of county agency and since I chose to go with her competitor she is considering not releasing me from the listing contract. What a mess this is - what sort of recourse, if any do I have now.

Thanks in advance for your responses.

You missed in your attempt to keep it short....

If you have an active listing contract with a brokerage you can not be released from that contract except by the Broker in most states and I recall that is the rule in NC.

Read you listing agreement... it should clearly state what your options are. Often a brokerage will release a client when requested I almost always do unless they make me mad.... Some have a cancellation fee to recoup some of their administrative and marketing cost... is isn't free to place it in the MLS.

You signed the contract so your obligated to it. If you can get another company to list it while it is listed by another company.... you should see red flags waving... you could be responsible for both commissions if it goes under contract and/ or closes while the previous listing is in effect. If you do not allow the original company to "market" the property and show it in accordance with your signed agreement you could also be liable for the full commission if the brokerage pushes the issue.

Try to work with your original brokerage and work something out even if you have a fee to pay. Otherwise could lead to very significant legal actions by MANY people.

Realty Check:
How can this lead to significant legal actions by MANY people?

Also, this agent is the Agent and the Broker - she is a single office realtor, no one else in the office. Why would she say she would release me from the contract and then change her mind? Sounds like she wants the other agency to do all the work and advertising while she reaps the benefits and does nothing. She does not have a pager, a cell phone and works parttime, no website and bare minimum advertising, two times per year in a local small realtor mag. She told me there should be no problem whatsoever but she still is not removing the listing from her agency. Sounds like greed to me. She says she will not advertise any more than she already does. She does not "market" it as you mentioned. This person recently did this to someone else also. Never did anything but the first person to jump up and claim her half of the commission. I was very nice and had no problems with her when we agreed that she would release me from the listing contract. Everything was agreed upon, then she, and I feel, underhandedly decided to do this to us. She is not a member of the Board of REaltors in NC nor is the whole county. They only have their own local LES NO MLS. We have to sell and I need someone to market our home and I explained that to her. She gave me a whole list of things she would do and has only shown our home two times in a little over a year. My fear is now that she is upset, I suppose, she REALLY won't do anything.

Golfer#2,
You need to contact your attorney and possibly contact the state real estate board and file a complaint. You said that it has been almost a year so when does your listing contract expire?
This agent is not representing your interests and you may have to take legal action against her.

It would be interesting to hear the agents side of the story. Sounds like you gave her the idea that you were going to list the home with the relocation company and now you changed the agreement. If she is so terrible, why did you offer to refer her to the relocation company? Did you possibly make false promises to her in order to get a release from the listing? She just might be thinking a referral fee would be acceptable form of payment afterworking for a year on your property. Have homes like yours in the neighborhood been selling for less than your asking price?

Paul:
The listing expires in Nov. of this year. We signed up with her based on what she said she would do for us. We made a very bad decision both in signing back up with her and asking to be released from the contract. It's funny other agencies that I have spoken with said they had no problem releasing anyone from a contract if that person really wants out. I have since learned that this woman is a very difficult person and usually causes a lot of headaches for everyone that has dealt with her. Shame on us! I found out all of this information unfortunately AFTER I had asked her to release us. I phoned the legal dept. of the NC Real Estate Commission and they advised that I file a complaint againt the CONDUCT of this agent. I am going back to her today and ask her again, "are you releasing us or not?" She has continued to be evasive and not give me an answer one way or the other - just that "there should be no problem when your house sells". I want to know one way or the other! If she says no, then I guess we are stuck with her and probably no sale again this year until the contract expires. I don't want to get into a legal hassle with anyone. It was only my failure to not investigate this person further nor know exactly what to do from a legal standpoint. I was NOT trying to hoodoo her into thinking that I was going with my relo company because I REALLY was very honest about that. However, since they did not return my call and figured that they probably did not want to be bothered with a property in our location, that is when I interviewed several other real estate companies and agents and made my decision based on what they and others told me. I realize that I made a very bad mistake now and am sorry for it both on her part, our part and the new agent's part.

Good News! The agent/broker has made the decision this morning to release us from the listing contract and we both will sign the release today. We agreed to reimburse her for all her time and trouble so she will not be out any money.

If anyone is interested in viewing our home in High Meadows Golf & Country Club, Roaring Gap, Alleghany County, North Carolina - the link is

http://roaringgap.com/hmrec

The home is 213 Longview Circle

Thank you everyone for your advice.

Golfer#2,
Is the listing showing with the new real estate agent? You have lovely home, but the last several pictures do not do it any justice. The agent needs to retake those photos.

Best of luck to you in selling!

Thank you Alice,
I agree that the last several pictures are not the best. I will suggest that they either remove the pictures or retake them. And yes, the listing is with the new real estate agent.