My husband and I live in a suburb of Kansas City, MO. Our house has been on the market since mid-February and we are on our 2nd realtor.

We had a lady and her son stop by our house today to see it, without a realtor. They are moving here from St. Louis and were interested in the house, so we let them look at it. Afterwards, she was very interested. She gave us her work phone, cell phone and e-mail address. She wondered if we'd be willing to deal without a realtor. Our problem is that we have a contract with our current realtor until September 6th. We can't get out of the contract until then. They are moving here and need to be here by Sept. 1 (we'll still be in our contract).

What do I do? I don't know what to say when I call her back? Should I just tell her there's nothing we can do unless she wants to deal with our realtor? I'd hate to lose a potential sale, but then again I don't know this lady from Adam, so she could totally be blowing smoke up my you-know-what.

Any advice? Thanks in advance.

Call your realtor and give them the information. You actually should have told the woman to contact your agent - but too late for that.

If you are questioning whether you should pay the realtor ask yourself how the woman found you and your house. Was it an ad in the paper, the sign out front, etc? I'm betting she found your house through agent marketing! Even if she didn't, the realtor deserves to get paid if and when the house sells. You already got the services of one realtor for nothing - of course they didn't sell the home, so you were out nothing but time, where as the realtor was out both time and money. Now it sounds like you are wanting to avoid paying the second one, too, who has spent time and money marketing your house.

A trust relationship is two ways - do you trust your agent to do their best for you and honor your agreement? Your agent should expect no less from you!

Agents do more than bring customers, they take care of all sorts of things after the buyer appears. How do you know this buyer has the money? You agent can check that out and then some. And if you have to negotiate with this person who better to handle the negotiations than a person who does this for a living? People who buy from FSBO's ( for sale by owners) are looking to get a better deal. Why is she afraid of the agent is the question I would be asking myself? She is not the one paying your agent, so what would be the benefit to her?

A quick question
First what type of listing do you have? That will tell us what course of action you may have to take. Notie I did sat may have to. If you have an excusive right listing then you have no choice.
Now its been my personal experience that if your property is listed with a brokerage and then the buyer asks you if we'd be willing to deal without a realtor they are looking to get a bargin. If thats the case then you might want to ask what price did you have in mind. Its been my experience that most likely the buyer is going to offer you a purchase price that is so low that you most likely would not accept it anyway.
Its been my feeling that you have nothing till there is an offer on the table. And to be honest with you if your agent is a good agent and the buyer is quailfied then your agent should be able to get an offer.

Put your agent to work. Sounds like the buyer wants to make a back alley deal with you. Be upfront and honest you will fell better and richer. In my area even after the contract has expired if a buyer our advertising brought buys your home for the next 3 months you still owe your agent the commission for the sale. Your contract may read differently and probably does.
What does it say?

Kokomo Realtor said it well: "A trust relationship is two ways - do you trust your agent to do their best for you and honor your agreement? Your agent should expect no less from you!"

One mustn't overlook the agreement signed by a willing seller and real estate brokerage. In the workworld, if you don't want a boss, then work for yourself and become self-employed. If you sign a contract with someone who hires you, you have a legal right to be paid.

You wouldn't be too happy if you performed services for an employer and they tell you that you won't get paid. If you were self-employed and sold something by contract and the buyer didn't pay you, how would you feel? What would be your rection if the buyer refused to accept the product and didn't want to pay you anything despite reneging on their contract?

Would you trust someone who comes to you knowing your property is listed and asks you if you could do a deal without a realtor? If they want to do a deal without a realtor why would they seek out a listed property. Furthermore why would they ask you to renege on a contract? Since it appears they have no respect for the law, would they honor any agreement they make with you?

Where would we all be without contract law?

You should be getting advice from your REALTOR who you have a contract with and who owes all fudiciary duties to you.