Exclusive Right to Sell

Giving a real estate agent the "exclusive right to sell" your property
does not mean that there will not be other agents involved. Your agent
is the listing agent and the most important part of his or her job is to
market your home to other agents who work with buyers. Those agents
will show your home to their clients. Regardless of who sells the home,
even if you sell it yourself to a friend at work, your listing agent will earn
a commission.

If you want full service from an an agent and his or her company, this is
probably the only type of listing they will accept. Full service means
an agent will advertise your home, place it in the Multiple Listing
Service, market the home to other agents, and perhaps even hold open
houses. This requires an expenditure of both time and money.

Only with an "exclusive right to sell" does an agent have a realistic
expectation of earning anything on their investment in selling your
home. That is why it is the most common type of listing.

Of course, the agent and their company still have to perform in order to
get paid -- your home has to sell.

copyright 2000 by Terry Light and RealEstate ABC, revised 2002