You’re meeting with a prospective Realtor about selling your home. You’ve decided to go with him or her.

Now the agent is filling out the listing agreement. A key consideration is –  How long should the agreement be for?

Hint – many agents will want to “lock you up” and make the agreement 6 months or longer. Is this wise? The short answer is no. When we work with seller clients, we stress 60 or maybe 90 days. Why?

Because you’re not really sure if your Realtor can or will perform! If you’re happy with your relationship, you can always extend the listing agreement, but only if you’re getting the results you want and need. If you’ve signed a long term agreement and the relationship isn’t working out, you’re stuck and very unhappy.

So my advice is to keep it short. It also motivates your agent to sell your property!