Every owner who wants to sell his house faces a dilemma: should he accept or not a commitment to real estate exclusivity? And while the answer depends on the needs of each seller, for the specialists at HelpMyCash.com, a website dedicated to comparing agencies, only those who know the scope of exclusive sales can make the right decision. What does it mean, then, to accept an exclusivity commitment?
In practice, this means that the owner cannot sell his house through another real estate agent and, as long as the contract specifies it, he cannot sell privately either. If he does, the agency will be entitled to claim his fees. Now, why do real estate agencies ask for exclusivity and what are the benefits for the owner?
According to the experts at HelpMyCash, real estate agents invest time and money in promoting the home: they take photos, make videos, pay for premium listings on real estate portals, organize and manage visits… but all this work is not paid until it is signed. deed or earnest money contract. “Real estate exclusivity is the way that agencies have to recover that money invested. And it is that if the house is marketed through several agencies, many of them will lose money and only one will charge fees: the one that finds a buyer first”, explain the specialists.
For this reason, agencies usually encourage the acceptance of real estate exclusivity by offering a series of benefits for the seller. Usually, the real estate commission is lower if an exclusive sales commitment is signed. In addition, agencies usually offer better services in this case, such as 3D Tour, virtual Home Staging or high-definition videos.
“Although we believe that the convenience of accepting or not a real estate exclusivity commitment depends on the needs of each seller, in general we advise accepting this commitment for a maximum period of between three and six months,” the specialists say. However, they suggest taking into account other issues related to exclusivity to avoid surprises.
Few owners know that the real estate exclusivity contract is renewed automatically, unless the will to terminate it is notified in writing. Thus, if the initial duration of the agreement was three months, this period is automatically renewed for another three more months, unless one of the parties states in writing that they want to terminate it. Said notification must also be made between seven and thirty days in advance, according to the requirements determined by each real estate agency.