Searchlight Crusade is hosting this week’s Carnival of Real Estate. BloodhoundBlog is featured, insisting that there is always room at the top, and we are lucky to be among such an august company. Everything is worth reading, but two posts stand out for me: Spotlight Realty’s practical example of the risk of letting an unscrupulous agent “buy” your listing by promising you a higher price than the market warrants. And The Reality of Real Estate weighs in on a weighty topic: How exclusive employment agreements can be a disservice to the client.

On the latter point, here is language we routinely use on our Buyer Broker Agreements:

This agreement will be terminated without recourse upon written notice by either party.

“Either party” means I get to fire them if I want to, too (and I have done this). “Without recourse” means clients don’t get to fire me and then sue me. I don’t know that that clause will hold up in court, but it’s worth a shot. We use slightly different language on listing contracts, to make it plain that you don’t get to fire us when we’re already under contract (and, of course, practically speaking, as a matter of agency I cannot fire any client when doing so would be to the client’s detriment; a ship’s captain cannot resign under weigh). But, recalling that everything we do is marketing, granting clients the power to jump ship, if they feel they must, is a very effective way of winning their hearts and minds. If you love your clients, set them free…

Technorati Tags: , , , , ,