Quoted: I kept him because he sold my last house in 3 days 2 years ago.
I still have a contract with him, so I don't know if I can change agents at this point.
I am cleaning the place up and talking with another agent, but due to my listing contact may not be able to change realtors.
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Get rid of him immediately. If he tries to fight you with regard to terminating the listing agreement, go to his broker and he/she will let you out of the contract. If this doesn't work, go to the local Board of Realtors & file a grievance. Don't worry about this, you will get out of the listing agreement.
Nest, you're still in need of selling the property. Here's my advice: 1) ask trusted friends/business acquaintences to refer a GOOD, PROVEN Realtor; 2) before hiring a Realtor, ask them if they have the CRS (Council of Residential Specialists) designation. This is a difficult designation to achieve as you have extensive education requirements & must have DOCUMENTED sales volume over a 5 year period of $25 million (among other criteria as well). Only 4% of Realtors in the US are CRS's & they are the most professional, "best-of-the-best" in the business.
With regard to the comment that Realtors don't do shit but put a sign in the yard & collect a check at closing, I have a couple of things to say. Yes, there are some scumbags in real estate that will do just that & have they no place in the business. Most likely they are part time Realtors or among those who will get in and get out within 5 years of obtaining their license. They are the exception, NOT your average agent. A typical Realtor has a college degree, votes Republican, is independent-minded (Realtors are "independent contractors" & thus have to carry their own health insurance, etc.) and entrepreneurial. They get killed with taxes, fees, and expenses just to stay in the business. For instance, on a $100,000 house, the typical commission negotiated is 6% of the sales price. So the seller at closing pays $6,000 to the listing broker, which is then split 50/50, giving each respective selling & listing broker $3,000. Now, of this $3,000, the firm will get its cut (usually a percentage that varies on the sales volume of the particular agent but most agents are on a 60/40 split with the agent getting 60%, the firm 40%). This leaves the agent a check for $1,800. Now the agent must set aside 20-25% of this check for the IRS so now we're down to $1,350 "take home" pay. Remember that the agent also probably did the driving while this customer was looking at houses so they came out of pocket with gas to keep the car running. After all is said & done, that agent is lucky if they keep $1,200 from that $100,000 sale. They also did all this work & didn't receive compensation until the deal closed. Sometimes closings take 45-60 days from accepted contract to actual closing. This time lag ain't too good for cash flow & sometimes problems will come up & the whole deal can fall apart at the closing table, leaving the buyer without a house & the agent out of a check they were counting on.
Sorry for the long post but being a Realtor ain't all its cracked up to be. Most agents make LESS than $30,000/yr. & work pretty damn hard to make what they make. The good agents that make over $75,000/yr. usually do a lot of volume, provide a ton of service to their customers (market knowledge, negotiation skills, connections in the mortgage, title and legal professions, etc.) and work 45-50 weekends a year along with the typical Monday-Friday workweek.
Best of luck to you.