Legal Definitions - listing agreement

A listing agreement is a contract between a property owner and a real estate agent. The agreement states that the agent will try to find a buyer or tenant for the property at a certain price and terms in exchange for a fee or commission.

• Exclusive-Agency Listing: This type of listing agreement gives one agent the exclusive right to sell the property during a specified period, but the owner can still sell the property themselves without paying a commission.
• General Listing: Also known as an open listing, this agreement allows the owner to give selling rights to multiple agents at the same time. The owner only pays a commission to the broker who makes the sale.
• Multiple Listing: This agreement allows the original agent to share the listing with other agents, and the commission is split between them if one of them makes the sale.
• Net Listing: In this type of agreement, the agent agrees to sell the property for a set minimum price, and any amount over the minimum is kept by the agent as commission.

For example, if a homeowner wants to sell their house, they may sign an exclusive-agency listing agreement with a real estate agent. This means that the agent has the exclusive right to sell the property for a certain period, and if the homeowner sells the property themselves, they do not have to pay a commission to the agent.

Another example is a general listing agreement, where the homeowner gives selling rights to multiple agents. If one of the agents makes the sale, they receive the commission.

These examples illustrate how a listing agreement works and the different types of agreements that can be made between a property owner and a real estate agent.