Your Right to Good Service
As a Vendor (called the Seller) you have rights:
- The Realtor must give you a copy of the Listing Form (called the Authority To Sell). This is a legal requirement of the Real Estate Agents Act.
- The Realtor must keep you informed of progress during your sale. A phone call at least twice a week and a written report every fortnight is the minimum of feedback you should receive. Good Realtors will be phoning you very frequently.
- The Realtor should telephone you before visiting your property, especially if you live there. (Not necessary for vacant dwellings or bare land)
- The Realtor should telephone you after the visit to give you the feedback from the buyers.
- The Realtor must keep you supplied with information about your local real estate market;
- what is for sale similar to your property,
- what has just sold and for how much
- what the average time it takes to sell a property like yours
- any changes in market conditions that affect your property, such as a surplus of listings causing downward pressure on the market or a shortage of listings that may drive up the price.
- The Realtor must submit every offer that is received in writing, even if it is below your expectations. A good realtor will always advise a buyer where to place an offer, but if the buyer insists on making a different offer, then he/she is obliged to present it to you.
- Your Realtor must give you the true feedback from the buyers. If the buyer does not like your property, the feedback should state that; similarly if the buyer is impressed with your property, then that should be stated as well. Feedback that just keeps the Vendor happy and does not reflect the buyers true comments is self defeating.
If your Realtor is a professional you will want to keep working with him or her.
