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Updated over 3 years ago,
How best to break my listing agreement with realtor?
I own a condo in Chicago and put it up for sale in early May with a referred realtor. I did an intake call before deciding to sell with this agent and she appeared to be fully capable. From the beginning I notated that I can only list my property until July as I don't have the financial luxury to let it sit empty for long. If it's not sold or under contract by July, then I need to pivot and get it rented. We agreed to edit the listing agreement to end in July.
Since it's been on the market I haven't felt a sense of urgency or that "take charge" attitude that I initially felt when we were interviewing. I'm so motivated to sell that I asked if it strategically made sense to do a price drop after the first 2 weeks based on the metrics of sales/showings/listing views of similar properties. The only 2 showings I've had came 1 month after the price drop.
My place has renters until the end of the month which does present challenges, but I'm all about solutions to problems. I'm not confident that she can get this sold even if she had more time and she mentioned a 2nd price drop which would put me below my break even point. If that's my only option then I'm definitely renting it and don't want to waste anymore time. At this point, I'd like to start the renting process with another realtor so it's rented around the time my current tenants are out. However, her contract is still valid for another 1.5 months and I don't want to be obligated to pay her a fee due to her contract on top of paying another realtor a fee for finding a tenant.
Can I please get some advice on how to navigate this? I know sellers decide not to move forward with sales regularly, but I'm not sure if it's as clean a break to put it back on the market for rent with another realtor.
I appreciate the advice.