Page 265 - Trump University Commercial Real Estate 101

The Right W a y to Sell for Maximum Profit

Some sellers allow this and some don ’ t. In my opinion, it ’ s
reasonable to agree to the dual agency, because again, you ’ re in this
business for long - term relationships with good, honest brokers.

Performance

The performance clause in the listing agreement states that the broker
will do everything in his power to bring the seller a ready, willing, and
able buyer . If for some reason the seller does not feel the agent has per-
formed to this level, the seller may elect to be removed from the
agreement.
There will be another clause in the agreement that states that if the
seller is introduced to a buyer (from the broker) who buys the property
within six months of the expiration of the listing agreement, the seller
agrees to pay the broker a commission. This is fair. It protects the bro-
ker from a seller asking to be removed from a listing agreement, only
to sell the deal to a buyer to whom the broker introduced the seller.
I ’ ve seen this happen three times in my own brokerage business.
I introduced the buyer to the seller. They then contacted each other
directly, and the seller decided to back out of our listing agreement.
Their logic was that the seller could avoid paying my company the
commission, and the buyer would get a lower price. I would be left
with nothing, even though I had introduced them to each other.
Because most states disclose the names of buyers and sellers in
each real estate transaction, it ’ s not hard for brokers to notice when, a
couple of months later, a property changes hands between the very
parties that the broker brought together. In these three cases, I fi led a
lawsuit against the sellers for the amount of the commission and won.

Commission

The commission is, of course, stated in the listing agreement. The
seller agrees to pay that percentage of the sales price if and when a sale
is completed during the listing period.

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