Should I sign an exclusivity agreement?

Summary:

Signing an exclusivity agreement locks you in for 90 days and means you are with that agent for that time period and you can’t accept offers from other agents or sell your property yourself.

At Apartment Specialists we don’t lock you in as we believe that if we are doing our job properly you won’t want to leave us.

TRANSCRIPTION:

Good day. My name is Andrew Murray. Today I'm talking to you about, what is the minimum real estate agreement period, i.e. timeframe? As a vendor, when you're going to list your apartment, how long are you locked into an agreement?

Traditionally, in New Zealand, there's always 90 days which is basically three months. That means, when you choose an agent, you're with that agent for 90 days. And you can't get out of it. Even if you sell it yourself, even if another agent approaches you with a better offer, and that agent doesn't want to do a conjunctional, you still can't do the deal. So you're locked in for 90 days. That's why it's very, very important to choose the right agent, and get the right legal advice.

Now, at Apartment Specialists we are very different. You're not locked in. So you haven't sold any to an agreement. We need all other agents to bring offers to our vendors. But what makes us very different is, if you're not happy with our service, if you don't think we are delivering or doing the very best for you, you can give us five days notice and fire us. It seems quite radical. A lot of real estate agents said, why would you do this? That means that the owner's just going to basically sell to the next door neighbour, or undercut you? And the thing is, what a lot of people don't realise is, the public is more worried about the real estate agent.

Basically, to answer your question again, a real estate agent agreement is 90 days and you are locked in for 90 days. Yet with us, obviously it's different. But that is the general period amongst New Zealand and standard with all agencies and all department agencies except for us. We don't follow that rule.

I hope that helps you out and and I hope you get a very good price when you look at the agreement to make sure you are not getting locked into anything you are not aware of.

Any way hope that helps. Cheers!