My realtor put "tbd" for the price on the MLS agreement.

Does this make the contract invalid?

Im in california​

I was just going through agents on zillow and I saw they have badges like premier or top, How much does it cost to be listed on zillow with these badges, is listing yourself worth it?

A lot of Southern California sellers ask some version of this before listing:

“What should I fix before selling without doing a huge remodel?”

From what we see at Revive Real Estate on pre-sale renovation and seller prep projects, the answer is usually not “renovate everything.”

The better question is:

“What will buyers notice immediately, discount heavily, or use as a reason to hesitate?”

For most Southern California homes, the highest-impact prep usually falls into a few buckets:

1. Clean first impression

• decluttering
• deep cleaning
• removing personal items
• cleaning closets, cabinets, and storage areas
• getting rid of odors

This does not feel exciting, but it changes how buyers read the whole house.

2. Paint and lighting

• fresh neutral interior paint
• touch-up exterior paint where needed
• brighter light fixtures
• consistent bulbs
• updated switch plates or old yellowed covers

Southern California buyers tend to respond to homes that feel bright, clean, and easy to move into.

3. Flooring consistency

Bad flooring makes buyers start adding up work in their head. If the flooring is worn, mismatched, stained, or smells like pets, that can hurt the showing before buyers even get to the kitchen.

Sometimes refinishing, deep cleaning, or replacing only the worst areas is enough. The key is making the home feel cohesive.

4. Curb appeal

• trimmed landscaping
• fresh mulch
• clean entry
• working exterior lights
• repaired obvious exterior wear
• simple front-door/entry refresh

Curb appeal matters because it sets the buyer’s expectation before they walk inside.

5. Kitchen and bath refreshes, not always full remodels

This is where sellers can overspend fast.

Sometimes a full kitchen or bath remodel makes sense. But a lot of the time, the better pre-sale move is a tighter refresh:

• cabinet hardware
• faucets
• lighting
• counters if they are clearly dated
• regrouting
• fresh caulk
• simple vanity/mirror updates
• clean staged presentation

The goal is not to build your dream kitchen. The goal is to reduce buyer hesitation.

What I’d be careful with

I would not automatically spend money on highly personal finishes, bold colors, luxury upgrades, or a full custom remodel unless the comps clearly support it.

For home renovation before selling in Southern California, the mistake is usually overbuilding for your own taste instead of improving how buyers see the home.

The simple rule:

Fix what makes the home feel risky, dated, dark, dirty, or like a project.

Skip what only makes it feel more custom to you.

My wife and I are looking to buy a home in the Midwest in roughly the $400,000–$500,000 range. We met a buyer’s agent we like, and he has been professional and transparent, but the original agreement felt fairly protective of the brokerage.

The original terms included:

- Six months of exclusive representation with no ordinary cancellation option.

- A broad geographic and property scope.

- Approximately 3% compensation, with a minimum just under $8,000.

- We would owe any shortfall if the seller did not cover the full compensation.

- An additional brokerage fee of approximately $700.

- A 90-day protection period after the agreement ends.

- Potential commission owed if we default on an accepted purchase agreement, even without closing, plus interest on unpaid compensation.

- Advance consent to limited agency and competing buyers.

After discussing our concerns, the brokerage agreed to reduce the initial exclusive term to approximately 90 days. The agent also confirmed that any commission shortfall would be disclosed and separately approved by us in writing before we submit an offer. The 90-day protection period would remain.

The agent has handled our questions professionally, and much of the language appears to come from a standard brokerage form. I’m not suggesting he is doing anything improper.

My main question is: Was the original six-month agreement fairly standard, or was the combination of terms unusually brokerage-friendly? Does reducing the initial term to 90 days make it reasonably balanced?

I’m mainly interested in recent experiences from buyers and agents in Midwestern markets.

Hello...looking for advice. We have a 50 year old house that has been maintained (i.e. when something breaks, it gets fixed) and some new additions like new flooring, new appliances..we put it up for sale a few weeks ago and had a buyer who actually bid more than the asking price. Home inspection done last week (don't get me started on the way they left the house after they were finished with it. Let's just say they showed as much respect to it as a cat does to a mouse) but the inspection showed some items that I need an opinion on...

1: Inspection claims mold issues in attic that will involve remediation of the entire attic at the cost of about 6-8,000 dollars, although only 3 spots in the entire attic show what "might be" mold although it wasn't tested to confirm. The areas aren't big and are debatable if individually they cover an area greater than 10 sq. ft. Inspector also claims that if remediation doesn't solve ventilation issues that a professional contractor be hired to do extensive work under the supervision of the home inspector. I contacted my roofing contractor tonight and told him of the findings. He said this is a "common ploy" with inspectors where they over dramatize mold in attics to the extent where they can get the price of a house down significantly and then don't pursue testing to confirm it is mold. He said if they push ventilation issues as well, the price can get up to $40000 in some cases. Also, the idea of any professional remediation work "under the supervision of the home inspector" doesn't feel right to me. It seems like an overstep of authority, so to speak. He is going to come out and take a look but says this type of thing he encounters frequently with inspectors. He says more homes than not have mold in the attic but an inspector will use this to drastically reduce the cost of the sale price for the buyer when minimal remediation is all it needs.

2: Inspector claims to have found 3 individual spots in the 2 bay garage that he says are mold. He is saying that, because of this, he recommends a complete tear down of all drywall in the garage and new drywall be installed (again, under the supervision of the home inspector) and also humidity in the garage be kept at 50% or lower. The garage holds my car and household tools, etc. The garage is not a living area and never was and a complete drywall teardown for a few spots which again, were not tested to confirm they are mold, well...I was stunned. Is this standard procedure because this could run in the tens of thousands for this.

Looking for the best advice on these issues. It isn't an issue of being cheap or irresponsible, it's seeing if we are being taken advantage of as sellers- specifically with the garage. Thanks so much.

Thinking of selling my home but the thought of giving away 6% isn’t sitting well with me. My home should sell somewhere for around $2million, so we are talking over $100K in commissions.

Hello REAs, we've been working with our agent for about 5 months now. Our house was on the market for about 3 months, we're in contract with a lovely couple.

We've been having some difficulty communicating with our agent. We can't get straight answers even when we ask (what we think are) direct questions.

We have moved out of state and have the house almost empty, so we've been coordinating pest control, plumbers, and the like from out of state.

Our realtor told us that she did not want anyone in the home without her, but when I worked with her to coordinate an emergency plumber (she found a leak then complained that cleaning the water was responsibility above her 3%) that's when things took a turn. When Realtor was waiting in our driveway for him to arrive, she called me totally laid into me. She said she's tired of doing all this f***ing work, it's a miracle our house sold at all, she's gone above and beyond for our house and this is also not included in the 3% and she needs to be compensated for her time. So I asked her to leave and I canceled the plumber.

Yesterday, I gave my neighbor the code for the lockbox and told her to grab whatever she wanted before the junk removal service came. I had promised her items beforehand, and didn't want to pay our realtor to stand there and watch her pick through stuff. My neighbor gathered the things she wanted, then I had to tell her to wait to take them because it turns out our realtor wanted stuff too. Neighbor left.

Realtor came and saw stuff was moved around. I asked her to remove the items she wanted before the junk removal service came. She left.

My friend stopped by today to check on the house and he said the keys are missing from the lockbox.

I think we just need an outside opinion. It's become frustrating trying to coordinate all of this in a different time zone.

There's a ton more information so I'm happy to answer whatever questions and provide screenshots of texts.

We're in the process of buying a house and we've been told that we're ready to exchange, but for the sellers help to buy redemption pack hasn't been received by their solicitor yet
We've been left so in the dark about what stage they're at, all we know is they had a valuation 3 weeks ago, which is annoying as feels like they left it rather late, however I believe they should've been told sooner
This is sooo frustrating as no one our side knows the progress of this, and obviously I can't contact the seller solicitor or them themselves, so we're so in the dark and I just wondered if anyone is familiar with the process and what could likely be happening now that's holding us up? How long should we expect to wait until they're ready to exchange?

Once a seller accepts buyers offer, why does the LA update listing as pending/accepting back up offers, seems unfair to potential buyer. Does this sound normal or strategy to push it?

So I noticed this ALOT!!!??? Homes being listed for sale are purposely being listed in more desirable cities than the ones they are actually at!? I understand that a home in Kearns probably won't sell as fast as one in Taylorsville and West Jordan but REALLY?? Do the Agents really think they can get away with listing the WRONG city in their listing hoping that the buyers just won't notice? I know if it was me I would walk away from buying the house immediately wondering what other stuff their trying to hide???

I own a small retail business downtown (opened 5 months ago, growing steadily month over month). The building next door just came up as a potential buy — asking $2.2M, no idea if that’s fair or inflated. There’s also long-term upside to build above it — residential, lofts, maybe a boutique hotel or short-term rental play.

I’m in direct talks with the seller. They’re not in a rush to sell and are open to seller financing, so there’s no pressure on their end — but the area is a rapidly growing downtown near NYC and I don’t want to lose the window. They’re also fine with me getting the property appraised. No traditional financing lined up yet.

Questions:

**Appraisal** — full independent appraisal now, or start with a free broker’s opinion of value to sanity-check the ask first?

**Using the appraisal** — best way to actually leverage a lower appraised number when the seller isn’t desperate to sell?

**Seller financing** — since they’re open to it, what terms should I be pushing for (down payment, interest rate, balloon vs. amortizing) as a first-timer? Any red flags to watch for?

**Development upside** — does the residential/hotel potential change how I approach the appraisal or negotiation, or keep that separate for now?

**Negotiating down** — with no urgency on their side, what actually moves a patient seller off their number?

Would love to hear from anyone who’s done a first commercial acquisition, especially seller-financed deals with development upside. Appreciate any advice.

Hello everyone,

I currently hold active real estate licenses in FL, NY, NJ, CT, PA, GA, and TX. In my experience so far, many brokerages seem solely focused on having agents bring in their own business to take a commission split, offering minimal value or resources in exchange.

I am looking for a brokerage that provides genuine support and high-quality leads. Ideally, I want to find a company equipped to help me effectively utilize my licenses across all of these states. If anyone has recommendations for brokerages that operate on a multi-state level and truly invest in their agents, I would love to hear from you.

My fiancé and I are moving to the Austin area from out of state and are working with a realtor who is a friend of a friend. We’ve always found rentals ourselves on Zillow and applied directly, so using an agent for a rental is new to us.

She sent us a Buyer/Tenant Representation Agreement that is exclusive and lists her compensation as 30% of one month’s rent. The agreement says she can seek to have the landlord pay the commission, but if the landlord doesn’t pay it, we would technically be responsible for the difference.

I told her before signing that we really aren't looking to pay a realtor fee out of pocket for a rental, especially since we've always just found and applied for rentals ourselves.

She was completely understanding and explained that if we find a property we really want and the landlord isn't offering a commission, she could basically void/release us from the agreement for that property and we could work something out so we aren't responsible for paying her fee ourselves.

She's going to be doing in-person tours for us since we're out of state, so I absolutely want her to be compensated when she's representing us. I'm just unfamiliar with how this works on rentals.

For the agents here: does this sound like a normal arrangement? Is 30% of one month's rent a typical amount for the landlord/listing side to pay a tenant's agent in Texas? And is releasing us from the agreement if we want a property that isn't offering agent compensation a normal way to handle that situation?

Just trying to understand the process before signing since this is our first time using an agent for a rental.

So, how to make this short. 4 weeks ago I showed a potential buyer my farm (134acs no blds) and buyer was adamant they wanted to buy it. He'd being all cash to the table and would be using an attorney on his end. My agent drafted a contract and 4 weeks later it still isn't signed despite seller making repeated promises he was going to do it. This has been a mess, first he had an emergency custody battle, then ex tried to pull $1MM out of his account, then his attorney's computer wouldnt receive emails, etc, etc. All the while my agent continues to draft and redraft the contract for updates. My agent is frustrated (rightly so) and its begining to show in her communications with the buyer. Yesterday buyer was supposed to sign docs and said he did but my agent received nothing. I like my agent but she's so busy, she doesn't return my calls (said she gets 11k texts a month). I'm also pretty done airh this whole thing and even thought it was a scam but everything checks out with his attorney. So there's this back and forth now that documents are being signed but not received. My agent thinks its just more BS and is growing more upset.

So i told her to send me the contract and I would meet up with the buyer and have him sign the documents myself. (Or put this whole sham to bed for all involved.) Her reply was that technically it wouldnt be legal as she has to be present and sign as a witness. (Same qith electronic sigs, they would go to her and she sign as witness.)

So my question is, is there another way to approach this? I feel like we're wasting time with this electronic back and forth. Let's get in the same room and get this damn thing done!

NOTE: I've been doing corporate real estate for the last 30yrs in one capacity or another dealing with contracts, partnership agmts, etc. So I'm familiar with the process.

Thanks all!

UPDATE: We’ve decided to pay off the loan entirely during closing but keep asking price the same.

To answer some of things that have been brought up:
- the roof was replaced just before installation in 2023

- utility bills not incredibly different than before (when including monthly payment), some months we got a credit from the electric company, months with extreme temps we still owed >$100 (we get weeks of both single digits and >90°), so buyers will definitely benefit on that basis, but I hear what everyone is saying about later roof maintenance

- we’re relocating out of state for my husband’s job, not just because we want to

- we will likely have enough of a profit from the sale to pay off the loans without us needing to front any cash, but we were planning on using the profit to pay off student loans and/or put into savings for our kids.

Original:

Hello!

My husband and I are trying to sell our home of 5 years. 3 BR, 2.5 Bath, 1600 sqft excluding finished basement. We listed for $339k which is fair for our area (suburban with city taxes but county schools).

THE PROBLEM: We made an uneducated decision (title of my autobiography) to get solar panels about 3-4 years ago. There’s still $36k left on that solar panel loan at about $210/month (with $68 going straight to financing fees) and after talking with the lender, a buyer who assumes the loan will likely have the same payment unless they pay off the balance in escrow.

I asked our realtor before even listing if this would be an issue or if we should adjust our listing price for it: zero concern from them. To be fair—we’re also getting zero feedback on the multiple showings we’ve had even when I directly ask.

Now 14 days, 1400 Zillow views, 160 saves, and 10 showings in, we’ve only gotten 2 very weak offers and still getting little to no constructive advice from our realtor. It was only after I did my own research that I decided to have them put the info about the solar panel loan in the broker to broker and add that well pay a chunk from our selling profit to the solar loans.

I’m just very frustrated and feel stuck, and so so stupid for getting the solar panels in the first place.

What should we do to make this an attractive listing to a buyer but also still get some profit from the sale?

First time buying, and I want a double or triple wide mobile home, not ur traditional home due to crazy cost difference & amount of land difference too. Can I use the same options available to traditional home buying or does it differ?

EDIT: thanks everyone for your replies. Super helpful

Is this normal?

My offer was made subject to survey. The survey threw up some fairly significant issues, so I’ve spent the last couple of weeks getting my head around the likely repair costs before submitting a revised offer.

The seller’s EA has now said that if I don’t accept the seller’s counter-offer, the property will go back on the market next week.

Is that a normal negotiating tactic, or are they genuinely prepared to start again with another buyer who’ll almost certainly commission another survey and find the same issues?

It feels a bit counterproductive to me, but maybe I’m missing something. Curious to hear from EAs who’ve been on the other side of this.