Guide to Signing Paperwork

Exclusive Right-to-Sell Agreement

The Exclusive Right-to-Sell Agreement, or listing agreement, is the agreement between you and Melanie Everett & Company for the exclusive right to sell your property. This is where compensation is set, and also where you will answer some questions about how you want your property shown and marketed, and some other details about your home. 

Here’s a line-by-line breakdown of the Exclusive Right-to-Sell Agreement:

1. Parties: This agreement is between you & Melanie Everett & Company. Melanie Everett & Company is the sponsoring broker. Melanie is a licensed managing broker, meaning that she manages the M&Co. office & all our agents, & has additional training under her belt. The agent who will be representing you in day-to-day matters is specified in Section 6.

2. Term: This agreement requires a termination date to be valid, so we always set it for 12 months. 

3. Price: This is the price that we will market your home at. Don’t worry – it can be changed at any time by communicating to your agent in writing. There’s no need to sign a new agreement .

4. Property: This defines the property that your agent is responsible for listing, as well as the parking space & storage space, if applicable. 

5. Possession: You are responsible for turning over your home in broom-clean condition; this term generally means no trash or debris left behind. 

6. Buyer’s Designated Agent: This specifies the M&Co. agent you will work directly with. Occasionally, another agent may need to fill in for your agent (for example, if your agent has a conflict for a showing). We will always give you notice of this!

7. Minimum Services: This section outlines the legal duties of your agent on behalf of the sponsoring broker:

1. Present you with offers & counteroffers on your property

2. Help you write & negotiate offers & counteroffers on your property

3. Answer questions related to offers, counteroffers, & deadlines

8. Seller’s Duties: This section outlines what you are responsible for! 

1. Cooperate with your agent in selling your home

2. Refer all inquiries to your home to your agent

3. Allow access to the property when needed (we’ll always try to give you enough notice so that this is convenient!) 

4. If your property is leased, communicate with your tenant according to 8(e) below!

5. Conduct all negotiations through your agent

6. Compensate our brokerage (more on this in paragraphs 11 & 12)
   
   Additional duties: 

1. Title: Provide an owner’s title insurance policy (your attorney can provide more information on this)

1. Survey: If your home is not a condo, provide a survey

2. Lock Box: Indicate if you will allow your agent to place a lockbox on your property for access. Anyone entering the property will always be accompanied by a licensed agent! 

3. Seller’s Personal Property: Secure or remove any valuables on the property. We recommend having personal property insurance! 

4. Leased Property: If your property is currently leased, you agree to notify your tenant that the property is for sale, provide enough notice to your tenant to coordinate any showings, inform your agent if your tenant has not agreed to provide access to the property, & notify your tenant about the importance of securing or removing any valuables on the property. 

1. Fair Housing & Nondiscrimination: This section outlines the local & national fair housing laws that you & your agent agent will follow. You can read more in the Illinois Human Rights Act & the Federal Fair Housing Act.

2. Buyer Love Letters: Indicate if you will allow your agent to share “Offer Letters” with you – these are letters from potential buyers that go beyond what the contract templates allow for: a little bit about themselves, what they love about your home, etc. We often advise our buyers to send these letters in order to stand out in a multiple offer situation. That said, you may decide not to receive these letters for reasons outlined in the listing agreement. 

3. Brokerage Compensation (Seller Side): This section outlines how your agent is paid.

4. Procuring Compensation (Buyer Side): This section outlines how the buyer’s agent is paid, if you are offering compensation: 

1. Procuring Commission: This option is if you want to offer compensation to the buyer’s agent upfront. We recommend instead expressing a willingness to pay buyer agent compensation but not offering an upfront amount.

2. Unrepresented Buyer Procuring Commission: If you select a contract brought by an unrepresented buyer, this is an additional commission owed to your agent. Note that this is less than the procuring commission percentage; if you are comfortable with your agent representing both you and the buyer, this will actually save you money! You can find more on dual agency in section 14. Please be aware that if your agent, or another agent at M&Co., has an active buyer (with a signed buyer-broker agreement at 2.5%) who is interested in your home, this would not apply.

3. Seller Authorized Closing Credit: You can choose to offer a closing cost credit, which the buyer could use to compensate their real estate broker, or could use for other purposes. 

4. Other: This is where you can express that you are open to offers of buyer agent compensation but are not offering anything upfront.

5. None: You can also choose not to offer the buyer’s brokerage compensation. We recommend offering compensation to the buyer’s agent to increase exposure to your home. 

5. Disbursement of Earnest Money: As part of your transaction, an escrowee will hold earnest money. M&Co. does not hold earnest money as brokerage policy. If a contract is canceled, both parties will need to sign a joint document directing the escrowee on how to disburse the funds.

6. Dual Agency: This section outlines dual agency. Dual agency is a situation where a single agent is representing both the buyer & seller of a particular property. Lines 235-240 outline what your agent is still responsible for, even when acting as a dual agent: treating all parties fairly, providing information about the property, sharing comparable properties to assist with price decisions, & more. Lines 241-250 outline what your agent cannot do when acting as a dual agent: disclose confidential information about either client, disclose the price that the client is willing to offer or accept, or recommend a price for the client to offer or accept. If you do not wish to enter into a dual agency relationship, you can decline by checking the box on line 253. If your agent’s client decides to offer on your property, we can appoint another agent from M&Co. to represent them. We can always revisit this decision if & when it comes up.

7. Additional Terms and Property Information: Here is where you’ll provide information about the property being listed. 

8. Indemnity: You will hold Melanie Everett & Company and your agent harmless against any claims or litigation based on incorrect information supplied by you, money handled outside of Melanie Everett & Company, and injuries while at a property. 

9. Promoting and Advertising Property Per the Illinois Real Estate License Act of 2000, as amended: This outlines the ways we may advertise your property; this includes displaying signs on your property, listing your property on the MLS, promoting your property on our website and social media platforms, and more. The MLS shares its data with third-party platforms like Redfin & Zillow – these platforms help reach buyers who may not be working with an agent. Some of these platforms have features to allow consumers to leave comments on your property or provide an automated market value estimate. We recommend that you allow us to disable these features! 

10. Fixtures and Personal Property: You’ll want to check the boxes for items included in the sale. If there is anything additional that you would like to include or exclude, include those in lines 359 & 361. Generally, anything that is permanently affixed to the property is considered included in the sale unless otherwise stated – this includes things like custom drapery and attached shelving. If you have any questions, ask your agent! 

11. Multiple Listing Service: Initial to allow us to enter your property into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS) at a later date (otherwise, the agreement states your property must be entered within 48 hours of signing the agreement). Option (C) states that we won’t list your home until all property preparation is completed. Your agent will work closely with you to determine your go-live date. 

12. Dispute Resolution: If there are any disputes relating to the Exclusive Buyer-Broker Agreement, the Chicago Association of Realtors will facilitate an arbitration.

13. Representation of Multiple Sellers: This informs you that your agent & our brokerage may be representing other properties for sale while we are representing yours. 

14. Termination of Agreement: This section outlines the ways this agreement can be terminated. 

15. Notice: Digital signatures (i.e. DocuSign) & email communications are acceptable for this transaction. 

16. Miscellaneous: This section contains some boilerplate legal language: 

1. The use of pronouns (plural, masculine/feminine/neutral) can be adjusted to reflect the seller(s) entering into the contract. 

2. This agreement also applies to any heirs or executors. 

3. Business days are Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. Business hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Private Listing Network Authorization

If we are planning to list your property on the Private Listing Network (PLN), you will sign this authorization.

Residential Real Property Disclosure

The Real Property Disclosure informs the buyer of any known defects about the property. You will answer a series of questions about your property, and provide more details if there are any known defects. 

Instructions:

1. Check the appropriate boxes on lines 1-24.

2. If you answer Question #1 with “No”, you will need to add a brief description in the text box (i.e. property was rented).

3. If you answer any other questions with “Yes”, you will need to add a brief explanation at the top of page 2. Please let your agent know if you have any questions about this!

Here’s what that form looks like: