A listing contract is an agreement between you and a licensed real estate broker that authorizes the broker to represent you in the process of selling your home. The most commonly used listing contract in real estate is called Exclusive Right to Sell. There are other kinds of real estate contracts. Some of them are explained below:

Open Listing

Considered the one most generally used, this type of contract is for people who want to sell their home and also work with real estate agents. This type of contract provide agents the right to do showings of your home, and receive certain amount of commission if their client chose to buy your house. Open listing type is a non bonding type of contract where the real estate agent does not have exclusive right to sell the property. The bad thing is that you can expect less marketing or advertising done.

One-Time Show

This type of listing contract is pretty much the same to open listing. For sale by owner usually use this type of contract where they have a real estate agent handle the property showings. The listing contract identifies the potential buyer and guarantees the agent a commission if that buyer buys the home. Just like open listings, this type of contract does not involve any marketing efforts by the real estate agent.

Exclusive Agency Listing

This is a type of contract where a real estate brokerage has the exclusive agency to sell your property and earn a commission only if the property is sold by that brokerage. If the property gets sold without the help of the broker than they don’t receive any commission. The reason why this type of listing contract is widely used is the temptation of not having to pay your broker.

Exclusive Right to Sell Listing

This type of real estate listing contract gives the broker many rights to promote, advertise, hold open house, pay commission to buyer agents and much more. This contract also gives the right to collect commission even if the property is sold by the owner of the property or anybody else within the agreement term.

Before you choose your contract type, always make sure you know every type of listing contracts available to you. There are important things in home selling process including contribution of time and effort, which can determine the type of contract you would like to make. Discuss the possibilities and disadvantages of each type.