This is a question for anyone who has consulting clients under an Exclusive Right to Sell Listing Agreement, or who may have an opinion.

One of my consulting Sellers is a bit of a pain and a "know it all." We have an Exclusive Right to Sell Agreement with a Consulting Agreement as an addendum. Among the services provided was MLS entry (obviously).

We have a contract with a First Right of Refusal. The contract was brought to us by a ReMax agent. No problem because the property can still be marketed and can be superceded by another offer with a 48 hour kick-out.

The issue is my guy wants to be removed from MLS because he thinks he has a much better chance of attracting non-represented buyers if he has a FSBO sign out front. He's hoping he'll get another contract where he doesn't have to pay a co-broke fee.

Of course, I have advised that taking it out of MLS limits his exposure and there is no guarantee that a non-represented buyer will offer an acceptable contract and that he could be missing other agent represented buyers with a good contract that would allow him to close sooner rather than later. (sorry for the run on sentence :))

He has already paid me a retainer and another installment of the consulting fees so I'll get paid regardless of how he wants to go with this. My thought is to release him from the listing agreement and revise the original consulting agreement to reflect the services that have already been provided and what services shall continue to be provided reemphasizing the balances due and when due.

Have any of you had this experience? If so, what was your response or approach?

Deb Orth
Deb@RichmondHomes4You.com
Richmond, VA

I woke yesterday and had an explosion of thought for that early ;-O. Our Hard Working Founders and Mentors in this arena of change are constantly working to promote the cause and advance the professionalism in our industry. I was thinking, how can we help them help us? The industry will respond as a mass of people continue to move this Business Model forward.

While updating my Agent Profile Page at RE/MAX.net, I came upon the idea I have copied for your review below. Please take a few moments to read it and then consider your part in promoting the cause! Go for it! It's A Good Life!!!

Bill Holt - On The Outer Banks in North Carolina - Never to busy for your referrals!!

Good morning.

If any of you have investor clients, they can be a great source of consulting business. I have my usual clients and on occasion I get a referral from one of my lenders.

This is the case with my new investor client. He is a brand new investor who "went it alone" and bought a foreclosure at auction. Now he needs to know what he can get for the place after he has repaired or renovated it.

I have drawn up an agreement to provide consulting services where I will visit the property with him and his contractor, analyze its resale potential, provide a Competitive Market Analysis, provide ongoing consulting services during the scope of the renovation, interact with the client and client's contractor during the project either in person, by phone or email, and meet with client and contractor upon project completion to ensure all work has been performed in accordance with client's agreement with the contractor.

I have estimated that this will take anywhere from 25 - 30 hours of my time from start to finish. He will pay me a retainer fee of one half of the fee at the signing of the consulting agreement and the balance 30 days later.

When he puts it on the market, he has the option of listing with me at my normal commission or entering into another consulting agreement with me based on his needs, ability, and interest. If he chooses to enter into a traditional listing agreement, I will credit him the advanced fees he has already paid me and this credit will appear on the HUD.

Deb Orth
Deb@RichmondHomes4You.com
Richmond, VA

Well, after hitting lots of "brick walls" with my current broker and a long conversation with Paula a while back, I decided to change companies!

I talked to the "new" broker briefly a week ago and followed up by sending him links to Mollie's consulting presentation and to my consulting page. I also sent him a summary of what each level of service is - taken from the training manual.

We met yesterday to discuss not only consulting, but also some promotions I have wanted to do but hit dead ends. He agrees with the consulting model! He likes the transparency and offering choices.Yahoo!

In the end, I point blank asked him if there was anything we had discussed that he would not or could not support. He assured me he will support whatever I want to do! Sooo... I'm going "back" at the end of the month!

(I say "back" because I started there when we moved to Kokomo. I left because he was letting personal issues run him and his business - that has been resolved and I have watched him reengage and the business is once again on the right track.)

Once I made the decision, it felt like a dark had been lifted! I am really excited! Now to just get these closing out of the way and get on to consulting!

Thank you everyone for all your great support!

Betty Byrnes
www.athomeinkokomo.comhttp://www.athomeinkokomo.com

Following up on previous posts, I want to reemphasize that getting a Buyer's Agency Agreement in addition to whatever Consulting Services Agreement you come up with, is IMPERATIVE.

I won't go into all the gory details but suffice it to say, against my better judgment and in a moment of temporary insanity, I didn't follow this practice with the buyer I referenced in a previous post. We came toward the end of our initial period covered by the retainer fee when she announced she has been independently going after FSBO sellers and from now on, all she wants me to do is work MLS Sellers on her behalf while she hits the FSBOs and with NO consulting fee to me.

After I pulled all my hair out and put it back in, I had a dialogue with her about it, told her I would not compete with HER to find a property for HER anymore than I would work for her when she might also use other agents. The end result was I fired her. Another lesson learned....

Deb Orth
RichmondHomes4You.com
Richmond, VA

Ok, here is my first official post.

I have my fees mostly in ink. Now, for the payment. If it's a service, for example a CMA, I get it. Invoice, payment.If it's for a longer term agreement, do you have the seller pay 1/3, 1/3 and 1/3?

If not, then do you have the seller pay a retainer and get the rest at closing from proceeds? What happens if it doesn't close? What happens if, for another example, it's a FSBO and part of your "job" is to troubleshoot an offer. It doesn't go together, and then the seller takes the house off the market?

Actually, now that I'm writing this, I'm getting more questions around this in my head. But, one at a time.

I will appreciate hearing how others have made this determination and what kind of outcomes you have had as a result.

Thank you.
Carole Helwig

My business is 99% referral. I got a phone call yesterday from a terrific client, that I have sold three houses to and who has referred at least one client to me in the past couple years. They asked me to do a broker's opinion on their house as the county recently purchased a portion of their land and now their lender is coming back asking what that purchase has done to the value of their property.

To do a broker opinion, will take me anywhere from 1/2 hour to an hour of my time. At what point do you start your consulting business--charinging clients--with past clients that have been loyal and who are used to you giving away your time and knowledge? Or do you offer past, loyal clients, so many hours of your time and experience at no cost, over the course of a year or two before you start charging them? Or do you never charge them? Or do you set up an account and for every referral they give you, do you give them so many hours of free consulting? Now I'm rambling . Your thoughts would be most appreciated.

One of our ACRE enrollees, Bonnie Cox, signed up months ago for ACRE but due to trying to finish ECO Broker and other things, has not yet taken her exam. She posted the following on another list-serv and I promised, in the way of giving her additional incentive to finally finish her exam and join us, that I would post this to the Exchange, and she wouldn't be able to see it until she passed her exam and joined us.

Actually, her post is good food for thought for all of us, especially after yesterday's call. Please note my response at the end and then hers.

I am looking forward to being part of this community and organization.

I am proud to say I had my first "paying" consulting job last night. Based on the exercise to determine what to charge, I admit to undercharging. I was contacted by a former client and great advocate to help them make some decisions. They are teachers, and only one worked this year so she could stay home with their new baby. They don't have much money and were happy to pay me for the cost of a CMA, and 2 hours of consulting services to determine whether their next step will be what to improve to get ready to move in a few years. And of course, using me to market their home! :)

I handed them an invoice, and they handed me a check. Nice!

So, thank you for having me ready for it.

Thanks,
Carole