I had my house on the market due to planning for having to sell to move for a job. Things changed, and I will be able to stay in state after all, as I secured another job. I expressed to my real estate agent that I would like her to remove it from the market, as I do not have plans to move now. She had already set up a showing for the following Monday (it was Saturday when this conversation happened). I mentioned she needed to cancel that showing since the listing is coming off market and I won’t be selling after all. She refused the request, and told me it’s illegal to cancel a house showing, that I must comply with every showing request. This sounds like utter BS to me. I’ve never heard of such a thing, the seller having no rights to deny a showing? Especially when it’s coming off market and there’s no potential outlook of an offer being accepted.
I told her it would be a waste of everyone’s time. But she’s standing firm on the showing taking place. I looked through our listing agreement just to be sure, mentions nothing of some weird clause that strips my rights to refuse a showing.
To make things worse, these particular people coming on Monday are giving me bad vibes. They’ve tried to “sneak a peak” at my occupied property at least 3 times already, that I’ve caught. They pull in and try to walk around, and drive off soon as I try to walk up to their truck. Caught them tonight and only got them to stop by blocking the drive to ask why they were trespassing. They said they just wanted to look at it and had a showing Monday. I expressed concern additionally to my agent that I don’t want these people in my house at this point, plus it’s coming off market… didn’t matter to her.
Anyone have any idea what she’s referring to? Can I do anything to actually cancel this showing…?
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It’s a violation of the REALTOR® Code of Ethics to be dishonest. Saying that it’s “illegal” to cancel a showing is 100% a violation of the Code of Ethics.
You can cancel a showing for any reason, any time. Nobody can force you to let people onto your property, even if you do have your property listed for sale.
I recommend calling her broker. Ask that the listing be cancelled and state that you plan to file an ethics complaint for breach of Article 1.
Otherwise, ask for the name of the agent who will be showing it and call them to inform them that it will not be safe for them to visit against your will, and that you instructed (your agent) to cancel but they are refusing to do so. Thus, you plan to protect your property against trespassers. Have pepper spray ready.
Then send an email to the BROKER to cancel your listing, or, in the alternative, to place it in a withdrawn or “temporarily off market” status until the listing expires.
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It sounded off to me, but wanted to make sure. I do plan to call her broker in the morning. Brokers are hard to reach sometimes I feel like due to being busy, but I will email her broker as well. Plan to just keep the doors locked, and not let anyone in for the showing if I can’t get communication across to cancel it. (Can put a sign on the front door saying the showing was canceled but agent refused to relay the message or something too) I’m not sure she would give me the agent info on who’s showing it, but I can certainly try. I have it in her text messages saying it’s illegal, so can’t exactly undo the fact that she lied at this point. I just don’t know why she even said it. She won’t get a commission trying to get one last showing in… when I don’t intend to sell at this point anyway. Seems stupid all around with how she’s acting
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Yes, it’s foolish on her part. If she refuses to tell you who is showing it, you can also potentially build your case for more ethics violations.
When emailing, I think it might help to write something along the lines of “I no longer consent to any agents or potential buyers entering the property and will file trespass charges if they do.” You may need to have clearly visible signs saying “NO TRESPASSING” to do this, though.
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Nope nope and nope. You can’t be forced to do anything. And if she tries it, tell anyone that shows up that she’s unethical and trying to force you to do something against your will.
I would also contact her broker and tell them it will be a cold day in hell before you have anything else to do with her.
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The thing that doesn’t make sense to me is why would she put any energy into this? It screams red flags.
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Whatever the reason, OP’s realtors stood to gain from it. Maybe the realtor was going to do the showing, and the buyer was unrepresented, so the realtor saw it as an opportunity to snag a new client. Really high integrity stuff here. Leeches.
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Holy moly that’s some bad realtoring. Hope you can get a conversation in with her broker today. I’d like to find out what happens with that.
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I’d have the police ready and have them and the realtor trespassed off the property. Your realtor is prolly their buyer agent, too, which is a huge conflict of interest since she’s supposed to be looking out for you with your contract, not anyone else.
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Since you are breaking your contract did you negotiate a fee to the agent? They are out time and expenses (photos, etc.).
I am wondering if they are hoping for an offer. If they bring a legit offer the agent has essentially earned a commission. They could then force some sort of payout or even sue in court.
You typical owe for expenses at the least for the work completed in good faith.
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