Our MLS does not allow us to cancel a listing and relist it in under 30 days. If the listing expires, it can be relisted 24 hours with the same agent if a new listing contract is signed. If an extension is signed, the listing is merely extended.
If the seller wants to change the overall terms of the listing and perhaps even the commission, there are many times when a fresh, new listing is called for. Not only does appear new on the market, which cleary infuriates you, but it gives the listing agent a chance to actually, physically “re-enter” the data in our MLS and change whatever it was that the seller agreed to change.
If a property is listed 400 times it’s completely irrelevant to a buyer who wants the property. For those occasions when a scoundrel agent cancels and re-lists, it is up to our board of Realtors to police it and they do.
We are in a conundrum of a market with properties often not selling for 180 days or more. A listing can become very market fatigued and often it’s best to let it expire and relist it with the agent of your chosing as a seller.
If you continue to go with your existing agent, and may sellers do, a new contract is required to physically relist the whole thing.
An extension agreement, one page, is all that is required to keep the tired thing going.
With all due respect, a properly relisted home, even with the same agent, is not considered damaging to anyone.
