Two readers wonder if they can be released from their listing contracts.

Writes Lisa:

"My husband and I recently decided to sell our home of six years. We live in Contra Costa County in California and are now faced with a big problem.

We believed that we had a good experience with the Realtor we worked with to buy the house and decided to enlist her help to sell our home. We soon found out that just knowing her did not mean we would be given a discount on Realtor fees.

This was a disappointment, and we still decided to go ahead and allow her to represent us in the sale of our home. The price tag to help is pretty hefty at $20,000. But, we complied with her request to work with the loan agent she is most accustomed and comfortable working with.

Unfortunately we soon found out that the most attention we would receive from this loan agent would be through her voicemail. Basically phone tag.

So we decided to go with someone else. My real estate agent was not all that thrilled with our choice to work with someone else but I find out today that she was actually "grilling" my loan agent on how much he knew about his job.

She was also making suggestions for loans that no longer exist and I was told by the loan officer that she wanted to go a "certain way" while my loan officer asked if she had even discussed this "way" with us! So here's my dilemma.

My husband and I signed a contract stating that we would allow her to represent us in the sale of our home. She pulled a fast one and put the expiration of the contract for 6 months from now. Everyone I talk to about this tells me that the longest they have ever seen was a two month contract.

So now we feel that since it has become so complicated that we do not want to go through with the sale. We want to cancel everything and look into this later on when it will be less time consuming and hopefully much smoother.

But, now we are left with how to get out of this contract. We have read it over and its gives no information on how to cancel if you choose not to sell your home. My question is: Can I cancel even if I have signed a contract? It is my house so I should be able to say I don't want to sell anymore. Is that possible? Please help me with this. My husband and I are under an enormous amount of stress over this.

I appreciate any information you can provide.

Realty Times responds:

Being able to cancel a contract depends on the terms. A contract requires all parties to perform.

Presumably, you hired your agent to assume the up-front costs of marketing your home, among other services, and it's likely the agent has already spent monies and other efforts on your behalf. Perhaps a few buyers have already toured your property.

The reason some agents don't release sellers from their contracts is that many times sellers have other motives that aren't disclosed to the agent. For example, you might be approached directly by a buyer who convinces you that if you will end your contract with your agent, you both can "save the commission" and strike a deal. Or you might be approached by another agent who suggests to you that your listing agent isn't doing a good job.

As you can imagine, this is unfair to the agent who exposed the property for you. How else did the buyer or the other agent know it was for sale?

Clearly there is a gap in what you expected to happen and what is occurring, and misunderstandings could easily be cleared up with some discussion. It's time to re-establish expectations. Meet with your agent and air your concerns. Maybe the agent has something to say that you need to hear, like the market is changing or that she or he is getting more negative feedback on your home than anticipated. You may both learn something new that enables you to work together more effectively.

Some agents will be willing to release you unconditionally, but your chances of obtaining a release from a reluctant agent are much better if you can convince the agent that you will not sell the property out from under him or her. One way to do this is to exclude all the buyers who have viewed your property already. While you can hire another agent, this assures that your original listing agent will get paid should one of those buyers make an offer.

The other option is to inform your agent that you don't intend to sell, ask your agent to do no more marketing and simply let the listing agreement expire.

If you feel you have been treated unfairly by your agent, or that the agent has done something unethical, inform your agent of your displeasure and ask for a resolution such as modifying the length of your contract. You can also go to the agent's broker for a discussion.

Your agreement is actually with the broker whom the agent represents, so it is the broker who will make the decision to release you or not.