Open listing
National Real Estate Exam glossary · Contracts
Definition
A listing in which the seller may engage multiple brokers and reserves the right to sell the property personally, owing a commission only to the broker who actually procures the buyer—and none if the seller sells it alone. It is the least protective listing form for the broker.
Open listing in plain English
An open listing is the loosest kind of deal between a home seller and real-estate agents: the seller can hire several agents at once, and whoever actually finds the buyer gets paid — the others get nothing. On top of that, if the seller finds a buyer completely on their own, they owe no commission to anybody. It's basically a "finders, keepers" contest, which is great for the seller but risky for agents, since they might do lots of work and still walk away with zero. That's why it's called the least protective listing for the agent — there's no guarantee their effort pays off.
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