Why I Let You Cancel Your Listing With $0 in Fees

A typical listing agreement runs for a set term, often several months. If the agent turns out to be a disappointment partway through, you have two choices: wait it out or try to negotiate your way free. I've talked to too many sellers in Grant County who spent a summer stuck with a yard sign and no showings because of a contract. So when I set up my own listing terms at Fishnick Realty Advisors, I made a different call. My name is Jeremy Fishnick, and if you don't think I'm doing my absolute best, you can cancel. No fees.

Short answer: If at any point during your listing you're not satisfied that I'm doing my absolute best to sell your home, you can cancel the listing agreement and owe me nothing in fees. The one exception is if I'm the one who produced the buyer who ends up purchasing your home. The policy is approved by my brokerage, LPT Realty.

What the policy says

The terms are short on purpose:

• You can cancel the listing if you're not satisfied that I'm doing my absolute best.
• You owe $0 in fees. Not a cancellation fee, not a bill for the work already done.
• The exception: if I produced the buyer who ends up purchasing your home, the policy doesn't apply, because at that point I've done the job.

That exception is there to prevent the obvious loophole where a seller cancels the day before accepting an offer from a buyer I brought them. Outside of that, you're free to go.

Why I'm willing to do this

Because a long contract protects the wrong person

A locked-in listing agreement protects the agent from losing a listing. It does nothing to protect the seller from a bad agent. I'd rather be in a position where I have to earn the listing every week than one where I can coast because you can't leave. If my marketing, communication, and effort can't hold a client, that's my problem to fix, not yours to live with.

Because I front real money on every listing

I shoot my own listing photos and 3D walkthroughs. I mail postcards to the surrounding neighborhoods timed with launch. I run Facebook and Google marketing, pay for a Zillow showcase listing, and have a custom yard sign made that features the house's best feature. That's a meaningful investment before a single showing happens. Letting you cancel without reimbursing any of it means I'm betting that the work speaks for itself. So far that bet has held up.

Because it changes the conversation

When a seller knows they can leave, they ask harder questions and I give better answers. When a seller knows they can't, the relationship can drift into silence on both sides. I'd rather have the harder questions.

What "doing my absolute best" means in practice

This isn't a vague promise. Here's what you should see from me on a typical traditional listing, and what you'd be judging me against:

1. Pricing from comps. I price the way an appraiser would, using real comparable sales, and I'll show you the comps. Often the recommendation is to price strategically to draw multiple buyers and let competition push the number up, rather than listing high and chasing the market down.
2. A planned launch. List on Thursday. Showings Friday through Sunday. Offers reviewed Monday. Postcards, social, and online listings all hit the same week so the house gets its best look when it's new.
3. Professional media. My own photos, a 3D walkthrough, and digital staging when a room needs it (always disclosed).
4. Communication. You hear from me after every showing and every week regardless. You never have to chase me for an update.
5. Negotiation. When offers come in, I walk you through each one line by line on the WB-11, including contingencies, credits, and timing. If you need to stay in the home after closing, I'll negotiate a rent-back, something I do regularly for sellers who need time.

If any of that isn't happening, you have grounds to cancel, and I'd expect you to. I laid out the whole timeline in what working with me looks like, week by week.

What this policy is not

I want to be fair about the limits. The $0 cancellation policy covers my effort. It doesn't cover the market. If we price a house correctly, market it hard, and the right buyer takes longer to show up than either of us hoped, that's a reason to talk about price or timing, not evidence that I've stopped working. The two conversations are different, and I'll always tell you which one we're having.

For the pricing side, I have a separate commitment: the Sold For Top Dollar Guarantee, where I pay the difference out of my commission if the home sells below the original agreed list price, up to 1% of that price. Between the two policies, the effort risk and the pricing risk are both shared. You're not carrying either one alone.

How to cancel, if it comes to that

Tell me. That's it. Call, text, or email, and say you want out. I'll ask what went wrong, because I'd like to know, and then I'll send the paperwork to release the listing. The one thing I'd ask in return is a direct conversation before you decide. Most problems in a listing come down to a communication gap, and most gaps close in one phone call. But if you've had that conversation and you're still not satisfied, you leave with no bill.

Does anyone actually use it?

I'm not going to pretend I've never had a frustrated seller. What I can tell you is that the sellers who've reviewed me publicly describe the opposite experience. Ellen C. wrote that I "go the extra mile to help with selling a house." Emre B., whose Platteville home drew multiple competitive offers within days, wrote that the whole process "made me feel at ease from listing to close." Those reviews are the reason I can afford to offer this policy. The policy, in turn, is part of why I work the way those reviews describe.

Talk to Jeremy

If you've been burned by a listing agreement before, or you just want to know you have an exit, call or text Jeremy Fishnick at 608-732-2564 or email [email protected]. The full seller offer, including the three service levels and six ways to sell, is at fishnickrealty.com. I'd rather earn the listing every week than hold it with a contract.