On the Likelihood of a Transaction and the Amount of Time Provided the Broker to Sell Property

Abstract

This work empirically investigates the effect of the amount of time provided the broker to market property (listing contract length) on the likelihood of a successful marketing attempt. Do shorter listing contracts increase broker motivation or can contracts be so short that marketing efforts are unlikely to result in a successful transaction? The empirical results demonstrate that when the broker is provided a longer listing contract, the likelihood of a successful transaction increases but at a decreasing rate. This result suggests that home sellers face a tradeoff when choosing contract length. Longer contracts provide more time to arrange a successful sale, but reduction in broker motivation reduces the probability of sale as contracts lengthen.