Humber/Ontario Real Estate Course 3 Exam Practice

If a seller wants to avoid paying a commission by selling the property independently while still engaging a brokerage, what type of listing is this?

1. Exclusive Listing

2. MLS® Listing

3. Non-Exclusive Listing

4. Open Listing

5. Personal Listing

6. Standard Listing

The correct answer is: Open Listing

The correct response to the situation described is an open listing. An open listing allows the seller to retain the right to sell the property independently while engaging a brokerage to help market the property. This type of listing does not exclusively commit the seller to a single brokerage; instead, it enables multiple agents or brokers to attempt to sell the property simultaneously. If the seller ultimately sells the property on their own, they won’t have to pay a commission to any of the brokers involved. In the context of other types of listings, an exclusive listing would typically obligate the seller to pay a commission to a single brokerage regardless of who sells the property, effectively negating the seller’s goal of avoiding commission fees. An MLS® listing, which involves the property being listed on a Multiple Listing Service, also doesn’t provide the independence desired by the seller since it commits the property to a brokerage’s marketing efforts. Non-exclusive listings, while allowing for some independence, imply a less common arrangement than an open listing, as this term can vary in its application. Personal listing and standard listing are not formal categories recognized in general real estate practices, making them less applicable in this context.