Is a listing agreemwnt considered a legal contract???

Actually a listing agreement is a legal contract.  It contains all the elements and everything that constitutes a contract.

These agreements can be as simple or as complicated as the broker makes it.  The agreement should contain the date of the agreement, the expiration of the agreement, the address & legal description, the listing price, all appliances in the property, all personal property that does not convey, amount of commission and how it will be split (our company always pays out 50% of commission to the company that brings buyer).  Some items to pay special attention toward is the cancellation fee if any (our company doesn't charge one) , the amount of days carried forward from expiration date if a previous looker decides to buy (our company makes it 30 days), the amount of escrow kept by listing contract if purchase contract falls through (our company keeps 25%, the reason for this is the amount of paperwork and time it takes to get a ruling from the Florida Real Estate Commission). 

Walker Bagwell Properties only use Far/Bar contracts for all transactions.  You may recall the large company that acquired several companies in Brevard County making them the largest in the country.  We recently received an offer from this company and they had added the clause to the purchase contract that states law, the buyer and seller agree that broker can file a lien on property in case they don't receive commission upon closing.    Now I realize they have attorneys on staff that have to have something to do but this is simply paranoia.  The listing agreement spells out the commission to be paid.

Just remember to keep it simple and protect both parties.

Jim Bagwell