If I have signed a contract with a selling agent, can I also list my property on my own?

[Daniel R.]

It depends on your contract. Usually a real estate agent will require an "exclusive right to sell" agreement that provides that the agent gets paid if the home is sold, regardless of by whom, during the term of the listing agreement (and in many cases for a short time thereafter if the agent was the procuring cause of the sale - i.e., if they produced a buyer who did not purchase until later).

To list the property on your own would mean that you had entered it into the multiple listing service (for which you would pay a fee and which your agent has already done). You can advertise, show and sell the home yourself but you would still have to pay the agent if it sold.

If the listing agreement is not an "exclusive" but merely an "open listing" then the agent only gets paid if he or she sells the home.