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Q: “On a listing agreement, what is the difference between the agreement date and the commencement date?” 

A: Let’s address this through an example. You know your friend on 123 Main Street is looking to sell their house, and they ask you for help. Your friend tells you that they are fixing up their house, and it will take six weeks before they are comfortable even showing it. You want to get an agreement signed that same day. Well, this is not a problem.  

You both can sign a listing agreement that day; that would be the agreement date. But you would then change the commencement date to six weeks later. The commencement date is when you must begin to perform your duties as outlined in the listing agreement.   

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