A commercial listing agreement decides how much a broker gets paid, for how long the listing is locked up, and whether the owner still owes a commission after the listing ends. Upload the agreement and any extension and get the broker, the commission and how it is earned, the listing price or asking rent, the term, the listing type, and the protection period pulled into structured fields, each citing its source page.
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A listing agreement looks like a short brokerage form until a deal closes and a commission is disputed. The money and the lock-up are spread across separate clauses: the rate in one place, how it is earned in another, the exclusivity in the recitals, and the protection period at the end. Each row names a field, says what it governs, and states what it costs an owner who never abstracted it.
| Agreement field | What it governs | What it costs when it is missed |
|---|---|---|
| Commission rate and basis | The fee the broker earns, a percentage of the sale price on a sale or of total lease value on a lease, sometimes a flat amount | An owner who did not abstract the basis cannot tell whether a lease commission is on base rent or gross rent over the full term, and is surprised by the size of the bill |
| Listing type | Whether it is exclusive right to sell, exclusive agency, or open, which decides who owes a commission and when | Under an exclusive right to sell the owner owes the fee even on a sale it found itself; misreading the type means misjudging that exposure |
| Listing price or asking rent | The price or rent the property is listed at and any authorized range | A stale or mis-stated listing price feeds bad portfolio reporting and can trigger a commission on a below-target deal the owner never approved |
| Term and expiration | The listing period and its firm expiration date, plus any automatic extension | An owner who misses the expiration keeps the property locked with one broker, unable to relist, sometimes on an auto-extending term |
| Protection (tail) period | The window after expiration during which the broker still earns a commission if a buyer or tenant it introduced closes | The most disputed clause: an owner who relists or closes with a prospect the old broker registered can owe two commissions on one deal |
| Exclusivity and carve-outs | Whether the broker is the sole agent and any named prospects or affiliates excluded from the fee | A missing carve-out means the owner pays full commission on a deal with a party it meant to reserve, such as an existing tenant expanding |
| Broker duties and cooperation | What the broker must do to market the property and whether it will split with cooperating brokers | Vague duties and an unclear co-broke split fuel disputes over whether the fee was earned and who shares it |
The job is to pull the commission, the lock-up, and the after-the-fact exposure out of a brokerage form into fields an owner or asset manager can read at a glance, with each figure tied to its source.
The rate and whether it is on sale price, base rent, or gross rent over the full term, so the true cost of the deal is clear before it closes.
Exclusive right to sell, exclusive agency, or open, extracted plainly because it decides whether the owner owes a fee even on a sale it sourced itself.
The asking price or rent, any authorized range, and the firm expiration date, so the listing is never quietly auto-extended past the owner's intent.
The window after expiration when the broker still earns on a registered prospect, the field most likely to produce a double-commission fight.
Whether the broker is the sole agent and which prospects or affiliates are excluded, so a reserved party does not trigger a full commission.
What the broker must do to market and whether it splits with cooperating brokers, so the earned-fee and sharing terms are on record.
From a listing agreement and any extension to one record that answers what the broker is paid, how long the listing runs, and what the owner still owes after it ends, with a source citation per field.
Include the listing agreement, any amendment that changed the price or term, and any extension letter. Scans are fine.
The model returns the broker, the commission and basis, the listing type, the listing price, the term and expiration, the protection period, and any carve-outs as structured fields.
Each field links to its source page. The output flags the listing type, the expiration, and the protection period, the terms that decide when a commission is owed.
Push the commission, term, and protection period to Excel, CSV, JSON, or the API so every listing across the portfolio is on one comparable schedule.
Last updated July 2026. What a commercial listing agreement is, how the listing types differ, and why the commission and protection period decide what the owner really owes.
A commercial listing agreement is the contract between a property owner and a real estate broker that authorizes the broker to market the property for sale or lease and sets the commission the broker earns for finding a buyer or tenant. It fixes the listing price or asking rent, the term of the listing, whether the broker is exclusive, and how and when the fee is earned, including a protection period that can extend the commission past the listing's expiration. Abstracting it means pulling those terms into a structured record so an owner or asset manager can see the cost and the lock-up at a glance. The listing sits at the front of the same deal file as the leases captured on the commercial lease abstract template, and the eventual sale runs through purchase and sale agreement abstraction.
The three common types are exclusive right to sell, exclusive agency, and open. Under an exclusive right to sell, the broker earns the commission if the property sells during the term no matter who finds the buyer, including the owner, which is why it is the type brokers prefer and the one that carries the most owner exposure. Under exclusive agency, the broker is the only agent but the owner can sell it directly without owing a fee. An open listing lets the owner engage several brokers and pay only the one who produces the buyer. The type decides who owes a commission and when, so it is the first field to capture accurately.
On a commercial sale the commission is commonly in the 3 to 6 percent range of the sale price, and on a lease it is usually a percentage of the total rent over the lease term, with the exact figure varying by market, property type, and deal size. The number that matters is not just the rate but the basis: a lease commission on gross rent over a ten-year term is a very different bill from one on base rent for the first five years. Abstracting the rate and the basis together, rather than the headline percentage alone, is what tells an owner the real cost of the deal.
A protection period, also called a tail or carryover, is a window after the listing expires during which the broker still earns its commission if the property sells or leases to a prospect the broker introduced and registered during the term. It stops an owner from waiting out the listing and closing commission-free with a buyer the broker found. The trap is a double commission: if the owner relists with a new broker and then closes with a registered prospect inside the tail, both brokers can claim a fee. Abstracting the protection period and any list of registered prospects puts that exposure on the record before it becomes a dispute.
Because the commission is a real cost of the transaction and the listing type and protection period decide whether that cost is fixed. A buyer's or seller's deal team has to know the fee, when it is earned, and whether an expired listing still carries a tail that could attach to the closing. An auto-extending listing or an unexpected protection period can complicate a sale that the parties thought was clean. Abstracting the listing early puts the commission and its triggers in front of the deal team, alongside the diligence captured through lease abstraction for acquisition due diligence.
Yes, and a portfolio of properties listed with different brokers on different terms is where it pays off, because the commissions, expirations, and protection periods are rarely in one comparable place. The model reads each listing agreement and extension, returns the broker, the commission and basis, the listing type, the price, the term and expiration, and the protection period as structured fields, and flags every listing about to expire or auto-extend. Accuracy depends on scan quality, and every published accuracy figure in this category is self-reported, so test on your own worst-scanned agreement first. Brokerage teams running the same read across listings and the leases behind them use lease abstraction for CRE brokers, and the general tool is on lease abstraction software.
Still have questions? Our team is happy to help.
Talk to our teamThe contract that authorizes a broker to market a property for sale or lease and sets the commission, the listing price, the term, and how the fee is earned. Abstracting it pulls those terms into a structured record an owner can read at a glance.
Exclusive right to sell, exclusive agency, and open. Exclusive right to sell pays the broker even if the owner finds the buyer; exclusive agency lets the owner sell directly fee-free; open engages several brokers and pays only the one who produces the buyer.
Commonly 3 to 6 percent of the sale price on a sale, or a percentage of total rent over the term on a lease, varying by market and deal size. The basis matters as much as the rate, which is why the abstract captures both.
A window after the listing expires during which the broker still earns its fee if the property sells or leases to a prospect it introduced and registered during the term. It can trigger a double commission if the owner relists and closes with a registered prospect.
The commission is a real transaction cost, and the listing type and protection period decide whether an expired listing still carries a fee that attaches to the closing. The abstract puts those triggers in front of the deal team early.
Yes. The model reads each agreement and extension, returns the broker, commission and basis, listing type, price, term, and protection period as structured fields, and flags every listing about to expire or auto-extend, source-linked per field.
The contract the listing leads to when the property sells.
Learn moreThe term sheet negotiated before the sale contract.
Learn moreThe lease field set for a listed property leased instead of sold.
Learn moreThe other brokerage-adjacent contract with its own commissions.
Learn moreThe full diligence workflow the listed deal runs through.
Learn moreThe full overview of our AI lease abstraction tool.
Learn more