Answer:
A listing agreement is the document you use to commit to working with a specific real estate agent. Before you sign a listing agreement, ask your agent whether you can be released for any reason, even if that reason is, "I want to list with another broker." If your agent tells you, "No," you might not want to list it with their company.
If you didn't ask your agent about canceling before signing, be aware that exclusive right-to-sell listings contain a safety or protection clause.6
If you ask an agent after the fact to cancel the listing, and they refuse, call their brokerage and request a cancellation. Your listing, believe it or not, is not between you and your agent. It is between you and the brokerage.
If the broker rejects your request for cancellation, then ask the brokerage to assign another agent to you. Most brokers are happy to assign another agent and keep the listing in-house. The brokerage will often pay your fired agent a referral fee.
If there are no workable solutions, call a real estate lawyer for termination assistance, but first, tell the brokerage of your intentions to do so. Sometimes that’s enough to get a release.
Ask your agent to give you a form called "termination of buyer agency." The TBA issued by the California Association of Realtors, for example, will cancel oral or written agency agreements when properly acknowledged and executed.