I have a close friend who recently inherited a property in Nevada about two hours from Las Vegas. She really needs to sell it because she is not interested in holding the property while living in Maryland. She is also unable to take time off from work and go to Nevada. She has a signed listing agreement with an agent in the area and the house has been listed since July with no activity. She hasn't personally seen the house in years, but the agent recently told her there is major roof damage that must be repaired. There was no report of a major storm to her knowledge, so the roof damage is a mystery at this point but she has a contractor going out this week to assess damage. The agent also told her that he may personally help her pay for roof repairs (red flag #1). According to a neighbor, there hasn't been a for sale sign posted on the property in months (red flag #2). When she questioned the agent the about the missing sign other day, he told her there was a sign there previously but he had to remove it because the HOA said it was too big and was in violation. It has been over two months now...not sure about Nevada, but here in Maryland it take two days tops to get a sign in a yard.

I am putting this out here with the hope that my fellow BP friends can offer some advice.  It appears to be a nice house from the pictures on Zillow (5 BD/4BA , 3100 s.f.).  My friend is now losing sleep over this matter.  Her family member didn't leave her anything other than the house and she has approximately two months of mortgage payments until she is forced to make a difficult decision.  At this point, she does not feel she can trust this agent and she is somewhat handcuffed by her listing agreement.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

she may want to pay for a home inspector to go through the place and get a real un biased opinion of condition then price it based on condition. if it needs a ton of work..figure the only ones that will buy it are flippers who want it at 70% of value minus repairs so they can make a profit on the exit.

A Sales agreement normally has an exit strategy. Sometimes it's a small fee. Tell her to read her agreement and look for that. If there's no cancellation clause she should be able to get out of contract and find a better qualified, honest, ethical realtor. The right realtor could than do a FaceTime with her to show the condition of the property. An inspection would be a good idea but can be somewhat costly in such a big house. 

A Sales agreement normally has an exit strategy. Sometimes it's a small fee. Tell her to read her agreement and look for that. If there's no cancellation clause she should be able to get out of contract and find a better qualified, , honest, ethical realtor. The right realtor could than do a FaceTime with her to show the condition of the property. An inspection would be a good idea but can be somewhat costly in such a big house. 

She really needs to get on a plane and have a look at the situation in person.  At the very least, fly Friday night and come back Sunday and that would give her a day to assess the situation and meet face to face with this agent.

She should get in touch with the HOA and get a copy of the bylaws.

Thanks @Jay Hinrichs  and @Orita Issartel .  I advised her to get a home inspector after the roofer gives her his report.  We could not find a specific cancellation clause in the agreement so I was hoping that there was a Nevada agent who could offer some help in the area of their standard listing contracts.

Tell her to take the time to visit the property and deal with business. Not being able to take time off work is a lame excuse.

If she is not prepared to visit the property and deal she might as well just walk away from the property.

There is no specific clause to cancel a contract ,but a call to the broker explaining her concerns can calm her fears or have the contract cancelled at the broker's discretion.she just needs some boots on the ground and the riot act to get the agent in line 

@Steven Picker  In Florida, our listing agreements have a cancellation clause. 

@Thomas S. Not being able to take the time off work is not necessarily a lame excuse when you work for someone or a company. This person didn't ask for this property but was luckily in the inheritance. Real estate is apparently not her business. She might not even have the money to buy a ticket and pay for a hotel to go see this property. I think, at the very least in this age of technology, she should be able to do a walk thru virtually, if she has an honest agent, and have it pointed out to her the problems with the property. 

@Laticia Braxton She should get hold of the broker for the company and explain what's going on. 

1- Why don't you post the address of the property in case an investor wants to evaluate it and make an offer or if someone lives close by they  can give your sister an unbiased opinion

2- try using   https://www.opendoor.com/?optimizely_x=8350339946 They will give you an offer in 24 hours and can close in a week 

3- If the broker ,thus the agent breaches the listing agreement you have every remedy under the law which usually means you can force a cancellation of the listing agreement

4- Nevada is known for sudden wind storms that can damage a roof very quickly ,it happened to me this year The good news you will have an insurance claim

Hey Orita, if you get an message from me, just ignore it. I'm very sorry

Personally I would not have a roofer I don’t know go to a house they kniwnis empty and which I have never seen

I would have no idea if their quote is anywhere near accurate

Yes as was said above at the VERY least pay a home inspector to look and give a report on it

What is the list price?

Originally posted by @Laticia Braxton :

I have a close friend who recently inherited a property in Nevada about two hours from Las Vegas. She really needs to sell it because she is not interested in holding the property while living in Maryland. She is also unable to take time off from work and go to Nevada. She has a signed listing agreement with an agent in the area and the house has been listed since July with no activity. She hasn't personally seen the house in years, but the agent recently told her there is major roof damage that must be repaired. There was no report of a major storm to her knowledge, so the roof damage is a mystery at this point but she has a contractor going out this week to assess damage. The agent also told her that he may personally help her pay for roof repairs (red flag #1). According to a neighbor, there hasn't been a for sale sign posted on the property in months (red flag #2). When she questioned the agent the about the missing sign other day, he told her there was a sign there previously but he had to remove it because the HOA said it was too big and was in violation. It has been over two months now...not sure about Nevada, but here in Maryland it take two days tops to get a sign in a yard.

I am putting this out here with the hope that my fellow BP friends can offer some advice.  It appears to be a nice house from the pictures on Zillow (5 BD/4BA , 3100 s.f.).  My friend is now losing sleep over this matter.  Her family member didn't leave her anything other than the house and she has approximately two months of mortgage payments until she is forced to make a difficult decision.  At this point, she does not feel she can trust this agent and she is somewhat handcuffed by her listing agreement.  Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 Just thought of something 

Have the real estate agent go take a video of the roof and email it to your friend

Simple and be done in a day 

@Michael Plante thank you for your ideas and informing me of the wind storms.  I was informed by another real estate agent in Nevada that it should be simple to cancel the listing agreement as Nevada's standard real estate contract does not have an actual termination agreement (which is why I couldn't find it after 10 readings LOL). Hopefully, they will just do it without her having to go through litigation.  

@Laticia Braxton I specialize in selling properties outside the Las Vegas area. PM me the details and I will be happy to take a look. 

Thanks so much @Orita Issartel for handling the unnecessary comment above - I have no time or interest in going there.   We are on the right track now and will hopefully have a canceled agreement by tomorrow.  

@Laticia Braxton My pleasure. Glad to know you're in the right track to cancel the agreement. Best of luck to your friend!