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Dealing with Real Estate Clients with Physical Disabilities
As a real estate agent, you deal with different types of people every day. In fact, being able to communicate with a myriad of people is one of…
What Real Estate Brokers Need to Know About Cyber Liability Coverage
Cyber security is a growing issue globally, and the real estate industry is particularly vulnerable because the transactions you’re dealing with are of such high value. This, unfortunately,…
Selling and Buying Property in a Noisy Area
The real estate market is all about trade-offs and compromise -- particularly in a tight housing market, which California and a number of other states are experiencing today…
What real estate brokers should remind their agents about this month: Disaster Preparedness
As a busy real estate broker, managing risk is a critical part of your business. This means you need to provide guidance to your real estate agents about…
The Best Way for Property Managers to Reject Applicants
Part of your job as a property manager is screening potential new tenants. The screening process you use and the way you reject applicants can get you in…
The Top 3 Reasons for E&O Claims Against Real Estate Agents
As a real estate professional, you face risks every day in the course of your business. These risks can lead to costly mistakes — with financial implications as…
Lost Mineral Rights Claims On The Rise in Colorado
Real estate brokers in Colorado increasingly face lawsuits filed by sellers who have unintentionally contracted away their mineral rights when they intended to only sell the surface property…
The Most Useful Apps & Resources for Real Estate Agents in 2019
With around 2.1 million apps in the App Store, it’s not easy to navigate which apps and resources you should download as a real estate professional. To save…
What Real Estate Brokers Need to Know About Fidelity and Crime Bonds
Are you a real estate broker managing multiple real estate agents, either as employees or contractors? As the number of people within your team increases, so does your…
What You Need to Do About Post-Closing Problems
You’ve closed a transaction in which you were the selling agent for the buyer. Everything went well … until the buyer discovered leaks and drainage issues that weren’t…
Building Permit History Reports Reduce Liability for You & Your Clients
In real estate, it’s important to reduce your liability wherever possible, so you don’t find yourself facing a lawsuit sometime in the future. Building Permit History Reports from…
When Your Seller is Reluctant to Do Repairs…
As a real estate professional, you will often come across sellers who are reluctant to do repairs on their home -- either before listing the property, or after…
Why You Shouldn’t Exceed Your Scope of Work — A Guide for Real Estate Professionals
When you’re running your own real estate business, you provide great customer service as part of your business-building strategy. But doing so makes it easy for “scope creep”…
Employees vs Independent Contractors — What Real Estate Brokers Need to Know
As a real estate broker, knowing the difference between an employee and an independent contractor (and more importantly, communicating this to others) is crucial. Real estate agents are…
How to Reduce Open House Risks When Someone Else Hosts
Have you ever received a request from another brokerage — or another agent within your firm — to host an open house at a property you have listed?…
Data Security in Real Estate: How to Minimize the Risk of Losing Important Data
Data security is increasingly important in your role as a real estate agent, because you collect data from your clients every day Further, it’s important data, which in…
Real Estate Broker Beware — Most Common Complaints That Lead to Litigation
Real Estate Broker Beware - Complaints That Lead to Litigation | RSS.com James M. Meseck, a litigation specialist from White and Steele in Colorado, gives us tips on…
Mortgage Fraud in Real Estate & Mortgage Brokering
As a real estate professional, you may come across mortgage fraud at some point during your career. Mortgage fraud can be defined as fraud related to property mortgages…
Roofing Scam Alert
Real estate brokers, beware of a fraudulent scheme involving listed vacant properties. Here is the scenario. Acting as the property owner or an agent of the listing office,…
Multiple Offers Gone Wrong: How the CRES Legal Hotline Prevented Multiple Claims Against One Agent
A listing received multiple offers. The seller narrowed it down to two, and the agent sent out two counteroffers – but failed to specify which counter was back…
What Real Estate Brokers Should Remind Their Agents About This Month: VEHICLES
As a real estate broker managing a team, you need to be aware of the risks and liabilities of your business. Vehicles are used frequently in the real…
How to Avoid a Lawsuit When You’re Selling a House With Pets
Selling a property that is home to pets can be a challenge for a real estate agent. But, with around 60% of households owning a pet, it’s a…
Top Risks Agents Face When Acting as Property Managers
If you’re a real estate professional acting as a Property Manager, you face many risks every day in the course of business. Attorney Rinat Klier Erlich recently covered key…
Closing Issues & Managing the Risk
As a real estate agent, there’s nothing more exciting than closing on a real estate deal. But, sometimes things can go wrong — things which can delay closing…
Are Oral Contracts Legal in Real Estate?
Sometimes it pays to review the basics: You need a written contract when selling property. CRES ClaimPrevent Hotline was recently contacted by a client who wanted to…
Your Real Estate Signage — Could it Cause a Lawsuit?
Signage is an important part of a real estate agent’s marketing toolkit. Professional signage, whether it’s posted outside of the property or elsewhere in the neighborhood to promote…
How to Avoid a Lawsuit When a Real Estate Agent is Injured and Unable To Work
As a real estate agent, being fit and healthy is very much a requirement to keep up with the competition. What happens when an unexpected injury or illness…
Risks When Representing Clients With Wildfire Damaged Real Estate
Real Estate Professionals: Avoiding Claims from the California Wildfires | RSS.com How to manage 4 key areas of risk when a client’s home is destroyed by…
Providing Information And Data To Your Clients: 6 Top Tips To Avoid A Lawsuit
In our litigious society today, real estate agents like you need to protect yourself against potential risks and lawsuits. One scenario where you face a high degree of…
When To Disclose Crime Activity Around Your Real Estate Listings and Rentals
Are you aware of local crime rates, recent criminal activity, or if a sex offender lives near one of your client listings or rentals? Disclosing what you know…
Representing Buyers of Income Property with Tenant Agreements
Buying a duplex can be appealing to clients for a number of reasons. Your buyers of multi-family homes need to know what happens to tenant agreements when property…
How to Avoid a Lawsuit When Appraising a Home
As an appraiser, you face many risks in different aspects of your business. To make sure you don’t face a lawsuit at the end of a long day…
Protecting Yourself Against Contingent Liability
As a real estate agent, it’s important to understand what contingent liabilities are and what’s covered under your E&O insurance. A contingent liability is a liability or debt…
How To Manage Client Expectations About Real Estate Auctions
A real estate auction can be a highly effective way to sell a property. It’s an accelerated and intense process which can reduce the length of time a…
Subpoena Coverage: Who Needs It and Why
Recently, a CRES client, a real estate broker, received such a subpoena. One of his former agents had been the listing agent for the family home of the…
Real Estate Lockbox Risks and How to Manage Them
Real Estate lockboxes make it easy to show your properties when the seller is away or unavailable. There’s no need for buyer’s agents to travel to and from…
Selling a Property Sight-Unseen
According to a survey commissioned by Redfin, around 35% of real estate buyers purchased a property sight-unseen last year. These buyers often purchase at the higher end of…
Maximize Engagement From Your Social Media Posts While You Minimize Risk
With more than a billion users on Facebook and Instagram, half a billion on LinkedIn and more than 300 million on Twitter, social media must never be overlooked…
Home Inspections—Do Real Estate Agents Need to Be There?
Home inspections can add peace of mind for buyers. What is your role as a real estate agent, beyond recommending an inspection? First, don’t oversell the home inspection…
Technology Traps: Lessons Learned from Real Estate Litigation
Unfortunately, there are many painful lessons learned about “technology traps” from the litigation home front. Real estate agents rely on technology to do business. But that reliance can…
Real Estate Buyer’s Agent Guide to Buying a Home As Is
Not every house is a dream home. Properties offered for sale “as is” indicate the seller plans to sell the home in its current condition, without any further…
Real Estate Agents and Identity Fraud – When Someone Impersonates You or Your Business
When you’re a real estate agent, it’s natural to have your name, face and contact details widely publicized to attract business. However, having your details available in the…
What to Do with a Tenant’s Abandoned Property
Landlords and property managers know that when tenants leave, they don’t always take all their things with them. Recently a client asked our risk management legal advisory team…
Septic System E&O Claims Are Climbing: Here’s How to Prevent Them
This article is based on a presentation by Diana Mendez and Jim Meseck, White and Steele; Colorado. The information below is for informational purposes only and references regulations…
What to Know About Selling A Seasonal Property
What is A Seasonal Property Typically a seasonal home is a holiday property -- for which there’s a specific season where it’s popular. Beach homes, mountain cabins, cottages…
Risks to Avoid When Selling a Vacant Home
You might need to sell a vacant home for any number of reasons — perhaps it’s a newly built home, the seller has already relocated, or maybe it’s…
Representing Divorcing Sellers: What You Need to Know
When a couple decides to divorce, one thing they need to do is make a decision about their home. One option of course is to sell. If you…
Real Estate Licensee Safety Month — Tips to Keep You and Your Business Safe
September is real estate licensee Safety Month — an ideal time to reflect on the safety of your real estate business. Whether it’s just you — or you…
How to Protect Yourself from the Most Common E&O Claims with Better Coverage
Hopefully, you’ve never been sued, had to go to trial, or had a real estate E&O claim. It’s not fun. What can make an already stressful situation even…
GDPR and the Impact on Your Real Estate Business
General Data Protection Regulation (hereinafter GDPR) is one of the biggest changes to data security and privacy in Europe in decades. One has probably seen some of the…
When There’s Mold in Real Estate
Mold litigation has expanded, and is now being brought by property owners/buyers, employees, tenants, or merely building occupants dealing with mold in real estate. These claims gained a…
Real Estate Cybersecurity Risks and How to Recover
Cyber and wire transfer fraud are not normally covered on an E&O policy. But we can get you covered! Click here for an application. From a presentation by…
Can You List a Bedroom Without a Closet
Have you ever been at odds with a client about how many bedrooms there are in a house? How many bedrooms you include in a listing matters. More…
How to Protect Yourself When Dealing with Close Friends and Family in Your Real Estate Business
It may seem natural as a real estate agent to want to help a close family member or friend buy or sell a house. But you should know…
9 Potential Real Estate Lawsuits and How to Avoid Them
From a presentation by Jim Meseck, White and Steele If there’s an unhappy seller or buyer, you can bet they’re going to find a way to blame their…
Now Prospective Tenants Must Also Be Informed if a Property is in a Special Flood Zone
Changes in California Law: Disclosure Requirements Flood Zones California’s legislature within the past year made the following findings and declaration: (a) In February 2017, several neighborhoods within the…
“My Client’s Home Was Destroyed in the Wildfires – Now What?”
In early October 2017, a series of 250 wildfires started burning throughout Northern California, bringing terror and destruction to the region. The wildfires broke out throughout Napa, Lake,…
Guest or Tenant? How to Deal with Someone Who Won’t Leave
What happens when somebody pays you to stay in a room short term and then doesn’t want to leave? That happened to one of our clients. She offered…
2018 Swimming Pool Inspection Law – California
The California Senate Bill 442 was passed, signed by the Governor, and codified as Business and Professions Code, Section 7195, effective January 1, 2018. This Statute provides standards…
How to Avoid a Personal Injury Claim When Selling a Property
As a real estate agent, you already know that open houses are a great way to sell a property. But, what about protecting yourself from issues regarding liability?…
