If you read my bio, you know that in addition to being an agent, I also am a frequent expert witness in litigation when agents are sued. First, there are typically several experts hired since each side is trying to find out if their guy (or gal) made mistakes ...as well as seeing if they could divert some of the blame to another party. It is common that the Selller, the Buyer, the Seller's Broker and the Buyer's Broker all have experts. And, if you add in Title or inspectors, it is not uncommon to have 7 or 8 attorneys on a real estate case. No wonder the costs are so high.
So, what do agents get sued for? Most lawsuits are what we call "bad house" cases. This means that the buyer buys the house and finds problems after it is closed. Most often it is condition related, so they start looking for what was and wan't disclosed by the seller and inspectors. Next, we try to see if they included any what are called "red flags", meaning those things that should have been noticed that might lead to a bigger problem. Many of these issues are not that obvious, much like the tip of an iceberg.
This is where the agents get into trouble. If it wasn't disclosed or under disclosed, the seller will typically claim that the listing agents should have given them better advice. If it was disclosed, the buyer will claim that the agent told them it wasn't a big deal or failed to warn them about the potential big problem which hides behind the little one. You know the kind I mean, like the water stain in the ceiling that the seller claims was from a "prior" roof leak that has since been fixed. Or, a seller disclosing that an upgrade was permitted, only to find out that ....yes, they got a permit beforethework started but the contractor never got a final inspection from the city.
Or one I saw recently, a buyer bought a house with a shared driveway. Their agent failed to point out the possible problems with this situation. As it turned out, their house was in the back. The front neighbor, who was a little whacky, would park her car in the driveway, thus blocking the buyer from getting to their house. There was also no road maintenance agreement, so when something had to be done, there was no writing to control it, and the buyer had to fight with his whacky and never rational neighbor. When the buyer finally got fed up enoght to seek legal advice, the attorney told the buyer that their agent should have spotted the fact that there was not road agreement and at least alerted them to the posslble downsides of a shared driveway.
All of this leads to the same road ...... did the agent meet their fiduciary duty to their client. Did they treat the clent as if they were buying the house themselves. Did they warn them about possible risks and give them advice on where to find out the answer. Too often, the answer is NO>
Remember, they don't hire us to show them houses. Our expertise as agents is to problem solve. If you look back on my prior posts, I have an extensive post on the three steip process of (1) Issue spotting (2) Discussing ramificaitions and (3) giving property advice. It is a good read
P.S. For those of you who wonder, what do other agents think of me and other expert witness. One, I turn down about 20% of the calls I get from attorneys......meaning, I can't support their position, whether it is for or against the agent. Sometimes I am in support of the agent but probably 75% of the time, I am opposed. I guess the question I would have for those agents who question my motives ..........Do you know any bad agents? If you do, should we ignore them when they harm the public? This business will never improve until WE, start enforcing our own standards. Making quality as important as quanitity in real estate offices. And, when needed, file a Grievance to make sure an agent doesn't do it again
Guy Berry
Keller Williams Gateway, San Jose
Expert Witness
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