In 2021 and 2022, people bought houses at high (sometimes outrageous) prices, sight unseen, inspections waived, and all in cash. For the last 2 years, the market has been entirely unprecedented. However, as home prices started to deflate and mortgage rates rose, the climate became much more litigious.
In this article, we’ll discuss what both agents and sellers need to know when it comes to home sale lawsuits.
If one of your home sellers is involved in a legal dispute or—even worse—is named in a lawsuit, you have protection through legal representation your E&O insurance provides. (Brokers and inspectors enjoy that same protection.) However, this doesn’t mean you avoid a trip to the courtroom.
If the seller is involved in a dispute, they are completely unprotected and left to deal with it on their own. As a result, they may drag their agent and broker into the lawsuit, even if they don’t want to.
Luckily, Sellers Shield offers protection to sellers, agents, and brokers. Through Home Sale Legal Protection™, Sellers Shield helped clients resolve 94% of disputes BEFORE they escalated to lawsuits, meaning brokers and agents couldn’t be drawn into the suits that no longer existed.
Mediations are on the rise. To ensure you and your business are protected, make sure your sellers know about the legal risk involved in a sale and their options through Home Sale Legal Protection™.
Home sellers are often completely unaware they can be sued after their home sells; this lack of knowledge makes the reality of a lawsuit even more devastating.
After receiving a demand letter (asking for, on average, $54,000 in compensatory damages), sellers are left to fight a stressful and lengthy legal battle alone:
Fortunately, Sellers Shield works to protect sellers in the event of a home sale lawsuit. This means everyone—sellers, agents, and brokers—can now enjoy peace of mind when it comes to their life and/or real estate business. Here’s how:
Even if a seller does everything right—every box is checked and every question thoroughly answered—they still may be sued. That’s why Sellers Shield created Home Sale Legal Protection™; It defends sellers if the buyer brings any legal action after the sale:
Sellers Shield protects sellers in the event of a lawsuit with Home Sale Legal Protection™, but also reduces the likelihood of a lawsuit from happening in the first place via the forms themselves.
Because disclosure form errors are the #1 cause of home sale legal disputes, Seller Shield’s legal experts created a disclosure form process that helps sellers fill out forms as accurately and completely as possible:
The best way to prevent a lawsuit is to educate sellers on the importance of accurate disclosures. However, it’s essential to remember that no matter how good you are at your job, or how honest your seller may be, the reality is that lawsuits happen and sellers deserve protection.
Tell your sellers about Home Sale Legal Protection™ so they never have to go through the emotional and financial devastation of a lawsuit—and your real estate business won’t have to, either.
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