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CLAIMPREVENT® BLOG

Contracts and Transactions

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Avoiding Legal Trouble When Working a Real Estate Contract: ClaimPrevent® Summary #7

Once you’re at the offer or accepted contract stage, there are common pitfalls even the most experienced licensee can fall into if you’re not careful -- from inspections…

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Minimizing Risks in Real Estate Transactions with Transaction Management Software

Technology is advancing at a rapid rate in all industries, and real estate is no exception. Transaction Management Software is yet another area of real estate where new…

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Filling Out the Purchase and Sale Agreement to Avoid Problems: ClaimPrevent® Summary 5

This summary covers the most common problems when completing a Residential Purchase and Sale Agreement from a Risk Management perspective. Use it to onboard new hires or as…

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Handling Offers to Purchase Real Estate: ClaimPrevent® Summary #4

This session covers the writing, review, acceptance, and rejection of real estate offers — all from a risk management perspective. Use this ClaimPrevent® summary for onboarding new hires…

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Top Tips for Real Estate Transaction Coordinators: Document Checking to Avoid a Lawsuit

Transaction Coordinators play an important role in real estate transactions. Being organized and paying great attention to detail is critical to your success. You need to stay on…

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Dual Agency Question: 1031 Exchange Delayed … Who Pays the Buyer’s Rate Lock?

In dual agency, the real estate licensee acts on behalf of both the buyers and sellers, and has fiduciary duty to both parties. Dual agency can be appealing,…

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Commingling of Funds

Real Estate Brokers: Commingling of Funds Will Lead You Straight to Court

Many things in real estate can lead a broker straight to court and a costly lawsuit. Commingling of funds is one of those things.  Commingling is when a…

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What Insurance Does a Transaction Coordinator Need?

Transaction Coordinators play an important role in supporting real estate brokers and licensees to close transactions faster and more efficiently. It comes with a huge responsibility, because closing…

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How a Typo Can Cause a Real Estate Lawsuit

Typos happen every day. If your team is busy writing up multiple listings, contracts and property marketing materials, they’re bound to happen. Unfortunately, even the most innocent of…

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Real Estate Licensees Beware of Zillow Purchase Agreements

In many transactions, Zillow acts as seller and insists on using its own purchase agreement. Below are issues you should consider when advising your buyers whether/how to use…

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How to Help Your Real Estate Clients Avoid Deed Fraud and Scams

Deed fraud is on the rise, and real estate agents must be vigilant to help clients avoid these increasingly sophisticated scams.  What is Deed Fraud? It typically involves…

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CRES Risk Management Webinar: Risks to Real Estate Licensees Representing Sellers When Low Inventory

There are extremely low inventory levels for housing across multiple states right now. A significant portion of the real estate market are individuals who are simultaneously selling a…

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CRES Risk Management Webinar: Escalation Clauses, Appraisal Addendums, and More

In a hot seller’s market, there are increased risks for real estate professionals. And we’ve uncovered more of them in looking specifically at Nevada. In this webinar, attorney…

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CRES Risk Management Webinar: Contingencies, Multiple Offers, Deadlines, and More — Preventing Claims in a Hot Real Estate Seller’s Market

In many markets right now, there's a limited amount of inventory and a surging demand for property. In this “hot seller’s market” with fast-moving properties, real estate professionals…

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Dealing with Transaction Coordinators

If you’re a busy real estate agent juggling many listings, you may feel overwhelmed by all the complex legal paperwork that comes with transactions. A Transaction Coordinator can…

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What to Do When Buyers Discover Post-Closing Issues

Everything looked great in the house. You closed. The buyers were happy. And then … they discovered a leaky pipe and a hole in the floor. The buyer…

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Dealing with Real Estate Clients with Dementia and Alzheimers

According to the Alzheimers Association, one in three seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Every 65 seconds, someone in the United States develops the disease. In your real…

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Lessons Learned from Real Estate Contract Errors

Copy-and-paste can be a huge time saver in your real estate contract, but if you aren’t careful, it can cause more than a headache.  Recently a CRES-insured broker…

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Should Brokers Complete Note and Deed of Trust?

Have you ever been asked to complete a note and deed of trust? Recently a CRES-insured broker called our CRES ClaimPrevent® Hotline, because he was asked to complete…

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keys in door of house

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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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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…

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tract home neighborhood

How to Avoid 3 E&O Claims Against Real Estate Agents Representing Tract Home Buyers

Tract homes and communities often appeal to first-time homebuyers.  Buyers like the idea of selecting a floor plan, exterior design, interior finishes, and color palette in a brand-new…

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How to Ensure Offer Terms Survive the Real Estate Closing: the Doctrine of Merger

Errors and Omissions claims against real estate agents or brokers are often based  on the Purchase Agreement and Sales Disclosures. Clients who feel their interests were not adequately…

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Money Laundering in Real Estate: How it works, how to identify it, and how to report it

Real estate money laundering is not a new problem in the United States. According to the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), the real estate industry…

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How to Advise Buyers of FIRPTA When Purchasing from Foreign Sellers

Many real estate agents representing buyer clients have come across properties being sold by a foreign person -- or someone who appears to be a foreigner. You may…

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Understanding the Earnest Money Deposit in Real Property Sales

What Is Earnest Money And Its Purpose? Earnest money is cash deposited by a buyer to a seller into escrow (in states that use escrow), demonstrating the buyer’s…

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What To Do When Your Client Is In Contract and Does Not Want To Close?

Buyer’s (or seller’s) remorse becomes a legal issue when the buyer or seller does not want to close after they are under contract to buy or sell. This…

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The Significance of the Liquidated Damages Provision in the Residential Purchase Agreement

The vast majority of real estate agents and brokers are familiar with pre-printed purchase contracts for land such as the Residential Purchase Agreement and Deposit Receipt published by…

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legal agreement between two people

The Pros and Cons of Binding Arbitration

Many times I have consulted with my real estate clients as to the advantages and disadvantages of binding arbitration to resolve a dispute concerning real property as opposed…

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Contract Formation and Agency in the Digital Age

Most brokers and agents know that a contract for the sale of real estate generally must be in writing to be enforceable, and signed by the party against…

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