I recently heard a presentation at my brokers office where the representative claimed that Real Estate agents were second only to physicians when it came to malpractice lawsuits. This was supposed to be nation wide, and 48% of those lawsuits were supposed to have taken place in California. I should have asked for her source, but didn't think of it until afterward. I have never been involved in a lawsuit, and find it difficult to believe we are second to Doctors for lawsuits!Can anyone verify this information for me? Thanks!
It's possible. Of course, it doesn't say how many of those were successful lawsuits. The #1 reason realtors get sued is for misrepresentation. As a matter of fact, I actually sued a realtor who neglected to mention that the house across the street was adding another story, thus blocking my view (and decreasing my property value). But you know, I found it on Google, maybe you could, too.
I'd believe it. Keep in mind there can also be a difference between malpractice lawsuits, and lawsuits in general. Most real estate agents do not get good legal/ethical training -- it's not like they're getting master's degrees or something to get licensed. Even the ones that get something tend to blow it off, or not understand it. It can then seem like a waste of time to do due diligence with a property, and there's a tendency to cut corners. Many get reputations for not being totally honest people. Real estate agents are often chasing money first and foremost, and they can want to hide or ignore as much as they can. Then someone buys or rents a place, and something is almost certain to come up that was not properly disclosed. You can rapidly have something like health issues or property damage (of the contents) involved, and it's not easy for the agent to get away from it. Given the thousands of dollars likely involved, it's not easy for the buyer/renter to ignore and move on either. And it's very very likely the cause was the agent not being properly responsible in investigating a property, or disclosing what they knew, etc. Also, most people are going to use doctors or real estate agents sooner or later. Other fields (like contractors) may have problems, but they're frankly more likely to be legally aware of things, those who use their services are more limited, and they're more likely to be able to discuss and negotiate their way out of something.
