Chapter 1 the very first paragraph: "Only a century ago, buyers had few protection from unscrupulous sellers real estate agents. Instead, the Common-Law doctrine of caveat emptor (Latin phrase-let the buyer beware) prevailed." I've read it several times and every new time I read it's getting more complicating; this is chapter 1 and it has not yet covered anything about common-law. Besides that I also don't understand why the author is continuing the second sentence with the word 'Instead.' I already don't like the way the author has written this book. Please help if possible.
What is your question? Have you continued reading?
Are you doing this class online? Or in a class room. If you are doing it online, you are screwed. I promise you that this subject is NOT on the test and if you are in a class room setting, the teacher will tell you this. The ONLY purpose of the class is to help you pass the exam, not understand real estate. If you are doing this online, there is NO way to know what to study and what is important since you don't have a teacher to tell you. If you are trying to get your real estate lic, DO IT IN PERSON, not online or self study.
This has nothing to do with common law, at least not current common law. What this says is: 100 years ago, buyers of real estate were at the mercy of anyone selling real estate. Since there was no licensing at that time, many people in the real estate business were not ethical people. The agents and sellers represented only the sellers of real estate. There was no buyer representation. Buyers were left on their own to find their way thru a transaction. Ignore the instead. A common-law doctrine simply mean the law of the land (at that time); how it was done at that time. Caveat Emptor does mean let the buyer beware. By this, it was meant that buyers were solely responsible for knowing everything they needed to know about the property; there were no disclosure laws. What that says, in a nutshell, is: 100 years ago, people selling real estate were all about themselves and that the buyers needed to know exactly what they were getting into because no one was watching out for them in a real estate transaction.
