Throughout the country, real estate agents are celebrating the wonders of sending contracts and disclosures to their clients electronically. The paperless transaction has become an admirable and reachable goal with the unintended side effect of increasing risks in real estate transactions.
Much of an individual's success as a real estate broker or salesperson is built on the good reputation he or she develops with buyers, sellers, affiliates and other licensees. Staying on a steady course, however, is not as easy as it seems. In fact, licensees may actually lose business, particularly with sellers who do not want their agent to disclose everything he or she knows about the subject property.
Licensees cannot practice real estate in a vacuum; knowledge of real estate laws, codes of ethics, agency relationships and disclosures all merge together to give them the basis from which they may effectively practice their craft and continue to build competence and confidence.