Iowa Seller Disclosure Form - How not to get sued as a Realtor

IOWA SELLERS DISCLOSURE: TEN THINGS EVERY IOWA REAL ESTATE AGENT SHOULD KNOW

As a Realtor selling residential real estate in Iowa you have to be very careful about what you say to the sellers. As a real estate agent you have a duty to present the seller with a seller disclosure form, make sure they fill it out and then deliver the fully filled out form to any potential buyers. I'm sure it's tempting to want to tell them how much to disclose and how to fill the form out. But when you provide advice about how to fill it out you're opening up Pandora's Box if the disclosures later lead to litigation.

What you don’t want to do is offer advice that can be interpreted to be legal advice. Because after all that’s practicing law without a license and if the sellers later get sued you’ll be included as either a defendant or impleaded as a cross-defendant by the sellers.

What you do and say can be actionable so what you should say should be failry limited. Let me list the few things you can and should say:

1.    As the seller you have an obligation to provide a Seller’s Disclosure Statement.

2.    As the seller you should fill out the form truthfully, accurately and make a complete disclosure.

3.    As a Realtor I am not a lawyer. (I am, but most of you aren’t.)

4.    As the seller if you want advice on how to fill out the form and the ramifications of filling out the form incorrectly you should seek the advice of a competent lawyer.

5.    As an Iowa licensed real estate agent neither I nor my broker are allowed by law to provide legal advice.

6.    Steve Lombardi, is an attorney and real estate broker/agent licensed in Iowa who is willing for payment of $250 to review the form with you.

7.    If you would like Attorney Lombardi to review a written offer he is willing to do the same for an additional $250.00.

8.    If you think $500.00 is too much to spend consider that in the past few years the Iowa Courts have awarded the sellers to pay the buyers’ attorney fees and in some cases the amounts have been tens of thousands of dollars. See Johnson vs. Baum, Baum and Ramseyer, Iowa Court of Appeals, July 14, 2010 – Attorney fees award of $20,000.

9.    Buyer’s remorse is what motivates many people to blame imperfection on the sellers’ failure to disclose. From a review of the Iowa cases it appears there is no end in sight to court cases discouraging buyers to sue sellers.

10.  You can contact Mr. Lombardi by calling 515-222-1110 or sending an email to sdlombardi@aol.com or his assistant, Barbara Lombardi at batubridy@aol.com.