Product Review: Glide's New Premium Seller Disclosures

Product Review: Glide's New Premium Seller Disclosures

About the Author: Steven Spile is senior partner in the firm Spile, Leff & Goor, LLP which focuses its practice on the real estate brokerage industry.  With 38 years’ experience, Steven has been active with C.A.R., local boards and the insurance industry assisting with risk management efforts and fighting to protect real estate professionals throughout California.  

Over the years, our firm - Spile, Leff & Goor, LLP - has defended thousands of cases against real estate professionals.  We have found that approximately 70% of all cases involve allegations related to the failure to adequately disclose defects at the property.  For this reason, we have emphasized the importance of having our clients properly inspect and disclose property condition issues.  

Glide is one of the best tools we have found for reducing the risks for a claim related to property defects.

For one thing, Glide’s newest risk-management features  help sellers and real estate professionals  identify all areas of possible concern.  Without this guidance, sellers and their real estate representatives are often flying blind in trying to know what property features need to be inspected and what defects need to be disclosed.  Premium Seller Disclosures provide a wonderful “checklist” of common and recurring issues to guide folks in their disclosure efforts.

Another common problem is that the disclosing parties choose words which are sure to cause them later problems.  For example, using absolute terms such as “best” and “new” are commonly a basis for a claim.   Premium Seller Disclosures help identify problematic words used by sellers and prompts them with warnings to revise and write  safer choices.   Similarly, identifying defects is critical to a successful disclosure, but diagnosing defects exposes the disclosing party to claims when the diagnosis is inaccurate.   Once again, Glide helps to limit comments to identification and avoiding diagnosis wording with these warnings. 

A wonderful benefit is that Premium Seller Disclosures guide sellers through the disclosure process, so it minimizes the risk that an agent may fail to adequately advise a seller about disclosure issues.  It also protects the listing brokerage from claims that they improperly advised the seller regarding the scope and nature of disclosures.  Premium Seller Disclosures provide “Pro Tips” to further explain and assist in the disclosure process.    

In some ways, you can look at it as a track which keep the transaction train in general, and disclosure issues in specific, from veering off its intended path to a successful closing and happy consumers.  As somebody who sees the casualties of faulty disclosures, Premium Seller Disclosures are a most valuable tool for a prosperous real estate practice.

Steven Spile

Senior Partner of Spile, Leff & Goor, LLP

Create, Track, and Manage PEAD-V Forms with Glide

Create, Track, and Manage PEAD-V Forms with Glide

Safer Seller Disclosures During COVID-19

Safer Seller Disclosures During COVID-19