Real estate appraisers play an essential role in the property market, providing impartial evaluations of homes and buildings. While their work is undoubtedly essential, it does carry with it risks. One way real estate appraisers can mitigate those risks is with errors and omissions insurance for real estate appraisers to protect themselves financially and safeguard their business interests.
Mistakes can happen in real estate, from oversights in appraisals to oversights in marketing; errors like these could have an enormous impact on clients’ buying or selling decisions or even land them in legal trouble. On this week’s Beyond the Numbers episode we take a deeper dive into error and omissions insurance for real estate professionals.
What Is E & O Insurance (Professional Liability Coverage)
Errors and omissions insurance (also known as professional liability coverage) provides real estate appraisers with a protection in the event they are sued for negligence or inaccurate work, protecting against legal costs, settlements and judgments that might occur as a result. Many clients require appraisers to possess this coverage prior to entering any working relationship.
No appraiser wishes to find themselves embroiled in litigation, yet these situations still occur and E&O coverage provides essential protection in these instances. As such, this insurance can cover damages that would otherwise financially cripple an appraisal business or cause them to close entirely.
E&O policies not only cover legal expenses, but they can also compensate for damage to reputation as a result of claims brought against your business. This can be particularly important for small companies who rely heavily on referrals from happy customers for referrals and/or revenue losses due to having been excluded from a marketplace or association due to pending legal disputes.
Some E&O policies offer additional features, including business interruption, cyber liability insurance and employment practice liability protection. You should discuss these features with your clients to see which are suitable.
As a broker, your job is to understand the risks that face your clients and help them secure adequate insurance coverage. That’s why partnering with wholesale insurers who can provide expert advice and a variety of coverage solutions is so crucial – helping clients compare policies – terms, limits and exclusions- to find their perfect policy so you can give them state-of-the-art coverage they require for success in high-stakes industries like financial services.