The real estate industry can be exciting, fast-paced, and on-the-go especially in times when the real estate market is on the rise. This makes it a fun and profitable profession, but at the same time increases the likelihood for insurance claims against real estate professionals. Whether you work in Seattle, Spokane, Tacoma, or anywhere in between, if you work in Washington odds are 98+% of real estate professionals invest in various insurance policies to manage their exposure. Below we explain the 3 main types of real estate insurance and how working in Washington may be different.
Types of Real Estate Insurance in Washington
There are 3 main types of insurance for real estate:
Although errors and omissions insurance is not mandated by Washington, E&O insurance is often required by another authority such as your real estate franchise or bank partners. Regardless of whether it is actually mandatory, common sense or past experiences often make signing up for errors and omissions insurance in Washington an obvious choice.
Errors and Omissions Insurance in Washington
Just as the name would suggest, errors and omissions insurance covers errors and omissions made by real estate professionals working on behalf of a real estate brokerage. Specifically, E&O typically covers situations like not disclosing relevant information about the property, or not showing a property to a prospective buyer to even bodily injury or damage that could happen during a showing. In general terms, broadform E&O policies protect both the brokerages and individual real estate agents if they’re sued by a client because of a mistake they’ve made related to transactions in real estate.
Errors and omissions insurance for real estate often covers defense costs, legal costs, and court costs related to a claim.
Cyber Liability Insurance for Real Estate in Washington
“ Cyber Liability Insurance for real estate is a relatively new type of insurance policy in Washington that is designed to protect businesses from both 1st and 3rd party risks associated with cyber attacks and fraud. Real Estate professionals are a prime target for these types of attacks, because real estate deals involve complicated, multi-party, high value transactions and sensitive personal data.
First party Cyber Liability policies cover the real estate agent directly and include things like Cyber Extortion, Electronic Transfer Fraud, Deceptive Funds Transfer, and Telephone Tolls, to name a few. Direct coverage is important, but from what we have seen are rarely the reason why real estate professionals decide to purchase cyber liability policies. It’s the 3rd party protection that is usually the consideration, because that coverage would protect the vendor/partner or clients and in real estate deals, this is where the majority of the money is.
General Liability Insurance for Real Estate in Washington
“General Liability Insurance or business liability insurance is a common type of coverage in any industry that protects businesses from claims resulting from normal business operations not specifically related to the real estate industry.
Specifically, General Liability Insurance in Washington will cover personal and advertising injury, damage to properties that are rented to your business, as well as, bodily injury or medical claims, and other common business liability exposure.
