RI Real Estate common mistakes
RI Real Estate · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating an unrepresented buyer or seller as if they were a client and giving them advice, strategy, or confidential information instead of disclosing the agency relationship and treating them as a customer.
Everyday language calls everyone an 'agent,' and licensees want to be helpful, so they slide into advising a person who has no written agency agreement with the brokerage.
What to do instead
At first substantive contact, deliver and explain the Rhode Island agency disclosure, state in writing whom the brokerage represents, and label unrepresented parties as customers who receive honesty and fair dealing but not fiduciary duties or advocacy.
Acting as a disclosed dual agent without obtaining written informed consent from both the buyer and the seller before sharing confidential information or facilitating the transaction.
Dual agency is common in small Rhode Island markets where the same brokerage has both sides, and licensees assume verbal acknowledgment or signing at closing is enough.
What to do instead
Obtain separate signed dual-agency consent forms from each party at the point dual representation arises, explain the limits on loyalty and confidentiality, and document the consent in the transaction file before proceeding.
Advertising a listing, open house, or team on social media or signage without the licensed brokerage name and without the licensee's licensed name.
Licensees market through personal Instagram, Facebook, and yard signs that emphasize the team brand, and they assume the brokerage name appears elsewhere in the post or on the website.
What to do instead
Include the registered brokerage name and the licensee's licensed name on every advertisement, including each social post and sign, and confirm team names are approved by the broker and the Rhode Island real estate regulator.
Relying on a verbal promise to extend an inspection, financing, or appraisal deadline instead of executing a written amendment signed by both parties.
Deadlines cluster at the end of the contingency period, parties exchange texts and calls, and licensees assume the other side's 'no problem' is binding.
What to do instead
Calendar all deadlines at ratification, send a written amendment for any extension, and treat the deadline as enforceable until both parties sign; advise the client in writing of the risk if the other side refuses to sign.
Taking a listing without a signed written agreement that states the agency relationship, the expiration date, and how compensation is earned and paid.
Licensees want to lock in the listing quickly, often with a verbal 'handshake' at the kitchen table, and plan to paper it later.
What to do instead
Use a written listing agreement signed before marketing begins, specifying the brokerage relationship, term, compensation, and what happens if the seller sells to a buyer the licensee introduced; deliver a copy to the seller.
Telling a buyer they are 'approved' for a mortgage after a prequalification conversation or a quick lender phone call.
Prequalification and preapproval are used interchangeably in casual conversation, and buyers hear what they want to hear when they are anxious about affording a home.
What to do instead
Use precise language: prequalification is an estimate, preapproval follows document review, and only the lender issues a commitment; tell buyers to provide a written preapproval letter and never guarantee financing.
Arriving at the closing table without comparing the Closing Disclosure to the Loan Estimate or without reviewing the settlement statement for changed fees and prorations.
Buyers and agents focus on the purchase price and down payment, assume the lender's numbers are final, and see the Closing Disclosure for the first time at the table.
What to do instead
Obtain the Closing Disclosure at least three business days before closing, compare it line by line to the Loan Estimate, ask the lender to explain any tolerance violations, and review the settlement statement with the client before signing.
Telling a client that a joint tenant can leave their share by will, or that a tenant in common automatically receives the other owner's share at death.
The forms of co-ownership sound similar, and licensees repeat what they heard from a past client or a quick internet search rather than checking the deed.
What to do instead
Review the deed and explain that joint tenants have survivorship rights while tenants in common do not, then refer the client to an attorney for estate planning and title questions.
Using price per square foot from dissimilar comparable sales without adjusting for condition, lot, location, or time, or presenting the tax-assessed value as market value.
Automated valuation sites and public assessment data are easy to cite, and a single per-square-foot number feels objective and persuasive.
What to do instead
Select the most similar closed sales, make explicit dollar adjustments for differences, reconcile to a range, and explain that assessed value is a tax figure that may not equal market value.
Assuming a buyer can build an addition, subdivide a lot, or open a home business without checking zoning, wetlands, coastal, or historic restrictions.
Licensees see an empty lot or a large yard and assume the use is allowed, and Rhode Island's layered local and state permitting is unfamiliar or treated as a closing detail.
What to do instead
Direct clients to the local building official and zoning office and, where coastal or wetland features exist, to the state coastal and wetland regulators before removal of contingencies; put any permit contingency in writing.