Legal Pitfalls REALTORS® Must Avoid: Attorney Diana Khan's Insider Tips

I'm Leigh Thomas Brown, and this is Crazy Shit in Real Estate. Today we're going to talk real estate, legal, brokerage, mom, errors and omissions, a little bit of guidance if you are a consumer looking to hire your agent, and some good questions to ask if you're an agent or a broker. Diana Kahn is with us today, and you're going to enjoy this conversation. In fact, we could have gone much longer, but for the next 30 minutes, enjoy this conversation and I'll see you on the other side.

Good morning, how are you? I'm good, how are you? I'm doing phenomenal. Having kids and doing podcasts, you know, works.

I mean, what's life without a little bit of schedule juggling in your life, right?

Yeah, I have 3 young kids and I feel like at this point I should just tell people when they meet me, like, "Hi, I'm Diana. I'm really funny. I will not be on time." I mean, they should forgive that.

What I will say as a mother of kids that are out of the house, everything every mother's gonna tell you, you're gonna miss these days. And my baby just left for college and I miss it so much. So enjoy the chaos.

You know, everybody says that, but I think like, I like took it to heart cuz I ended up having 3 kids in about 4 years.

Yeah.

But I wish I'd had 4. We only had 2 cuz they were Irish twins and then we, they got older. We're like, Well, now what? We should have had some more. So be glad you're going to have Christmases. They're going to get home kids. Your Christmases are going to be great.

Well, at least you're optimistic. I'm going to sit here and, you know, probably feel that way once one of them is potty trained.

I mean, it's true. With potty training, it's beautiful when they're all free potty trained. You're going to feel like a new woman.

It's fair. That's true. That's true. And probably be able to afford more alcohol because, you know, they won't be paying for diapers. Yep.

But then you'd be too tired to drink it because you would just pass out and go to sleep.

There you go. There you go. See, I like it. You and I can keep up together.

That's right. So tell me a little bit about Diana, besides the fact that you're an amazing frazzled mom, and we're all frazzled moms at some point, but here you are achieving things. Tell me about you.

Sure. So I own a law firm, a real estate brokerage, a title company, a construction company. Property management company, a consulting company for businesses. And then I also do a second brokerage that's more for investor-friendly investments.

You have more businesses than you have kids, which is very impressive. Most people don't have that on their resume. And if you read any of the wealth-building strategists out there, they say you need 7 streams of income to build actual financial freedom. So I think you're on it, sister.

I have to agree. I also am incredibly awkward and I have incredible mouth diarrhea. So I just met Ryan Serhant the other day and I was like, oh, I really like, you know, I really like, I'm excited to meet you because I, you know, you're very impressive. And I'm saying this, but I've never watched him on Netflix. I don't actually know if he's impressive. I've just, I just heard that he's impressive and he gets on stage, 1,000 people.

I introduce him.

He calls me back on stage, right? And I know nothing about him. He calls me back on stage to do the Q&A and I'm like, I'm like, okay, like I gotta show up, right? Like I gotta like somehow make an impression. And he had talked about how prior to being a real estate broker and doing his Netflix show, which I didn't even know he had, he was a hand model. So what did I do? I was like, all right, diet up, don't blow this. You gotta like, you know, you gotta bring it back to something he said, get the audience in, like, You know, and I go up there and I'm like, hey Ryan, thanks for calling me back up here. I had no idea. You know, I think it's great that the audience, which is all realtors, that the audience now know that if you're not successful at real estate, you should just be really good at hand jobs.

And they all died laughing, didn't they? Because our people have a great sense of humor.

They did. They all laughed. I didn't even think it was inappropriate. It wasn't until like 8 hours later when somebody sent me the video that I like really thought about what I did and then I couldn't sleep. I was like, what was wrong with me?

But you know what, was he even phased by it or did he just laugh right along?

He laughed. Yeah. He laughed. And like, you've heard that joke a million times.

Yeah.

That's why I think like I didn't find, like, maybe that's why I didn't think it was inappropriate. Cause he laughed, but it was like later that I like thought about it really. Cause it was after, afterwards people were like approaching me and they were like, I can't believe you said the word handjob. And I was like, what's wrong with that? And then as people kept saying it, I was like, oh, valid.

But you know what, Diana, like the world is starved for laughter right now. They're starved for comedy and humor. So you fed everybody with a joke that he's heard a million times. But just to prove that my references are so different, I'm, when you say the hand model thing, I'm thinking about that episode of Friends where Joey was trying to be the hand model. He was trying to find the perfect hands. That's all I remember because We all have different points of reference and it's good. It's good to make people laugh. That's a, that's a skill.

Sure. Well, I'll, I'll take the compliments. We'll run with it.

So he was probably more offended that you didn't watch his TV program.

Oh, I faked that. I looked it up like 2 minutes before I went up there. I was introducing him. I was just like praying I didn't say Ryan Seacrest because I can't, because I was just like, I'm like, I see Chris.

He's such a cute little fella. Right. So I was like, you know, as long as I get the name right.

So I like ChatGPT what he's known about. And then he apparently does a show called Owning Manhattan and I kept calling it Selling Manhattan. My staff was like, can you just not screw this up? I was like, I will do my best.

I mean, but you can't sell it unless you own it. They go together. I mean, it's, it's a match set.

Fine. There you go. There you go.

So. What else can I tell you?

Um, well, of all those 7 ventures, which one makes your juices flow?

What's exciting to you?

I love my law firm. I think is like my, my biggest situation. I, I think it's because I fell into it more than I did anything else. Like I was a real estate broker first. I did short sale negotiations. Then I started bringing all these like vertically integrated businesses because it felt right. And then I had a law degree and I had told myself if I'd never be a lawyer, right? Because like that's what we tell each other. And then it was, I found that I was getting all these phone calls from realtors every single day and giving all this free advice. And I realized that most lawyers, A, are not that good, and B, will charge you an arm and a leg for a phone call. So I was doing all of this, like what I call free work, but it was really just talking to my friends and helping them with situations, which for my agents, I do as a real estate broker, right? Cool. And then I found that like people just want to give back and I found that I was sort of, I sort of became what I think is the best lawyer where I live without actually having a law firm. So I just kind of fell into it, but I became very passionate about it and I think it's because I didn't rely on the income for it. So I never got burnt out like most lawyers do. So I think that that's why I really enjoy it.

I mean, there's a whole great conversation that would take us down a rabbit hole about how real estate agents want to be respected. They wanna be treated like professionals, but they work for free all the time. Well, it's kind of no wonder we are disrespected when we don't put a value on what we actually do. And lawyers, whether they're good or bad, they value every single minute of their day. They're trained that way from day one. So maybe we should reset some of our agent training to teach people How to place a value on your very limited amount of time.

100%. So I actually just talked to somebody at the same real estate conference I went to, and she was saying that she just went to a new brokerage and she was an independent broker, so she franchised. And I asked her, what do you like most about the brokerage that you're at? And she said systems. And I was like, what systems? And she was like, well, you know, we have to like negotiate and show our worth now to like get our fees with the NIR. Difference. I was like, okay. And she told me, she told me this brokerage has a system where everything she does is tracked by the minute. So when, when she's done at the end, like she can show her clients the amount of time that she put in. And she's like describing to me how like you finish an email and you can assign it to a client and you finish a task and you, and I'm sitting there thinking like, that, that's a legal system. Like we do that already. Like all of us lawyers, like, you know, I take a phone call, the first thing I do, whether or not it's an hourly billable or not, I assign it to the client. I can see how much work I've put in. So I was like, yeah, I kind of told her, I was like, it's not really a new system. It's just that realtors are catching on that like it's not free, right? Like you need to value your time because regardless what you're doing, you're sacrificing something else.

Absolutely. Okay. So tell me a little bit about these. Well, actually we forgot to tell the audience where you're located. Where are you located, Diana?

Um, I am in Baltimore, Maryland. And I'm just putting my phone on do not disturb because I'm in the car. I'm in Baltimore, Maryland, so I'm on the East Coast, right? You know, next to DC. So we get kind of the rude DC people, but we don't have the purchase prices. So we love it here.

We love it. I think it's Baltimore, right?

Yes. I didn't grow up in Baltimore, so I can't to this day say it accurately, but you know, we do the crabs and the Old Bay.

And you have what used to be fantastic down there, the Oh my gosh, what's it called? The area down by the water. It just left my brain. I just went, we went down there.

Chesapeake Bay.

Where?

The Chesapeake Bay?

No, the commercial area down at the water. Inner Harbor. Inner Harbor. Thank you. See, I knew you could get it.

There you go. There you go.

It used to be amazing. Is it making any comeback yet? Because I know that area's been pretty devastated by lack of attention.

So we're seeing a little bit, I think we're seeing it and they're talking about it, but I just don't think we're seeing it fast enough.

Yeah.

You know, they are saying now that we can swim in the water. So there's that. I, you know, I've seen some people take that jump in there, but I personally like my life and will not be doing that anytime soon.

Yeah. Let's, let's let, let's let a little time pass before we do that.

All right.

So you're in Maryland and you take all these calls from realtors when they have their questions. What are the top questions you get from practicing realtors that need to know what to answer?

So, you know, realtors, I think there's, there's two problems that they have and they're not legal problems. The first problem I think realtors have is that they get emotional sometimes in transactions. I think that we care about, just like most realtors care.

Come on, girls. It's not sometimes, it's every freaking time.

So it's like personalities get the best of them. So I get a lot of phone calls where it's like, oh, like, what do I do in this situation? And like, this person wants to do X and it's against the law and XY wants to do this. And they get like very hung up and they give me these very long stories and God forbid they're like 15 minutes long. And my answer always is, What does your client want to do? And they're like, well, what do you mean? And I was like, it's not your life. What does your client want to do? Did you tell them it's illegal what they're asking them to do? And did you, did you disclose all of it? And then that's usually where the conversation ends because I think they just get so hung up in transactions. So a lot of that falls into it. And I think the second portion is that, you know, realtors kind of go above and beyond and then they get this situation where they call me and they're like, well, what do I do in a situation where somebody breaches a contract or these, all these issues? And I think they sometimes struggle with where is a realtor's job end and where do we say this is no longer my issue? I mean, I think from a marketing standpoint, you know, I was a realtor, I've been a realtor for 15 years. We tell people like, I'm your realtor for life. And I think we've taken that to heart and we've made it, I'm your friend for life. And it becomes really hard because who are good people and most, I mean, I think everybody's a good person, right? But like you spend, you sell them a house, it's a good 45 days of a relationship and then we market and try to stay within their lives for 3 years and then they pick another realtor, right? So like people, I think realtors just put their heart and soul into it sometimes and sometimes they call me for legal advice and the advice really is more about self-respect or boundaries or the ability of like, figuring out that sometimes it's not about what you're doing wrong, it's just about people are making their biggest purchases in their homes and, you know, it's hard to separate that. And of course there's, at least in Maryland, we're seeing a huge increase in permitting issues and flips and wholesales that are causing quite a lot of problems, more so than I've ever seen in previous years.

So now we are seeing several states outlaw wholesaling. Is Maryland going that route yet?

I think they will. I think that especially in the last year or two, we've seen an increase of just investors everywhere. And I think the problem is that where I sit, I'm seeing we're a buyer beware state, meaning that you buy the property, you buy it as is. It's very rare you can like get any sort of pivot after you're done or relief from the seller or anybody else. So I think the issue is that it's becoming is a lot of people who are wholesaling are also flipping or improving homes. Is they're literally going in with duct tape and then 3 years later this home is not done. And I think that something has to be done because either we need to raise the minimum requirement of what to code means, or, you know, we need to like change the wholesale environment. I think we're going to see a lot of backlash of that because I think most people, even, you know, in any industry, we hear like, well, I did what the law required or I built it to code. And I'm like, that's the bare minimum. That, that is not, you know, the bare minimum is to code.

Yes, it is not above code and code is a base baseline. It's not a quality custom product most of the time. And by the way, audience, if you have questions about what wholesaling is, there's a ton of episodes in the past few years with wholesalers. There are ethical wholesalers and there are unethical wholesalers, but you should pay attention to what that segment of real estate is just because it's becoming a legislative issue. And, and as you mentioned, Diana, it's growing and that's organic. When the economy is having hiccups, wholesaling to some people, they're like, you can give me cash today, then fine, you can have this house. And off they go. The reality is they may or may not know what the market value was, so they can't get it, but they're glad for the speed. And then the wholesaler may find another buyer. Or may flip it themselves. And that the flipping side of things is just a, that's a big question mark for a lot of people because there's a lot of lipstick on a pig going on when somebody has to renovate a house because they don't do it to a buyer's standard. So forget code, but what do you want when you buy a house? You want something you can depend on.

Yep. And I think it's difficult, right? Because I represent a lot of wholesalers too, and some of them are great, right? But there's a couple that I see when a home is listed, I'm looking at the picture, I was like, wow, this home is beautiful. And then, you know, we know, we know, I'll like scroll down and see the agent that's listed it. And I automatically know, like, I'm not showing my clients that home because that flip is lipstick on a pig. That agent represents this wholesaler. And I think he's a contractor and he's got 4 licenses. And then I zoom in on the pictures and I'm like, I don't even think that's done right.

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Oh, I always think about the, those who call it granite countertops when it's the granite tiles and they put the granite tiles down and they're not even level. It drives me completely nuts. But if I walk into a flip and I see that on the counter, I'm like, that ain't granite counters, people. And then I'm, I take my door back out the door because that tells me everything I need to know, which is, I mean, honestly, we all get these clues in life as to what kind of a, business person we're dealing with. And that's a big clue right there. But also, like you said, if one agent's representing one wholesaler over and over, that agent's reputation is tied to that wholesaler's reputation. So what do you tie yourself to? And I think we should all be asking ourselves that, whether it's your brokerage that you're affiliated with or your contractor, if you're a consumer, who your realtor is. Lots of questions.

So in Maryland, and I can't speak for every state, but I gotta tell like realtors, if you're involved with like flips, and wholesales and all of that, at least in Maryland, I will get phone calls and I'll do consults for like 30 minutes with somebody who's in an unfortunate situation 'cause the home is not good. And I gotta tell you, it's not 'cause I'm a bad lawyer, but like halfway through I stop listening to what they're saying 'cause it's the same story. It could be a, you know, a use and occupancy or it could be an electrical permit, but the issue's really the same. So their story is what they're going through, but the legal issue is once they're done talking, however long it takes them, My question is always, tell me about your contract. Is it an LLC seller or who is it? And then my next question is, is the realtor the same as the LLC? What is their affiliation? Do you see an affiliation in the contract? Because you know what, there's no laws on wholesales, but there's quite a lot of laws about what realtors are supposed to do and what they're supposed to disclose. And if you are making off, like making money off a wholesale and listing it for less money, because you've got some sort of I'm not going to call it, you know, a payoff, like whatever. We all know we do it legally, but whatever you're doing, if you have an affiliation, you're making money off that transaction, you're held to a higher duty just because you have a real estate license. And I got to tell you, most realtors do not like it because that's where I go. I don't go after the seller because good luck finding them or good luck finding the LLC, they close down. But the realtor's career is there. They've got a license. And if they were affiliated with that LLC or they made a profit or anything like that, Now I have statutes that have been ingrained in Maryland law for 20 years that say you've got a duty to clients. You've got a duty to consumers. And in Maryland, at least, the duty is to disclose material facts, which are defined as something you know or should have known. Do you have any idea as a lawyer the word should have known? Like, I was like, I should have done a lot of things. Let me just tell you how much I'm going to win this argument.

Well, you know, there's also a responsibility on the side of the buyer's agent too. I will use myself as an example. My— Investment LLC is selling a rental property right now. And in the MLS it says agent is owner down in little checkboxes, agent is owner. And this agent who reached out to me just ripping the house to shreds. She doesn't like the house. She doesn't like the neighborhood. And I was like, well, why, why are you showing it? Why are you asking me questions about the price? And she says, but you didn't tell me that you're the owner. Where's your disclosure? And I said, baby, it's, it's in MLS. Did you, did you read the MLS sheet? It's right there. I am as transparent as can possibly be, but she's using her lack of diligence and using it as a bullying tactic. So I have to look at that and say, well, if her buyer bought that house after she's trashed it, trying to beat me up on price, which is for the record, friends, not a great negotiating technique is to tell me how crappy my house is. That's a really great way to beat me up. But if he did buy it and was unhappy later, how much of it's going to fall on her for not reading anything and not telling him? Any of it?

Right. I mean, so, and that, that's the weird thing is like, you know, I love DocuSign. It's very convenient. I don't want to give shit on anybody who uses it.

I don't know. I feel like DocuSign too, but that scares the crap out of me.

Right. Like it's convenient, but here's the problem. Like at least in Maryland, right? We have a little checkbox that says the seller knows latent defects. And I feel like, you know, back in the day, you know, I'm not going to show my age, but I used to sit down with my clients and help them fill it out. Right. Like we used to like meet them and ask these questions. So there was an actual conversation for some of these things that we have to like do continuing legal education for all the time. But now we're checking the box off and doing either a phone call, a text message, or worse, none of it when we send our client these documents. And that's problematic. So, you know, when I run my brokerage, I always tell my agents, if you're doing DocuSign, you better have like a questionnaire, a job form, You better have something that your client acknowledged that they wrote it in there because if you don't have anything as a lawyer, I always, if I see DocuSign, my next step is again, I get more money attacking an agent and that's unfortunate because I have a real estate license too, but that's where the protections for consumers are. That's where in Maryland at least, that's where your biggest protection piece is.

So guess what?

When a seller says, I didn't know I had lead paint in the house. And I'm like, well, you checked this box off that you said no lead paint. "But you have this window thing you did a couple years ago that clearly says you had let pee." And they go, "I didn't check that box." Open the door to the agent right away. And it's just, it's not that we're bad agents, but we're easy targets. And that's where doing it by the book, especially with this changing of the tide, you have to do it. And in law school, one of my first classes that I took, my teacher taught me how to describe my work., and we just talked about doing fake consults and just saying, my price is X. And she, I remember she like belittled us because we would get so nervous to get to that conversation piece. But I, I always think realtors need to take this class too and don't, full disclosure, make your time worth it and do it right. You are worth, you know, whatever you wanna charge as long as you're doing it right. You're actually like doing all these things because your liability is so much higher.

I wish we would have that liability conversation more often. That's one of the biggest things that realtors carry on behalf of their clients. We have this E&O insurance because we are responsible for so much in the transaction. I don't even think most realtors understand how that interplay works or what their broker is carrying on their behalf. So can you speak to maybe what should agents know about the liability that they carry on behalf of their clients. And the reason I'm asking this question, there's a new space opening up and it's an old space that's come back and we can call that seller subagency, which is the buyer who comes in without any representation and then wants to make assertions. Now you're talking about vicarious liability waking back up. And I don't know that agents understand the risk of an unrepresented buyer. Can you speak to that and how they can mitigate that risk if indeed it is a do-it-yourself person?

So I gotta tell you, I am predicting 100% in the next 2 years, we're gonna see an increase of real estate commission complaints by like at least 80%, because I think this charted waters of people representing themselves, they don't realize how much liability that has. Because people don't know how to order Chinese food from Yelp, let alone like know how to figure out what they're writing in a contract.

Oh my God, that's the funniest analogy ever. And it's so perfect.

Like, I don't, I don't wanna be rude, but like, again, consumers, and they should, I'm not knocking this, consumers have to be protected. When you have a license, you are no longer considered a consumer. You are held to a higher duty. So when a buyer is unrepresented and they decide to do X, the problem is now you're in a hard space because if you refer it to your friend in your brokerage, just put a name on there, your friend may not be like into it. Now you have a dual agency issue, right? That they don't fully understand. Even if they sign the documents because they don't really fully comprehend it or, you know, there's so many issues that they're unrepresented and they ask you a question. Where disclosure is our friend. But if you're representing the other side and somebody's unrepresented and they say, do you have knowledge of X?

Well, what are you going to say?

You know, and it's, I'll just use a silly example because I don't want to use what I see in my like law firm, but like, you know, what if they ask you, has the seller seen ghosts in the house? It is such a ridiculous question, but did you know that Virginia requires disclosures if somebody thinks a house is haunted? Maryland doesn't.

North Carolina doesn't. Maryland doesn't either.

Nope. But like, that's what I'm saying. Like, it's such a ridiculous question. So like, now we're playing with ethics and religion to try to figure out if you believe in ghosts, because if that person is gonna like put oregano at the house and like the seller told you they're scared, like it gets so ridiculous so fast and it can get crazy. And I think you mentioned errors and omissions, so There's kind of two things I want to pivot into that. The first is our real estate group. I tend to be very ethical. I like to think that I do things right. I will tell you that I have a business partner and when an agent screws up, we never think, are we going to abandon the agent? But let me tell you, when the situation comes up, the first thing we do after we walk the agent through what to do and how to help them is we come off the books and we have a conversation with At what point are we going to let that agent hang? And it's not, it's not personal. I'm trying to help my agent. I'll be through them with thick and thin. But as a real estate broker, like, I also have kids and I also have situations. So it's not that I'm planning to abandon an agent who has like a complaint, but there's got, there's a conversation that's had, I think brokers don't talk about, which is at what point is your agent's culpability in X situation worth whatever they bring to the team. And I consult realtors on that when they get a real estate commission complaint. Like I had a realtor who's really high in, in the street here in Maryland and she makes her broker about $80,000 to $90,000 a year. But she, she did a, she made a really big mistake and it was, it was a mistake. I, I think every agent would've made that mistake. And I told her, look, intentions sometimes aren't enough and like, you're gonna get in trouble for this. And She's a phenomenal agent and I have no doubt that she did the best she could. And I told her at a certain point, if this escalates the way I think it does, is either you're going to have to say your broker didn't supervise you right, or they're going to say you weren't supervised or you didn't listen. Because if this keeps escalating, now we're talking about a lawsuit. And I had this conversation with her because I said, your broker's having it. Like, they're going to support you to a certain point, but if you're making them $80,000 a year, And this lawsuit is $1.3 million at a certain point, throwing you under the bus, right? Might, might be that conversation piece. And then the errors and omissions part that I think most people don't talk about is if I get errors and omissions in 2010, then you're an agent under me. I have to renew the errors and omissions every single year. And when I renew it, it covers me through 2010 and on. So if it's 2024, and I've paid through every year, renewed on time, and you've been an agent under me, you've been covered from 2010 to 2024. Now let's say I'm human and I make a mistake and I forget to renew, or my credit card gets declined, and all of a sudden I miss my insurance carrier notice or anything like that, and then they discontinue the E&O even for one day, right? And then I go back and I try to like recover it and I pay for it. That discontinuation actually now removes the E&O coverage you had from 2010 and on. And starts a whole new policy. Why does that matter is because if you're not getting your own errors and omissions insurance, you are basically waiting on your broker to cover you. And if you don't know these kind of questions, I ask these questions and brokers think I'm insane that I ask them. And I'm like, how do you renew your policy every single year? You know, like, is it automatic? Like, do you make sure that it's done? Because if they let it slip even for a couple days, that coverage doesn't go back, it just restarts.. And at least in Maryland, statute of limitation is 3 years or 2 years depending on the situation, but it's from time of discovery. So you could have sold a house in 2010, they discovered something in 2014, they might sue you in 2017, like almost 7 years later. And if your broker accidentally let go of that errors and omissions insurance, now you don't have insurance for that transaction that was 2010, even though you did have it at that time. So it gets very tricky. I personally, I'm a real estate broker, but I also have errors and omissions insurance on myself personally, on my team, because I figured the brokerage is going to cover the brokerage first and then you. So when you have an issue and they, and the errors and omissions insurance is like, don't worry, we got a lawyer for the brokerage. It's a lawyer for the brokerage. It is not your lawyer. If you didn't sign a retainer, it's not your lawyer. Errors and Omissions might be paying it on your behalf, but they're representing you and the brokerage. Their insurance is always going to cover you and the brokerage, and sometimes you're not aligned.

Okay, that's fascinating to learn. And now I'm sitting here wondering if E&O companies don't really want to alert you to your renewals so they don't have to cover all those old years. And especially as we see The lawyers and the lawsuits continue to proliferate since they're basically chumming on blood in the water right now. So I would say if you're a consumer, you could even ask the agent you're interviewing, what does your E&O coverage look like? Is it continuous or is it new? I think that's a pretty smart question. And if you're an agent, you better be asking this of your broker so that you know what your coverage looks like. That is fascinating to learn about.

And that's the other thing is I think people don't realize they can get their own errors and omissions and it's not that expensive.

Right.

I know you, you were probably paying like $15 a month for your errors and omissions. You can get the same exact thing that covers you personally for the same amount. And I think you should have both. I don't think you should limit it to one because, you know, you are under the brokerage and you yourself are a person too. And I will 100% out myself and tell you that I had a brokerage and I let the errors and omissions insurance slip.

Well, that's why you know it so well.

Well, no, I knew it beforehand.

I mean, life is a great teacher, right?

Like, I knew it beforehand. It's not like I didn't know, but like my insurance guy, I have an insurance guy and every year he sends me all my policy renewals and I sign. Like, I, I don't go online. I don't renew online. I have somebody I trust. Like, that's the type of thing I have. Well, he got diagnosed with cancer and missed the deadline. So I missed the deadline. Is it his fault? No, it's mine. Right? It's fine. There was a lot of things that occurred, but then now I knew that my errors and omissions restarted. So I did try to like save it and errors and omissions were like, nah, we can't backtrack it. Right? So I knew this and I had this information in my brain and chose not to tell my agents because I was like, well, I'm just gonna panic everybody and it's not gonna change the outcome. If they get sued, I'm gonna have to disclose it at that time too. But it's something that like sat so uneasy with me. And I gotta tell you, I know this information and I'm very tight-lipped. I'm 100% sure that if I'm making that mistake or I had that mistake happen to me one time, other brokers have also made that mistake and probably didn't realize, you know, the scope of the mistake because I know it 'cause I'm a lawyer, right? Like I knew exactly what it meant when I like expired or like I had to renew. But another broker might not even realize how important that like, continuation of coverages.

Well, we can just add that to the list of surprising little tidbits about the business that agents should know, brokers should be talking about, and the consumer should be aware of as you figure out your real estate space. Diana, if anybody wants to reach out to you, what's the best way for them to find you and your 7 companies and 3 kids?

So this is insane, but I give my cell phone number on everything I do, and this is actually my cell phone number. It's 443- 739-6724. Do not text me at 3 in the morning because you and I are not going to be friends, but I believe in fully just disclosing and call me if you want to have a conversation. Outside of that, my website is DK, my initials, DKLawMD is in Maryland.com. It has my office line on there. So if you don't want to bother me on my cell, just go to that website and I'm sure you'll tag me through this podcast as well.

Absolutely. In fact, we're going to have all your contact information in the show notes for this episode. And if you are looking for somebody to give you some counsel on building businesses or on the legal side of real estate, and you're wanting to engage the kind of attorney that's going to know the business, I think we've got a great resource for you here. Diana, thank you so much for coming on the show and for giving us a few minutes out of your busy morning.

Of course, I appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Hopefully see you again sometime.

Thank you. All right. Bye.

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