Errors and Omissions Insurance for Real Estate Appraisers

General Star intends to make insurance available to appraisers at an affordable premium. Claims made by the FDIC would impact the frequency, severity and claim patterns under the program, driving up premiums.

The Regulatory Action Exclusion Endorsement will apply to applicants with a Retroactive Date/Prior Acts Date prior to 8/1/2008. The FDIC provides deposit insurance. The losses incurred by the FDIC from failed banks are enormous, which is why the federal government has a prominent role in affording this type of insurance. Claims made by the FDIC would further exacerbate the frequency, severity and claim patterns under the program. General Star intends to make insurance available to appraisers at an affordable premium. The Regulatory Action Exclusion on our policies would make it clear that there will be no contribution of the premiums and limits of the Appraisers E&O policies to subsidize the FDIC’s insurance program.

General Star's Regulatory Action Exclusion has an exception that grants $25,000 toward defense cost for claims brought by or on behalf of the FDIC (or similar entities). The legal defense sublimit is valuable and can be used to hire defense counsel who can explain insurance coverage is unavailable for claims brought by or on behalf the FDIC (or similar entities).

Your premiums are based on overall loss/claim experience in your state. Premiums are not based on individual claim activity. Based on our program eligibility requirements, an applicant must be free of board investigations, disciplinary actions and claims in order to participate in our program. Essentially all of our Insureds start out claim free, unfortunately during the course of a year many of our Insureds will become involved in a claim matter. The premiums on the program are based on the overall loss/claim experience in your state; premiums are not based on individual claim activity.

Our two-tier rate approach allows us to keep rates as competitive as possible. As a result of the dramatic shifts in the real estate market, the majority of claims we receive stem from appraisals performed from 2005 to mid 2008.

The economic recession and real estate market conditions have triggered an increase in the number of claims made and the severity of claims made against appraisers and other professions serving the real estate industry. In addition, Appraisers E&O insurance has typically been subject to what is known as a very short “tail” period; on an active Appraisers E&O policy we’d expect to see claims derive from appraisals performed in the prior two to three year period. So, on a Appraisers E&O policy written or renewed in 2011, we would expect to see claims on appraisals performed in 2010, 2009 and to a lesser extent 2008.This has changed drastically, in 2011 the overwhelming majority of claims we see arise out of appraisals performed during the real estate boom years of 2005, 2006, 2007 and to some extent 2008. We are still seeing the fallout from the housing and mortgage crisis.

We have implemented a rating structure that takes into account the retroactive date or the prior acts coverage afforded under a policy. We are still a market for appraisers with retroactive dates prior to August 1, 2008, however we must charge a premium that is commensurate with the above average exposure presented by appraisals performed during the real estate boom years. In many states our rates have either remained the same or decreased for appraisers with a retroactive date of August 1, 2008 or later, as we see fewer claims derived from appraisal work performed mid-2008 and later.

We have also taken steps to improve coverage afforded under our program including doing away with the deductible ($0 deductible applies to all Insureds) and the addition of subpoena assistance and data privacy breach coverage.