Watch out for Agent Half-Truths

Half-truths are statements designed to get you to believe something that isn’t true. They are made by some agents to get you to make a decision that they want or one that favors them. It works by giving you half of the story, leaving out inconvenient facts that would lead you to believe other than the way the agent wants. You assume you are getting all of the information, and act logically based on what you have been told. But with only half of the facts, the incomplete picture will lead you to a conclusion that is not really true. These agents defend themselves by saying they never actually made the untrue statement. They say they can’t control what you think, and it was your fault for making the wrong inference. But if this conduct is intended to deceive, it is the equivalent of fraud. As stated by Prosser – the expert in this area: “[h]alf of the truth may obviously amount to a lie, if it is understood to be the whole.” Torts, 5th Ed. For an example of half-truths, how to spot them, and the difference the Broker-Attorney Advantage makes, ask me for my article, Five Things Agents Won’t Tell You.