I fully understand the risk of lawsuits and appreciate the impact they can have on agents. However, I stand by my earlier statement. On a number of occasions I have asked agents why I have to pay such a high commission and every single time the answer has been that they face a huge the risk of lawsuits. Do all agents use this as a sales tactic? No. Do many use it to try to use it to justify what most people consider sky high commission fees? Yes.
IMO, the risk of such a lawsuit is mitigated by insurance that I assume all agents and brokers maintain. And I assume that the ‘risk of a lawsuit’ is not solid enough justification for me paying 6% fees on the sale of my home. If I were to pay $15,000 in fees on a home sale, how much of that is actually going to pay for insurance or into a fund to help pay for the fees associated with a lawsuit?
I’m open to changing my mind here. Again, how many lawsuits have you been involved in during your past 100 sales? And of the fees realtors charge, what percent of that fee goes to lawsuit insurance?