I’ve been given the “I must charge 6% to cover the high cost of errors and omissions insurance” line. My agent told me her broker said she could not lower her commission, because the E&O insurance was too high and they must charge enough money to cover that fee. Sounds convincing, right? But it’s not true.

When an environmental consulting firm (very high legal and professional risk) can buy a $10 mil E&O policy for a few grand a year, I am sure a realtor pays less than that. When my husband heard her claim that they need thousands of dollars per house to pay the insurance, he said he wouldn’t list his house with a liar. So we didn’t use ReMax, and listed with HelpUSell. The HelpUSell broker confirmed that the true cost of E&O is a few hundred bucks a year, and they’ve never been sued.