I agree that an agent that tries to justify their value because of the high cost of E&O insurance is a liar or uninformed. They are also incompetent and not worth what you pay them. I never made this claim and never have made this claim. This was something that was fabricated by PC and JES as an argument against me. The funny thing is that I still see 6% thrown around when it is not commonplace nor has it been common place for at least 3 years. It is something from the past that discount brokers like Help U Sell (and yes even SD Realtor on his website) use to claim they are saving people a specific amount of money. It turns my stomach every time I see a HelpUSell ad with a client claiming they saved $10,000 by not paying 6%. Virtually no one pays 6% and it is downright misleading and bordering on fraud for them to claim that people are saving this. They cover themselves by putting in fine print that the savings are based on a 6% commission rate.
My value is protecting my clients best interest and helping them to beat the market. If you looked at my track record it would be pretty clear that I have no problem justifying my earnings. Based upon what I see and have seen people pay for garbage I know this is not what you get from all agents.
BTW, good E&O insurance cost about $1300/year. I have seen numerous high quality agents that have been in the business over 10 years with the highest level of skills and ethics get pulled into mediation and arbitration every month.
