EOforLess Enters Real Estate Industry with Groundbreaking “Click and Bind” Technology

EOforLess.com makes professional liability insurance buying easier, faster, and more affordable for low-risk brokers and broker-owners.

SAN DIEGO, CA, July 15, 2015— Real estate professionals are one transaction away from getting hit with a professional liability lawsuit. Always a risky business, selling real estate became even riskier after the 2007/2008 economic melt-down, the impact of which is still being felt seven years later.

As the market has continued to rebound, more real estate brokers and owners have protected themselves by purchasing professional liability insurance, also known as E&O (errors and omissions) insurance. Roughly half continue to do business without coverage, even though this greatly increases their risks of doing business. Real estate professionals tolerate this because buying real estate E&O is complex, time-consuming, and frequently unaffordable. No longer is that the case.

With the launch of EOforLess.com, real estate professionals who have battled the high cost and complexity of purchasing professional liability insurance now have a simpler way to buy. Sponsored by the National Ethics Association, EOforLess.com helps real estate brokers and owners purchase high-quality insurance protection at an affordable cost in five minutes or less.

“Significant numbers of real estate brokers and owners remain unprotected at a time when business risks continue to be high,” said Steven R. McCarty, Chairman, National Ethics Association. “One big reason is the purchasing process can be difficult and the costs can be out of reach for the average broker. EOforLess.com strives to meet both of these issues head on.”

Thanks to its convenient online shopping platform, brokers and owners no longer must fill out long, confusing applications or wait hours or days to receive an insurance quote. With its innovative e-commerce technology, EOforLess.com provides “click and bind” coverage, in minutes, with no hassles or hidden fees.

Striving to revolutionize the buying process for real estate E&O, the firm implemented several key innovations:

  • It simplified product choices so brokers can quickly determine the most appropriate coverage for their needs.
  • It eliminated the tedious process of filling out lengthy applications, replacing it with convenient online forms.
  • It simplified the underwriting process so that buyers must only answer a limited number of questions to qualify for coverage.
  • It ended the need for formal price quotes from insurers. The goal: to create an online “no-quote zone” where buyers can click and bind their coverage in five minutes or less, not hours or days.
  • To make professional liability insurance more affordable, the firm decided to serve only low-risk real estate professionals. Buyers must answer “no” to all nine risk-assessment questions in order to qualify for coverage. By screening out high-risk individuals, the insurer can keep premiums more affordable for all.

Although it recently added professional liability insurance for real estate professionals, San Diego, California-based EOforLess entered the E&O insurance business in 2008. Today, it provides E&O products for life and health insurance agents, property-casualty insurance agents, and registered investment advisors, in addition to serving real-estate brokers and owners in every state.

EOforLess and its affiliated website EOforLess.com are sponsored by the National Ethics Association, a trade group of financial professionals dedicated to promoting ethical and transparent business practices and to helping its members build and protect their online reputations.

A hallmark of the EOforLess.com approach is its commitment to work only with top insurers and program administrators. To this end, it has selected Liberty Surplus Insurance Corporation as underwriter and Arthur J. Gallagher & Company as broker and program administrator of its real estate E&O.

Rated A (excellent) XV ($2 billion or greater) by A.M. Best, Liberty Surplus is a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Insurance Company. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., an international insurance brokerage and risk management services firm, is headquartered in Itasca, Illinois and has operations in 25 countries around the globe.

The National Ethics Association’s sponsored real estate E&O policy includes limits of $1 million per claim and $1 million aggregate per insured member; including damages and claims expenses. It also provides a deductible of $2,500 per claim.

To learn more about the National Ethics Association’s sponsored real estate errors-and-omissions insurance policy, visit www.eoforless.com or call (866)440-3290.

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Sharks Swirling: Top Five Errors-and Omissions Prevention Strategies

It’s no secret that recent market cycles have created a financial blood bath. Millions of consumers lost trillions in net worth. People who work in real estate or investment banking have seen their livelihoods sink. And millions more Americans have lost their jobs and with them, their ability to stay afloat financially.

Well, you know what happens when financial catastrophe and water mix. You get a lot of blood in the water. And blood, along with survivors thrashing on the surface, attracts those who would benefit from misfortune—sharks.

In today’s environment, revenue-hungry attorneys or clients who are determined to recoup their losses can tear into and gut your business, chew up your net worth, and spit out your professional future.

So what to do? In times like these, your best defense is to triple-check your moral compass. If you continue to do business with a strong commitment to ethics and integrity, you will greatly minimize the odds of a “shark attack.”

However, doing business ethically is just the first step. The second is to purchase a high-quality errors-and-omissions (E&O) insurance policy that is properly designed for your type of business. Being insured won’t necessarily prevent an attack. But it will minimize the aftermath of one, allowing you to swim to shore and get on with your business and life.

However, even if you’re ethically grounded and protected with a good errors-and-omissions insurance policy, you’re still human. That means you may someday make a mistake that sheds client blood, potentially triggering a feeding frenzy. The best defense here is to E&O proof your business practices. Here are just a couple errors-and-omissions loss prevention strategies to consider:

  • E&O Prevention Strategy #1: Make sure your solicitation materials play it totally straight. You never want to misrepresent who you are, what you do, or what you sell.
  • E&O Prevention Strategy #2: Do a rigorous fact-finder and document the client needs you uncovered. Then link your recommendations to the client’s documented needs.
  • E&O Prevention Strategy #3: Educate your clients about what they bought. Make sure they understand what it does and doesn’t do, as well as all its moving parts, fees and expenses, and any underlying risks and guarantees.
  • E&O Prevention Strategy #4: Always stay in your area of expertise. Swimming in water that’s over your head is a recipe for flailing. And you know what flailing attracts.
  • E&O Prevention Strategy #5: Put everything in writing. Make sure your client file documents every key decision. Also make sure to document when clients decline important coverage, such as long-term care insurance. This will protect you from a beneficiary attack.

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These five techniques are clearly the surface of a very deep ocean. But here’s the key point: Train yourself to think defensively at all times, while remaining upbeat about the great work you do.

Finally, to prevent errors-and-omissions insurance claims, don’t get out of the water. Instead, swim in the right direction (ethics), with the right protective gear (errors-and-omissions insurance), and with the right strokes (best practices).

For great pricing on E&O insurance click here.
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