Real Estate Brokerage Insurance in Washington State

A real estate brokerage in Washington carries a fundamentally different risk profile than an individual agent. As the designated broker, you are legally responsible for supervising every transaction your affiliated agents handle. Under RCW 18.85, the designated broker bears supervisory liability for agent conduct — a missed disclosure, a misrepresented property condition, or botched earnest money handling generates a claim against your brokerage, not just the individual agent. This vicarious liability scales directly with agent count and transaction volume. A 50-agent brokerage closing 500 transactions per year has an enormous surface area for professional liability claims.

Errors and omissions insurance is the single most critical coverage for any Washington real estate brokerage. E&O claims typically arise from failure to disclose material defects, misrepresentation of property boundaries or square footage, errors in contract preparation, missed contingency deadlines, and improper handling of dual agency situations. Washington's Form 17 seller disclosure requirements are extensive, and any gap between what was disclosed and what the buyer later discovers can become a lawsuit naming both the listing agent and the brokerage. In the Puget Sound market, where median home prices exceed $700,000, even a minor disclosure error can generate claims well into six figures.

Cyber liability has become an urgent concern for real estate brokerages. Your firm handles sensitive financial information on every transaction — Social Security numbers, bank account details, and closing documents. Wire fraud schemes targeting real estate closings have exploded, with criminals intercepting emails and redirecting earnest money to fraudulent accounts. A single successful attack can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and Washington's data breach notification law (RCW 19.255.010) imposes compliance obligations when client data is compromised.

General liability and commercial property coverage protect your physical office and visitors. Clients, open house attendees, and delivery personnel all create premises liability exposure. The combination of professional liability, cyber risk, premises exposure, and employment obligations makes brokerage insurance a multi-layered necessity that no designated broker should operate without.