Legal Issues Of Being A R.e. Agent And Investor In Ca.
i'm new to real estate investing and i'm thinking of becoming an agent- to learn more and to get out of bartending. does anyone have any experience with doing both. can i still do lease options, sub 2's, etc. outside of work and not get in trouble? any info would be greatly appreciated. thanks. t.d.
2 big things an Agent has to always keep in mind:
1. Total open & honest written disclosure about everything the agent's doing, including the fact he/she IS a licensed agent...this does NOT mean, of course, that an agent must tell any seller that the agent is planning to make a profit on any RE that the agent might be buying from the seller...unless the agent is legal agent for that seller, in which case the agent's first legal responsibility is to the client, way ahead of agent's own self interest..
2. ALL RE business, for ANY agent, (except RE owned by that Agent) is owned by the Broker, and ANY RE dealings done by the agent MUST be known to and cleared by the Broker.
This does NOT mean if an agent wants to buy any RE the broker has to have a piece, or share, but agent must tell broker all about it BEFORE he/she gets involved...or does anything that could legally obligate the broker who's legally responsible for anything done by any of his/her agents.
With these things in mind, an agent can do anything a non-licensee can do, and is in a normally better position to see deals a'comin' down the road, and has the CE to keep him/her on top of legal changes, and constant input from other RE pros re improving his/her RE
know -how.
So IMHO there's more to gain than lose, in getting licensed, including LOTS of basic RE education & association with lots of other RE pros.
Go talk to some brokers and tell him/her what you're wanting to do...you'll find some people you'd really like to associate with, and some you won't like much...as in any business there are good and bad.
E.g., I have broker friend Maggie, in NV, who's educated a goodly number of the more successful commercial agents and brokers in NV, and whom everybody with a NV license listens to with lots of respect. So any new agent should look for a "Maggie" to associate & license with and learn from.
thank you both for the great info. so far that's 2 for, none against the idea of being an investor and agent. it seems that if i can find a broker/ investor to work for and learn from this could be of great benefit. thanks. t.day.