Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My husband and I are offering our friends, family and neighbors $300 for the first person to find a buyer for our home in NC to be paid upon closing. I am starting to hear that referrals paid to anyone except a RE agent are illegal. Is that true? I can see there being limits what gets paid by RE agents but on the homeowners themselves? TIA for any info...
In Oregon you can't pay anyone who isn't licensed a fee in order to conduct "real estate activity." Finding a buyer for your home would be construed as real estate activity.
They could get a civil fine for conducting real estate activity without a license.
How about a coupon to a really nice restaurant, concert or nice hotel room for a Saturday night?
If your doing this for a close friend or family I believe you'd be OK. Go with the military motto - Don't ask, Don't tell.
You mean that you're going to give a gift to the wonderful person who was kind enough to help you sell your home. This isn't an employer/employee situation.
I'm actually not sure about this. A licensed person cannot share their commission with an unlicensed person in most cases (although in Idaho we can share with either the buyer or seller). I think we are all agreed on that. But in this case, it is the unlicensed seller who is wanting to pay the bird dog fee. Does that make any difference in NC? I don't know. All the Idaho laws I can find refer only to "licensed persons" not sharing with an "unlicensed person". I can't find anything that says an unlicensed seller cannot pay a bird dog fee.
You still have the "practicing real estate without a license" issue, but if all the person does is mention to a buddy at the bar "Joe has a great house he's trying to sell that might be what you are looking for, you should go talk to him", that probably doesn't violate anything. However, if you get people other than the seller doing things like advertising, then you have a big problem.
Note: I am not an agent, or a lender, or an attorney. You would be best served by looking up your local law or consulting a local attorney.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.