Do I need a realtor’s license?

[alligatorob]

What is the name of your state?

Florida - Do I need a realtor’s license?

I have owned and rented out beach houses for years, in the process I have gotten pretty good at it. I am get more rent and rent more often than the local realtors who do not seem understand internet marketing. I am fairly certain this does not require licensure, but have only offered my own properties. I do have a Florida “Resort Rental” business license of the type designed for this purpose and regularly pay sales taxes on my rentals. These are liscenses issued to the owner of the home and apply only to that home.

I have been approached by owners of some neighboring houses and asked to manage theirs. I am trying to figure out what I can do legally without a realtor’s license. What I would like to do is post pages on my website advertising their homes, respond to inquires, send out contracts, collect deposits and rent, pay sales taxes, take my cut and then send the balance to the owners. What I would not do is the physical management of the property; I know others I would recommend to the owners to do that. If it made a difference I could probably make the contracts between the renter and the owners, and make it appear that the renters were communicating directly with the owners.

Do I risk running into problems if I do this without a real estate license? If so what part of this service can I offer without a license? I suspect that as soon as I start the local realtors will turn me in.

Thanks,

Alligatorob

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state?

Florida - Do I need a realtor’s license?

I have owned and rented out beach houses for years, in the process I have gotten pretty good at it. I am get more rent and rent more often than the local realtors who do not seem understand internet marketing. I am fairly certain this does not require licensure, but have only offered my own properties. I do have a Florida “Resort Rental” business license of the type designed for this purpose and regularly pay sales taxes on my rentals. These are liscenses issued to the owner of the home and apply only to that home.

I have been approached by owners of some neighboring houses and asked to manage theirs. I am trying to figure out what I can do legally without a realtor’s license. What I would like to do is post pages on my website advertising their homes, respond to inquires, send out contracts, collect deposits and rent, pay sales taxes, take my cut and then send the balance to the owners. What I would not do is the physical management of the property; I know others I would recommend to the owners to do that. If it made a difference I could probably make the contracts between the renter and the owners, and make it appear that the renters were communicating directly with the owners.

Do I risk running into problems if I do this without a real estate license? If so what part of this service can I offer without a license? I suspect that as soon as I start the local realtors will turn me in.

Thanks,

Alligatorob

**A: you can manage your own property but not property owned by others.
You could have easily found out the anser by calling a property management company of the state real estate licensing office.