Real estate license requirements for private consultants?

[JCX Consulting]

Hi everyone,
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but only one way to find out
I am a newbie based in Europe. My partner and I are property investment consultants and we want to help some of our clients invest in land in the USA in multiple states. All of our clients are also outside the USA. The question we have is would we need to have real estate licenses to do this? We do not charge the seller any commission whatsoever we only charge our clients a small consultancy fee to set the deals up. We simply act in an advisory capacity in much the same way as a lawyer does.
We would not wish to break the law so any help or pointers would be hugely appreciated.Many thanks in advance.
Katherine Annerley

[Hemlock140]

I'm in commercial real estate, and in our state there is actually no licensing or degree required to be a consultant as long as you are not taking commission or acting as a sales or renting agent. It's suggested that you at least get a certificate with the International Association of Real Estate Consultants or membership into the National Association of Realtors (NAR) as a way of helping to promote your expertise. I can't speak for other states, some may have requirements, you would have to check laws for the individual states that you would be working on.

[Silverfall]

In Oregon, you have to have a real estate license for "professional real estate activity" in which you are paid.

Here is the definition in our statutes.

“Professional real estate activity” means any of the following actions, when engaged in for another and for compensation or with the intention or in the expectation or upon the promise of receiving or collecting compensation, by any person who:
(a)Sells, exchanges, purchases, rents or leases real estate;
(b)Offers to sell, exchange, purchase, rent or lease real estate;
(c)Negotiates, offers, attempts or agrees to negotiate the sale, exchange, purchase, rental or leasing of real estate;
(d)Lists, offers, attempts or agrees to list real estate for sale;
(e)Offers, attempts or agrees to perform or provide a competitive market analysis or letter opinion, to represent a taxpayer under ORS 305.239 (Qualifications of persons representing taxpayer) or 309.100 (Petitions for reduction of property value) or to give an opinion in any administrative or judicial proceeding regarding the value of real estate for taxation, except when the activity is performed by a state certified appraiser or state licensed appraiser;
(f)Auctions, offers, attempts or agrees to auction real estate;
(g)Buys, sells, offers to buy or sell or otherwise deals in options on real estate;
(h)Engages in management of rental real estate;
(i)Purports to be engaged in the business of buying, selling, exchanging, renting or leasing real estate;
(j)Assists or directs in the procuring of prospects, calculated to result in the sale, exchange, leasing or rental of real estate;
(k)Assists or directs in the negotiation or closing of any transaction calculated or intended to result in the sale, exchange, leasing or rental of real estate;
(L)Except as otherwise provided in ORS 696.030 (Exemptions) (12), advises, counsels, consults or analyzes in connection with real estate values, sales or dispositions, including dispositions through eminent domain procedures;
(m)Advises, counsels, consults or analyzes in connection with the acquisition or sale of real estate by an entity if the purpose of the entity is investment in real estate; or
(n)Performs real estate marketing activity as described in ORS 696.600 (Definitions for ORS 696.392, 696.600 to 696.785 and 696.995).

M seems to be the closest to what you are asking about?

[OPRFmama]

What you’re describing would amount to the unlicensed practice of real estate which is most definitely illegal. The US is huge and each of the 50 states have their own licensing requirements. You’d need to be licensed in each of the states you’re transacting in.

[Flamingo13]

OP is in Europe!

[dontaskwhy]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

OP is in Europe!

Which doesn't make the answer in the prior post any less true.

[twingles]

Probably going to be very confusing for the OP to realize that many laws in this country are by state, not by the US government. Real estate is one of those areas.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by Flamingo13

OP is in Europe!

It depends on what exactly they will be doing to set the deals up.

[escanlan]

Originally Posted by JCX Consulting

Hi everyone,
Not sure if this is the right place to ask this question but only one way to find out
I am a newbie based in Europe. My partner and I are property investment consultants and we want to help some of our clients invest in land in the USA in multiple states. All of our clients are also outside the USA. The question we have is would we need to have real estate licenses to do this? We do not charge the seller any commission whatsoever we only charge our clients a small consultancy fee to set the deals up. We simply act in an advisory capacity in much the same way as a lawyer does.
We would not wish to break the law so any help or pointers would be hugely appreciated.Many thanks in advance.
Katherine Annerley

In Texas with your general description of services you would be required to hold a Real Estate license. This is the page to the Texas Real Estate Commission rules/laws describing this. You can read through it to determine if there is a way around these for what you would like to do.


https://www.trec.texas.gov/agency-in...s#section535.4 .

[Brandon Hoffman]

If I'm gonna be honest, I don't want non-US based investors buying land in the USA as an investment. I see no good long term benefit for actual US citizens in that scenario.

But to answer your question, yes, you would need a license if you're representing someone in a real estate purchase.