curious
do any of these companies have Real Estate licenses? I see on their sites consulting fee's and club membership and so on and so forth.
And can a foriegn national get a US RE license I need to check that out with my state board.
I know in my lending days there were a lot of property flippers and radio promoters who were basically selling real estate without a license and if they got turned into the agencies they were issues cease and desist's.
As putting a buyer and seller together and collecting a fee no matter how you couch it is what a RE licnese is for it allows you to make commissions representing either buyer or seller in a RE transaction.
And brings structure and regulation laws etc for the purpose of helping the publicSo just curious about how these companies are set up
I think these companies have their own US Realtors either paid by commission or some sort of pay arrangement. The US Realtors will negotiate the deal with the Bank's agent. These Aussie companies only bring foreign investors in the US, the deals are done by their own Realtors, Attorney, Building Inspectors etc., that what's I've experienced thus far using Buyer's agent.
So these fee's are probably paid out of the US jurisdiction. I know RE agents May NOT pay referral fee's to unlicensed people.
Other wise no one would need a real estate license right,
It seems if you are effectively breaking so many laws anyway it doesnt really matter – whats one more between friends? Working on this in a parallel universe. Why (in part) I have asked for rip off stories. Facts are needed to combat this, at the moment there is really no protection for either the consumer or the licences and careers of legitimate US realtors so the question must be asked ‘Why bother being licenced?’
As always, the honest guys seem to get hurt first and hardest. The argument seems to boil down to the fact it isnt illegal to charge commissions for something and the game of en mass foreign RE purchases is relatively new and brought about by an extreme set of circumstances. Who could have forseen forclosures on this scale? The law plays catchup and Uncle Sam is probably happy for the cash.
The stories I am aware of are appalling and are everything that consumer protection laws stamped out decades ago. However if everyone sweeps these things under the carpet then how can anyone expect ‘the law’ to help.
lawsjs
Well if anyone wants to crack down on the bad people in the business it would take complaints from those that have been injured to the following agencies.
1. department of Real Estate or division of finance in the particular state.
2. the states attorney generals office
3. The local real estate board.
Many US flippers got their hands slapped for unlicensed activities.
then there are work arounds to make you legal of course.
1. If these companies are actually taking title to the property then they are selling it to the client thats perfectly legal
2. If they are getting properties under constract either via a Purchase and sale agreement or lease option they can then assign those contracts for Fee's thats legal
However just putting a buyer together with a real estate agent in the US then charging them a facilitation fee or consulting fee for the purpose of acquiring Real Property is definatly something that requires a RE license, unless your work for a bank or other servicing company.
And for those who have bought direct from fannie freddie FHA or banks. Its why they no longer allow the and or Assigns clause in the contracts. Once you write a contract it must close with the entity that is in the origional contract. Then you have deed restrictions that do not allow flipping for a certain period of time for more than 20% great than you paid for it and or financing.
those last 2 rules have really helped to drive price's down One of the posters here asked why americans are not snapping these up. Because of this finance clause for one thing its not very well thought out on the feds part.
Most foreclosures need 10 to 20k in work.
so what US investors would do is go to hard money guy like me and borrow enough to buy and do fix up. And the fix up is usually more than 20% of the purchase price with this deed restriction we are restricked from making that loan so more equity is needed and of course US flippers are the kings of no money deals,,,, god forbid they might have to put 5 or 10k of their own money into a real estate transaction. And normally they take money out of the closings. Just like flipping properties to investors.
This had led to transactional financing IE one day loans. which cost a bunch.
JLH
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