I’ve found a property on Craigslist in WA state that I may want to purchase. It’s being advertised on Craigslist (with the owner’s permission) by an unlicensed party. It turns out that the owner is a licensed real estate broker in WA and has also listed the property on the MLS. The craigslist ad discloses neither the owner’s RE licensure nor the property’s listing status.
Are the owner and/or unlicensed party running afoul of WA real estate law by doing this?
Hi,
No, as a property owner a real estate agent has the right to sell, option, assign or wholesale his or her own property. The agent listing it in the MLS has to disclose that "Seller is a Licensed Washington State Real Estate Agent or Broker".
To have an underlying deal to assign the property to a wholesaler or retailer who may find a buyer does not involve the sellers real estate license it only involves agreeing to sell the property for XXX,XXX dollars and allowing an underlying investor to make some kind of margin either by assignment, option, sandwich lease option or a master lease option depending on the underlying agreement.
There is nothing in the law saying a real estate agent with knowledge of creative real estate finance can’t allow an underlying party rights and agreement to sell the house for some underlying agreed amount.
Probable in this case for letting the underlying party acquire legal rights for 5% below the retail MLS asking price letting an investor with a big network make up to a 5% assignment fee.
GR
Agreed with Gold river…
It is not a legal way as a property dealer, as agent must have the right to sell orr assign…
The Real Estate broker owns a property. There are no special set of rules he must follow apart from disclosing his interest in the property when dealing directly with prospective buyers.
The RE broker is not running the ad - and so he is not involved in anything illegal there.
With respect to the advertiser on Craigslist - they can advertise the property in the same way as they would for any property - irrespective of whether the owner is a real estate agent or not.
Assuming there is the usual permission granted to the advertiser by the property owner there is nothing illegal with that