This afternoon a gentleman walked into my brokerage looking for the an agent. My assistant approached the gentleman to greet him when he said that he had some leads and he was looking for an agent to work with that will pay him for giving the leads.
Right when he said that she sensed something fishy and wouldn't let him talk to me. He asked her three times if she was licensed. She took him into the conference room to get a little more information on what he was looking for. He said that he had people looking to buy and friends looking to sell and that he was looking for someone to work with him that will pay him his cut for finding the leads. Her first instinct was to ask if he was looking for a referral and if he was licensed. In fact he was not licensed and would not say how much of a cut he was looking for.
She came into my office and let me know who he was and what he was looking for. I greeted the gentleman and told him that I could not legally pay him a commission because he was not licensed. There is really one legal way to handle what he is looking to do. He would need to have an agreement between him and the buyer where the licensed agent gives up part of their commission to be paid to the buyer at closing. Once they close the buyer can pay the gentleman what they agreed upon. If this gentleman is legitimate he'll have a tough time finding an agent who is willing to give up their part of the commission. The best thing for him to do would be for him to get his license so he can handle it himself, after-all he said his leads were a week old.
I thanked the gentleman for coming in and wished him luck in what he was trying to accomplish. These are desperate times and this gentleman is either a con man or someone from the state looking for agents who do this to stop these illegal transactions.
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