Beware of selling your own home FSBO even if you are an inactive agent

You are right.  Most FSBOs either overprice or underprice their home. Pays to have an active professional agent.

This is a good warning, Hella as I am sure many of us were not aware of the possible violation.

Very interesting.  It sounds like a rather tough law, but I can see where it is necessary.  Good for HI!

If their license is still active, seems the best way to do it is to join a Referral Program, refer the deal to an Agent, and receive a referral fee.  Coldwell Banker offers a referral program like that.

Hella .wise words .it seems agents can't win. We are held liable for just about everything

So important to know ALL of your individual state laws before writing up any contract! GREAT post.

Hi Hella.  I cannot seem to find a specific law or regulation in California whereby an agent cannot market their own property as for sale by owner.  BUT, for REALTORS (which I belong to), I am bound by at least the following Code of Ethics pertaining to at least the disclosure of my being a REALTOR (agent/broke) in my own transactions:

Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
of the National Association of REALTORS®

Article 4
REALTORS® shall not acquire an interest in or buy or present offers from themselves, any member of their immediate families, their firms or any member thereof, or any entities in which they have any ownership interest, any real property without making their true position known to the owner or the owner's agent or broker. In selling property they own, or in which they have any interest, REALTORS® shall reveal their ownership or interest in writing to the purchaser or the purchaser’s representative.

Great advice, Hella - agents have an ethical and legal responsibility to disclose that they are licensed.

Excellent advice for those outside of Hawaii as well, Hella.  I've seen a lot of pretty costly mistakes made by inactive agent FSBO's.

We don't have to disclose it here in Florida if the home belongs to us.  How stupid is that?  A lot of agents exploit that fact too.

Hella

The law in that state is still ridiculous. Where is their jurisdiction over a licensee or ex-licensee in another state. I for one would take the state to a federal court if I were doing business there as a principle in the transaction and test the law. And to flip the coin I'm sure if I advertised a property as a fsbo by licensed California broker would draw complaints from the licensees in Hawaii even though trying to comply with the law. 

Secondly I don't know that state's laws but I assume they are like any other state where the broker is the licensed agent to do business with the public and the salesperson is only licensed to be an agent for the only real agent, the broker. So a former salesperson has never had the legal status of being a agent for the public only for a broker. And for example a suspended licensee or revoked has had their legal right to be an agent legally taken away from them. It appears the law may have been motivated by active brokers seeking to try and eliminate some of their competition, no matter how slight. I don't know the statistics for each state but in two I know of 1 out of 10 adults has or had a real estate license and in another it was 1 in 6, so a large number of people as potential fsbos and competition.

For those of you still unsure of California. No state statute requires a licensee to disclose their license status when acting as a principle. As I stated the only rule applies to Realtors per the code of Ethics and I can't lose my license for violating the code of ethics, only my status as a member the MLS, and I for one would like to see the NAR set up as it was originally intended which was to be an organization consisting of the real estate boards not all the members of those boards but the boards only, but I'm sure the lure of big bucks from all those individual members was just to much to resist.