Posted by John Merchant on August 25, 2003 at 11:08:50:
This depends on your state’s laws regarding who can legally get paid for “connecting” a buyer and seller.
in the state of WA, for example, a licensed RE Broker or Agent CAN legally do whatever he/she wants with his commission money after he’s paid. If he/she wants to drink it away, throw it down a gutter, or split it with a “birddog” no problem.
In other states this might not be legal, and anybody getting paid a commission, had better be a RE licensee.
One normally used way to get around this problem, is for B to have contract to buy from S, than assign that contract to B2, for a higher price, and keep the difference. This way, both B & B2 are principals, nobody’s an agent, so no licenses are required.