Realtors vs Unboarded Licensed Agents/Brokers

[Jonn Vidal]

Does your US state REQUIRE practising licensed agents/brokers to be members of a REALTORS® trademark brand/board?

Is it true MLS can fine brokers for any of its agents not having a paid REALTOR® endorsement??

What about in  other countries is there such a thing besides the licensing body usually department or bureau???

 

[Bruce Lynn]

I am no legal scholar, but the way I understand things, is that most residential brokers are members of the board. (Commercial is different, so probably many of them not members of the board and they don't use MLS.) If they are a member, their agents also have to be members. In some places they can have agents that are not members, but they can't actively help buyers or sellers or have access to the MLS. In my brokerage we call these referral only agents. So they can earn commissions, but can't actively participate, only earning referral fees. Some states don't allow that I believe.

Other countries....for the most part I think it is a free for all. No board, no MLS, no license, typically no buyer agency, no title insurance, no mortgages, buyers go unrepresented directly to the listing agent. Some countries like Japan and Singapore have licensed agents and that kind of makes sense. Some private companies have tried to create MLS in other countries (like HipFlat in Thailand and Dot Property Group in some SE Asian Countries, Cabo has somewhat of MLS system thru Point2 I believe, but all not quite like here. One issue is that many places have open listings, so that means compensation to the agent goes to whatever agent brings the buyer, so you'll get 10 or 100 agents all posting the same listing, so can be difficult for buyers to sort through. There are challenges in some places too....let's say in US every agent also needs background check and finger prints to get licensed, this helps because we can then access lock boxes on private occupied homes. Easier to show, typically would mean more showings, more buyers, higher sales prices. Some countries don't have background checks, so tougher to cooperate for showings and lockboxes and access.

All this may change in the coming years.  There are brokerages that are not members of the state or national associations in the US.  Many other countries trying to figure out how to have licensing and MLSs.