Does taking 30% of someone's assignment fee make me a broker?

Question

An investor I know through my exam prep group asked me to bring my contacts to his deals. His offer is 30% of whatever assignment fee he collects, and he says I never touch the contract so there's nothing to license. My understanding was that getting paid to find a buyer for a property somebody else controls is the exact thing the license is for. He says no, because he owns the equitable interest and I'm just a marketing partner. I don't want to blow up my application over a few hundred dollars in referral money. What's the actual line here?

mitchell_ray4 · Answer

The version I've heard that seems to hold up is the difference between being on the contract and being paid to sell somebody else's. If you're a named party or in a written JV that puts you into the deal as a principal, that's one thing. If you're outside it and getting a cut for producing a buyer, that starts to look like compensation for brokerage in a lot of states, and the statutes are not written the same way state to state. Your commission's licensing division probably has a plain-language page on unlicensed activity, and with an application pending I'd ask a real estate attorney in your state before the first check, not after.

Does taking 30% of someone's assignment fee make me a broker?

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