Broker license portability

For real estate services firms that handle properties in various parts of the country, license portability is of vital concern.


from Commercial Property News, September 1, 2006


"License portability gives a real estate licensee the freedom to provide transactional services in a state other than the one in which he is licensed, provided that the service company individual works in concert with a locally licensed individual in the partner state. For example, if the originating broker is licensed in California, but it working on a property in Ohio, the partner must be licensed in Ohio.


In some states, this law ties the hands of real estate service providers that do not have offices – and thus do not have locally licensed brokers – in the distant market in which they are pursuing a transaction.


In these situations, brokers have to be in compliance with each state's statutes.


Some localities were able to get the law altered during the past few years. The National Association of Realtors continues to categorize 5 states as turf states – those that prevent out-of-state licensees from providing services on transactions, leaving the company no choice but to refer its clients or transactions to local brokers.


5 Turf Territories: Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, Pennsylvania.


24 states are deemed cooperative, simply requiring the involvement of a local-partner licensee in the deal: Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Washington, Wyoming.


Regulations in the remaining 21 states and DC – categorized as physical locations – require that the out-of-state licensee be physically located in the state in which it is licensed: Alaska, Arkansas, California, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin." for more information see; www.houstonrealtyadvisors.net
or www.houstonrealtyadvisor.com