An acquaintance of mine has a "stop foreclosure" type company and has asked if I would work for him, going door to door soliciting people about to loose their homes to foreclosure. In addition to making money by getting a customer to sell their home to us, I would also have the opportunity to be the listing agent on the deal when his company goes to sell the house. I don't have my real estate license yet, I will be getting it in the next week.

So my question is: Is it okay for me as a licensed agent to solicit on behalf of my acquaintance’s company and then be the listing agent when it is time to sell the house?

I should note that his company isn't the type that scams people, having them believe that they are going to be able to keep their home. He makes it clear to customers that he is going to purchase their home, thereby stopping the bank from foreclosing. He gives the customers cash and helps them move into a new place.

I suppose I could just ask my broker, but I thought I would check with you guys first. Thanks for your help!

I don't know about Washington, but in California it is illegal for a licensed agent to be paid directly for real estate services. It is also illegal for a licensed agent to work for more than one broker. I don't see how this arangement can fit that model. On the other hand... if you're getting listings, I'd bet your broker would be glad to work something out.

It is also illegal in Washington to work for more than one Broker, as well as Brokers are the only one who can receive compensation.

Your post is not very clear,is your FRIEND a broker that buys houses or just an investor with no liscense.It sounds like he is just an investor.

If you were going to get people under contract then you don't need your friend,you can just assign the contract for a fee to him or other investors in the area.

You really need to look at if you want to be a real estate agent or not,alot of things you can do in re investment you cannot do as an agent because of our ethics decree.

If you just want to be a bird dog or scout and just locate properties and put them under contract you don't need a liscense for that just knowledge of writing contracts.

If your friend is a broker you should get a commission when he buys and also when he rehabs and sells,there are no free lunches in this world.You will soon learn working with investors can be very profitable as they buy muliple properties in a year which means multiple commission checks,having said that investors can be sometimes and untruthfull and devious buch that would turn on there family for a nickel.

What investors really want is you to locate and give them access to the properties they want to buy and write the contract,if they didn't need you to do that you would be unessary to them.

This is why especially if you are new seasoned investors will call new agents and get info on properties and you will show them the properties and they will say"oh i am not interested in this one but thanks!"

A few weeks later they will buy it outright from the fsbo to save the commission.If they won't sign an eba agreement kick them to the curb.All an eba says is the properties i show you if you buy i will get paid my commission.If an investor isn't willing to be straight up and do that you have already found out his initentions and let someone else be the sucker who works for free.good luck

Thanks for the help, let me clarify.
My friend is not a broker, just an investor who wants me to go door to door following up on leads he provides. He is offering to pay me a percent of the equity if the homeowner agrees to sell their house to the investor. I understand that I can do this now...going door to door, I don’t need a RE license to do so. I guess what I'm confused about is if it is okay for me to not only solicit on behalf of the investor, but also list the house for the investor once I get my license. It probably is a gray area concerning RE ethics.

I dont see a problem with what you are doing, as long as you are VERY CLEAR with all of your disclosures. You are essentially working for your 'friend' as a buyers agent, searching for a home. You will then be the listing agent, once you find a home owner willing to sell. As long as you are clear with both parties that you will be acting as a dual agent, you should be ok. The gray area, as I see it, is whether or not you should be going door to door soliciting real estate business without a license. In CA you cant represent someone in a Real Estate Transaction if you are not licensed. I would run this by your broker before you commit to doing anything. He/she is the final say on what you can do becuase he/she will be essentially taking on the liability for your actions. Good luck.
------------THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE------IT IS ONLY MY OPINION-------------

You can talk to the owner of the house facing foreclosure, but if you facilitate the sale to your friend, it needs to go through your broker with the appropriate commissions, rules, ethics, etc. All relationships need to be disclosed. If your intent is to sell to the friend directly, I would disclose that to the owner of the property that your are representing XYZ company as a buyer's agent. Dual agency is illegal in Texas. The buyer is the client, the owner is a customer. In Texas you can be an itermediary, but with the prior relationship with the buyer, that may be foggy if ever taken to arbitration.

Most realtors who have been in business for any time at all are on the lookout for listings for our investor properties. I have one investor who has purchased more than 20 properties that I have either listed or found...all going through the broker.

There is no reason why you could not list the houses also, again through your broker.