joethegent

Chris, I don't know about the laws in MA, but in California the law is pretty clear: If you are a principal in the deal, then you do NOT owe your broker a cent unless you decide to use one of his agent's as your representative or you are acting as an agent. I understand that you are a licensed agent and that you have hung that license under a brokerage, but that has nothing to do with properties that you decide to buy and sell as an investor. If you are placing these properties on the MLS in order to find a buyer, then I can see your broker qualifying you as an agent in the deal. But, if you are not utilizing any of the tools that are being made available to you as an agent by your broker in order to complete your personal investment deals then the bottom line is that once you have your lease option in place with the seller, you have become a PRINCIPAL in the deal, not an agent. At that point, you aren't really looking for a tenant for the seller, you are looking for a tenant for yourself because you now control the property and your broker has no right to ask you to pay him a percentage on those deals. If you are doing a Co-operative Assignment and just agreeing to find a tenant for the seller for a fee without putting your own L/O in place first, then yes, you are now acting as an agent and your broker should get a cut. Again, this is how it works in CA so I would definitely advise you to get some legal advice from a qualified expert on the laws in MA. Out of curiosity, does your broker take a cut from his agents when they decide to sell their primary residences too?!

Mike, I know I'm a noob on this forum, but I do know that what you have described is a short sale and it would have to be approved by the bank. It is a whole other ball of wax and it is best to just pass on these types of deals. Like Michael said, if your T/B decided to exercise their option and found out that they needed to go through the entire short sale process first (which takes on average between 6-9 months right now) before they could buy the house for the agreed upon price at the beginning of their lease, there would almost definitely be a lawsuit and you would almost definitely be included in it.