As a licensed Florida Real Estate Sales Associate, How and where may I lawfully get involved?
As a licensed Florida Real Estate Sales Associate, How and where may I lawfully get involved? I have read that you must be licensed with securities to accept finders fees from the developers as are the finders / Agents. So what are my boundaries as far as what I can and cannot do and expect compensation for. This article explains it. Please advise.
http://www.law360.com/articles/472221/5-tips-for-incorporating-eb-5-into-real-estate-projects
"Beware of “Finders”
As EB-5 financing has grown in popularity among developers, a cottage industry of so-called finders willing to market regional center projects and solicit investments from foreign and immigrant investors for a fee has begun to flourish.
Under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's broker-dealer rules, developers cannot pay commissions or finders fees to people either in the U.S. or based in foreign countries helping to sell these securities. This is perhaps the most often-violated rule in EB-5 transactions, according to Catherine DeBono Holmes of Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP, because self-described finders often do not have a license to sell securities.
“People wholly engaged in soliciting who are based outside the U.S. are not subject to U.S. registration as broker-dealers,” but those based in the country do, she said.
Violation of this rule often happens inadvertently, Holmes said, because finders based in the U.S. don't realize that even if they are selling overseas, they are typically subject to U.S. broker-dealer regulations."
http://www.law360.com/articles/472221/5-tips-for-incorporating-eb-5-into-real-estate-projects
Answers
Be very cautious as to what you do -- you may have to be registered as a broker-dealer. In essence, if you are seeking out investors, you are an adviser of sorts. Make sure you speak to counsel who can more detail what limits you have. Your part may simply be in an underlying real estate sales project.
You cannot participate in the offer or sale of a passive investment opportunity managed by someone other than the investor without being securities broker licensed, unless you are an officer of director of the company offering the investment and you do not receive transaction-based compensation.
You could only be involved with the procurement of a real estate deal in Florida. The rest is off limits.
You are totally correct. Unlicensed people are unfortunately "selling" EB-5 securities without even realizing that they are engaged in a sale of security event. As a result, they are in clear violation of security laws. Being licensed to sell real estate does not grant permission to sell securities. To do that, you need to be registered and sponsored by a security dealer.
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