The Unlicensed Assistant, the Finder's Fee, and the Cash Deposit

Permissible for an unlicensed assistant (administrative/clerical, no license required): running an open house to greet visitors and hand out broker-approved, pre-printed materials; emailing the standard disclosure packet; scheduling showings; delivering documents; answering questions about the property that are answered on the pre-printed sheet.

Impermissible:

• "The seller will probably take $225,000." That is negotiating price and disclosing the seller's position - core brokerage activity. It also undercuts Dana's client.
• "The roof is only five years old - Dana checked." That is a representation of a material fact about the property, made by an unlicensed person to a lender, without documented verification. If it is wrong, it is a misrepresentation that reaches the buyer's financing file.
• Any opinion of value, any discussion of financing terms, or interpreting the purchase agreement.

Who answers: Dana and the supervising broker. Indiana license law places responsibility for the supervision of unlicensed staff on the licensee/brokerage, and "I didn't know what Kyle was saying" is not a defense when the texts are in the office phone. Corrective steps: a written script for open houses that routes all term questions to Dana, written office policy on unlicensed staff, documented training, and a supervisory review of outgoing communications. Repeat violations support discipline against the license, not just a warning to Kyle.

No - not directly, and not in that form.

Why: compensation for brokerage activity must flow through the employing broker. A licensee may not accept a fee for real estate services from anyone other than her brokerage; accepting Ron's check personally is a straightforward license violation regardless of what the work is called. Second, procuring a tenant for a commercial property is brokerage activity - Ron, unlicensed, cannot be the party paying for the performance of licensed services and cannot pay Dana as though she were an independent contractor.

The correct structure:

• The referral must be a transaction between Riverbend Realty and Ron, in writing, with the scope spelled out (introduction only, no negotiation, no lease drafting unless Dana is engaged for it).
• Any compensation is paid to Riverbend, which then pays Dana under the brokerage's independent-contractor agreement.
• If Dana actually procures and negotiates the lease, she does it as a Riverbend licensee with the required agency disclosures, and Ron should acknowledge in writing that Riverbend represents him or that he is unrepresented - he owns the building, so this is a commercial agency question, not a residential one.
• Do not split a commission with Ron, the unlicensed party. A brokerage may share with another properly licensed brokerage; it may not share with an unlicensed investor.

Also flag: the "so her broker doesn't take a cut" framing is the tell that this is a side deal. Side deals are how licenses get revoked, and Riverbend's E&O policy will not cover an undisclosed one.

Gift card to the loan officer - do not do it. Section 8(a) of RESPA prohibits giving or receiving anything of value pursuant to an agreement or understanding, express or implied, that business will be referred for settlement services in a federally related mortgage loan. This loan officer has sent Dana four buyers this year. A $250 gift card, in that pattern, is a textbook Section 8 problem, and "it was just a closing gift" is the argument everyone makes. A genuinely unconditional gift with no referral nexus is a different case, but the safest course is a card and a thank-you note, or a bona fide written marketing agreement paying fair market value for actual services. Indiana licensing rules on inducements add a second layer of exposure, and lenders police this aggressively.

The $2,000 cash deposit - three separate problems:

1. Handling. Earnest money is trust funds. It must be receipted, deposited promptly into the brokerage's trust account as required by the Commission's escrow rules, and never placed in an operating account or Dana's personal account. Dana should not "hold" it in her pocket or her desk drawer.
2. Form. Cash is a terrible idea. Advise a check or wire, make the receipt in the brokerage's name, and give the buyer a copy. Cash invites disputes about whether it was ever received.
3. Substance. "Hold the property until my 401(k) loan funds" is not a contract. Without a written agreement - an option, or a purchase agreement with a stated deadline and earnest money terms - the seller is free to sell to someone else and the buyer's $2,000 is at risk or refundable depending on how it is documented. There is also an underwriting issue: the buyer must document the source of funds, and a pending 401(k) loan is not cash.

Bottom line: decline the cash, get a check made payable to Riverbend Realty as escrow agent, receipt it into trust, and put the deadline in writing. Skip the gift card entirely.