How an engagement actually works

The six steps

1. A 30-minute call. You tell me what the company does, which states, who does the licensed work day to day, and whether you will ever hold client money. Sometimes the honest answer is that you do not need a broker at all, and I will tell you that on the call.
2. A written quote. One monthly fee, what it covers, and what would change it. State filing fees are passed through at cost and quoted for your states. Nothing is buried in a later invoice.
3. The engagement agreement. A broker designation and indemnity agreement with your states listed on an exhibit. Have your counsel read it. Most clients sign within a week.
4. Your side of the setup. The company gets its own pieces in place: entity in good standing and registered in each state (or we set it up for you), the broker appointed to the management role the state requires, errors and omissions insurance, and a real office address where the state requires one. I send a checklist for your states, and the amendment for your counsel.
5. I file. I prepare and file the firm license application with each state, and I handle any deficiency letter that comes back. You get a copy of everything as filed.
6. The license issues, and billing starts. The monthly fee starts when the firm license is active with the state, not when you sign. From there the work is supervision: a policies and procedures manual written for your business, quarterly reviews, and a broker who answers.

What sets the timeline

Most engagements move from the first call to an active license in two to four weeks. The state is rarely the slow part. Three things usually are:

• Insurance. Binding errors and omissions coverage in the company's name takes longer than anything else on the list. Start it the day you decide to go ahead.
• Entity paperwork. A new LLC, a foreign registration in another state, or an amendment to the operating agreement each has to post before the license application can go in.
• Time of year. State processing runs from about a week to several weeks depending on the state and how busy it is. We tell you what to expect for your states at scoping.

What we need from you

• The company's legal name, formation documents and ownership, including the people behind any member that is itself an entity (or the details to form it, if you do not have one yet)
• An errors and omissions certificate in the company's name
• A signed amendment giving the broker the management role your state requires
• The office address the license will carry
• If you will hold client money: the trust account details, before the first dollar arrives

No company yet? We will set it up

The entity is the most common reason a launch slips. A new company takes days to post, an EIN can take weeks if it goes by mail, and the license application cannot go in until both exist. Our fee starts only when your license is active, so we have every reason to keep that part moving.

• Formation in any of our five states. We file the company, or register your existing company in a new state, from the details you give us on a short intake form.
• The EIN, filed alongside it. Founders outside the United States without a Social Security number are fine. That application goes by fax the same week instead of waiting on the mail.
• The license application right behind it. As soon as the company posts and the broker appointment is signed, the firm license application goes in.
• Kept in good standing. We track each entity’s annual report date and check its status in every quarterly review. A company dissolved for a missed annual report puts its license at risk.

There is no separate fee from us, and state filing fees are passed through at cost. The entity type, tax treatment and operating agreement are legal decisions, so they stay with your attorney. Registered agent service comes from a national provider you contract with directly, so legal papers are served on a company built for that, not on your broker.

What you get once you are live

• A written policies and procedures manual built for your business, reviewed every year
• Quarterly review of your advertising, transaction files and any trust account
• Sponsorship of your licensed agents under the firm, with the supervision the rules require
• One point of contact for any regulator inquiry, complaint or audit

Questions to ask any broker of record

Whoever you hire, ask these before you sign. The answers tell you whether you are buying supervision or a signature.

• Who, by name, will be the broker on my license? Not the company. The person whose license the state will hold responsible.
• Can I look that person up with the state regulator today? If the name only appears after you sign, you cannot check it before you commit.
• Who supervises my agents day to day, and how fast do they answer? In Texas the broker has two calendar days to respond to a sponsored agent (22 TAC § 535.2(j)).
• How often will you review my files, advertising and trust account? “As needed” usually means never.
• Will I get a written policies and procedures manual for my business? Texas requires one for every business entity with a designated broker (22 TAC § 535.2(i)).
• What happens to my license if we part ways? You want the transition to a new broker spelled out in the agreement, before you need it.

Check us before you sign

My name is on the public license rosters in Texas, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Utah. Look me up with each state's regulator before we ever talk. For a state outside those five, see co-brokerage.