Real estate agents welcome new state legislation on licenses

By Candace Roberson
06-20-2007

RE/Max Realty Pros and all other realty companies can now place For Sale signs like this one in yards all over the state without having to buy additional licenses.
Some real estate companies are in the dark when it comes to the new Alabama real estate legislation.

As of June 11, real estate agents in Alabama no longer have to buy a city license for every city they work in. Now if a broker buys one license for the city in which their office is located, the license will allow their agents to do business throughout the state.

Even though Gov. Bob Riley signed the legislation more than a week ago, word of the new law has yet to reach real estate professionals such as Greg Atkinson, associate broker of Atkinson Real Estate in Sylacauga.

I heard about it, but I didn t know it had passed, he said.

Atkinson said he believes the bill passed at a good time.

Spring and summer are usually busy seasons for us, he said.

Ronnie Foster, owner of RE/Max Realty Pros in Pell City, also said he was glad the bill had passed.

I didn t feel like (the old law) was right anyway, he said.

Foster, who is licensed in several cities, said the old law made it expensive to conduct business.

In the past, whether it was Pell City, Lincoln, Talladega, each agent and the company would have to buy a license for each city, he said. This will definitely cut down on expenses.

Foster isn t the only one who has out-of-town customers.

We have them all the time, said Elaine Stringer, broker for RE/Max Hometown Realty in Talladega and a member of the Alabama Association of Realtors.

Stringer said the law will help her with her company s listings.

If I put a For Sale sign up, that meant I was doing business in that municipality and I had to buy a license, she said. But not now.

According to the new law, except for business done in Jefferson, Shelby or Etowah counties, which have countywide municipal business licenses, no municipality may require an agent to buy a municipal business license unless the agent separately incorporates a business entity to receive his commission from his broker.

Though the guidelines are different for those three counties, the new law still applies in that any business done outside those counties does not require an additional license.

Source: http://www.dailyhome.com/news/2007/dh-localnews-0620-0-7f19w1908.htm