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What’s The Difference Between A Real Estate Salesperson And A Real Estate Broker?

In a recent post about the latest list of real estate salespersons whose accreditation have been approved by the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service (PRBRES), I received a question asking “what’s the difference between a real estate salesperson and a real estate broker?” Let me try to answer this as objectively as possible through this post.

Before anything else, I would like to say thank you to Kian for the excellent question which he left through a comment.

To avoid any subjectivity in my interpretation, I believe the best way to answer this is to refer directly to what the RESA Law IRR says.

Let us first define the terms Real Estate Broker and Real Estate Salesperson in the Philippines.

Real Estate Broker Definition

As per Section 3-g-(4) of the RESA Law IRR:

“Real estate broker – a duly registered and licensed natural person who, for a professional fee, commission or other valuable consideration, acts as an agent of a party in a real estate transaction to offer, advertise, solicit, list, promote, mediate, negotiate or effect the meeting of the minds on the sale, purchase, exchange, mortgage, lease or joint venture, or other similar transactions on real estate or any interest therein.”

Real Estate Salesperson Definition

As per Section 3-g-(5) of the RESA Law IRR, a Real estate salesperson is defined as:

“Real estate salesperson – a duly accredited natural person who performs service for, and in behalf of a real estate broker who is registered and licensed by the Professional Regulatory Board of Real Estate Service for or in expectation of a share in the commission, professional fee, compensation or other valuable consideration.”

Other pertinent points in the RESA Law IRR

Other pertinent points in the RESA Law IRR concerning real estate salespersons can be found in Section 31, excerpts of which have been quoted below:

~~~

“Real estate salespersons shall be under the direct supervision and accountability of a real estate broker. As such, they cannot by themselves be signatories to a written agreement involving a real estate transaction unless the real estate broker who has direct supervision and accountability over them is also a signatory thereto. No real estate salesperson, either directly or indirectly, can negotiate, mediate or transact any real estate transaction for and in behalf of a real estate broker without first securing an authorized accreditation as real estate salesperson for the real estate broker, as prescribed by the Board. A real estate broker shall be guilty of violating R.A. No. 9646 or the IRR for employing or utilizing the services of a real estate salesperson when he/she has not secured the required accreditation from the Board prior to such employment.

No salesperson shall be entitled to receive or demand a fee, commission or compensation of any kind from any person, other than the duly licensed real estate broker who has direct control and supervision over him, for any service rendered or work done by such salesperson in any real estate transaction.

No violation of this provision shall be a cause for revocation or suspension of the certificate of registration of the real estate broker unless there was actual knowledge of such violation or the broker retains the benefits, profits or proceeds of a transaction wrongfully negotiated by the salesperson.”

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What I have quoted above states the boundaries between a real estate salesperson and a real estate broker, which I believe is a good way of pointing out the differences between the two.

As stated above, I would like to avoid any subjective interpretation in my part, so I choose to leave it at that… for now.

What do you think? Let me know your take on this by leaving a comment below.

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To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor
PRC Real Estate Broker License No. 3194 
Blog: https://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
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Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2008 – 2013 All rights reserved.

Full disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

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People encounter problems and make mistakes when buying foreclosed properties, and Jay wants to help people avoid those problems/ mistakes. Jay encountered a lot of those, which is why he started this blog in 2008 to serve as a guide where he shares lessons learned, and how to overcome challenges you may encounter when investing foreclosed properties in the Philippines … [Read more]
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12 thoughts on “What’s The Difference Between A Real Estate Salesperson And A Real Estate Broker?”

  1. hi… Jay! i have also a questions, i notice in a sale transaction of a certain property. a real state property was sold to ” A”. by the agent ” B”. or attorney infact using a special power of attorney signed by the owner of the said property.”C” and was Notarized.
    but as i noticed. the Date of S.P.A. executed is almost 1 year the gap after the DEED of SALE.
    di po ba, parang mali? kasi, alin po ba ang dapat mauuna, bilihan o S.P.A.? agent po kasi ang nag binta ng nasabing property.

    Jay…. ano po ba ang mai papayo mo sa akin para maunawaan ko ito ?
    nagugulohan po kasi ako.
    maraming maraming salamat po Kuya JAY!!!.

    Reply
  2. Hi, have some question. A commissions from the developer should have a tax deduction? if have how many percent? Because I’m a buyer of the said property, no agent involve (let say we’re walk in buyer) and the manager’s say’s my husband can get a commissions on the said property as soon as the payments are settle it just because we’re walk in buyer as she say. To make my story short, we got the property, then the developer issue the commissions to my husband but they deducted 20% tax to my husband commissions. This is right? Because we’re not an employee of the said developer why they deducted 20% tax to the commissions, suppose to be is not a commission is a discount to our payments.

    Thanks & Regards,
    Ross

    Reply
  3. greetings, can you please explain how really work the real estate in your country … despite look simple from the law point of view, people are still act as agent or register agent with real estate licence of others people. This make very complicate to see a clear on the real estate parameters, of your country, The Philippines.
    People act as agent charging from 14 to 17 % and the reality is they are not even agent or part their forth normally they dont even have a clue of what they are doin end despite this filipinos people still use this so call agents

    Reply
  4. I would like to ask, if I can get commission from a licensed broker who asked me a favor to look for properties for sale and asking owners to submit requirements for them? I’m sorry this is seem to be a dumbfounding question. I am newbie and learning about real estate business just now.

    Reply
    • Hi Jie, if you are not yet an accredited salesperson under that broker, I believe you can still get compensated but not as one performing the duties of a salesperson under that broker because if you do, you would be violating the RESA law. To be safe, just make sure you are not doing the following which should only be done by a licensed broker or his/her accredited agents:

      “… acts as an agent of a party in a real estate transaction to offer,
      advertise, solicit, list, promote, mediate, negotiate or effect the
      meeting of the minds on the sale, purchase, exchange, mortgage, lease or
      joint venture, or other similar transactions on real estate or any interest therein.”

      The question is, when you say you look for properties for sale and ask owners to submit requirements for them, is this already included in what I quoted above or not? Again, to be on the safe side, just make sure the favors that you do for that broker cannot be interpreted as acts constituting the practice of real estate service

      Please refer to the following article as reference on what can be interpreted as acts constituting the practice of real estate service : http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com/2011/07/are-you-violating-the-resa-law.html

      Reply
    • Thanks Chuckkk! Actually, I’m just laying the groundwork for my next post about real estate salespersons. It seems a lot of people, including myself, are unaware that for a broker like me to work with a salesperson who is not under him/her, they must work this out first with the broker to whom the salesperson is accredited with, in order to be RESA compliant. At least that’s what I understood with the IRR. Correct me if I’m wrong but I believe this means salespersons who contact me directly should clear things up first with their broker.

      Reply
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