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Washington: what an unlicensed TC can do

What an unlicensed transaction coordinator may do in Washington, what needs a license, and why only a licensee may get signatures on a purchase and sale agreement.

Yes, you can work as a TC in Washington without a real estate license.Stick to administrative work under a licensed agent and their broker, and leave anything that needs a license to them. Here's where the line is.
Washington infographic for unlicensed transaction coordinators: clerical tasks under brokerage direction, such as organizing files and answering calls, next to activities that need a license, such as showing homes, negotiating, interpreting contracts and filling in legal forms.

What you can do without a license

Your firm's designated broker must make sure everyone performing real estate brokerage services for the firm is licensed, so your duties are set by the brokerage.

You can do (no license needed)

  • Work as a secretary or other office staff, as long as you do not perform real estate brokerage services.
  • Keep the firm's books and accounts as a bookkeeper or accountant, within the same limit.
  • In property management, deliver and receive lease applications, leases and amendments for the owner or the designated or managing broker.
  • In property management, receive security deposits and rent made payable to the firm or owner, for delivery to them.
  • In property management, give prospective tenants information about a rental unit, the lease, the application, the deposit and the rent.
  • In property management, show a rental unit or sign leases, but only under the direct instruction of the owner or the designated or managing broker.
  • In property management, do administrative, clerical, financial or maintenance tasks.

Needs a license

  • List, sell, buy, exchange, option, lease or rent real estate for someone else.
  • Negotiate, or offer to negotiate, a purchase, sale, exchange, lease or rental, directly or indirectly.
  • Advise, counsel or consult buyers, sellers, landlords or tenants about a transaction.
  • Get signatures on a purchase and sale agreement.
  • Complete legal documents or agreements, such as a purchase and sale agreement. Washington's Supreme Court treats that as the practice of law.
  • Give a broker's price opinion or comparative market analysis.
  • Collect, hold or pay out funds in a sale or lease, outside the property management tasks above.
  • Advertise or present yourself as offering real estate brokerage services.
Signatures on the purchase and sale agreementGathering signatures is the agent's job, not the TC's or escrow's. The Department of Licensing says: "Licensed real estate agents are the only people allowed to get signatures on a purchase and sale agreement."

A practical example

You can:
File the signed purchase and sale agreement your agent sends you and add its dates to the transaction calendar.
Refer to the agent:
The seller asks you to send the counteroffer out for signatures, or the buyer asks what the inspection contingency means. Send it to your agent.

Staying on the right side of the rules

Broker responsibility

Under WAC 308-124C-125(10), the designated broker is responsible for "ensuring that all persons performing real estate brokerage services on behalf of the firm and the firm itself are appropriately licensed."

Completing contracts is the practice of law

Washington's court rule GR 24(a)(2) lists the "selection, drafting, or completion of legal documents or agreements which affect the legal rights of an entity or person(s)" as the practice of law. GR 24 has no exception for unlicensed real estate staff.

How Closima handles it

Closima asks once whether you hold a Washington license. If you don't, purchase agreements and addenda go to your agent with a link: they check every value and complete the form, and Closima records that a licensee completed it. If you do, you fill them in yourself and send them to your agent for approval before they go out. Everything else (deadlines, documents, emails, other forms) works as usual.

Thinking about a license?

You don't need one to work as a TC in Washington. A license lets you also do the work in the "Needs a license" column, under a broker. Here's what's involved:

Washington's Department of Licensing requires 90 hours of approved real estate education: a 60-hour Real Estate Fundamentals course and a 30-hour Real Estate Practices course. You must pass the state and national broker exams through PSI within 2 years of finishing your courses, and within 6 months of each other. After passing, you submit fingerprints for a background check and apply within 1 year of your final exam. DOL says a broker acts on behalf of a real estate firm under a managing broker's supervision. How to apply.

Resources

Questions about what's allowed? Ask the regulator: Washington State Department of Licensing, Real Estate Program, 360-664-6488, [email protected].

Source: Washington State Legislature, RCW 18.85.151 Exemptions from licensing, with RCW 18.85.011(17) and the Department of Licensing's policy on purchase and sale agreement signatures (Last amended 2012 c 126 s 1 (version effective until January 1, 2028)).

Buying or selling a home yourself? These pages are for people who work in real estate. Work with a licensed agent or a real estate attorney.

General information, not legal advice. Rules change, and your broker's policies may be stricter: confirm your duties with your supervising broker and your state's real estate regulator.

See also: Washington contract deadlines · How to become a transaction coordinator

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