Real estate professionals, such as sales agents and brokers, are licensed through the state where they work. Not everyone who works in a real estate office is a licensed agent. The person sitting at the front desk, answering the phone, may not be a licensed agent. If they aren't licensed, they are not allowed to answer certain questions about listings, such as the asking price or other details. If you want to find out if a person has a real estate license, you will need to check with the state's real estate board.
Instructions
1. Find out the person's full legal name and any aliases. When getting a real estate license, the applicant typically has to decide on one version of his name under which he will have his real estate license under. For example, a person may decide to use his or her full name, with the first, middle and last name, or use just the first and last name. An applicant might use a less formal version of the legal name, such as Bob instead of Robert. Once a name is chosen, that is the name that will used to obtain the license.
2. Identify states to check. Real estate licenses are issued by the real estate department in each state. Typically a person is licensed in just one state, but he can be licensed in multiple states. The state you want to check is the state in which he is currently doing business, because he should be licensed in that state.
3. Contact the state's real estate department and search for the person's name or version of his name. Many real estate departments have websites where you can search online for people with real estate licenses. For example, on the Arizona Department of Real Estate's website, there is a link for consumers on the home page. There, consumers can look up information about licensed agents, including the name of their broker, work history and history of any complaints or disciplinary actions.
