I have worked in a brokerage like that. The owner, nor the broker of record were competing. However, the owner's children were licensed and did receive all of the owner's referrals. That created a bit of animosity between the agents and his/her children.

I also owned my own brokerage and hired brokers of record in two offices. I was, however, a competing broker/owner. All company leads were dispersed by the broker of record, not the owners. That alleviated any issues with the fact that the owners were competing.

Per Florida Real Estate Law

What Sandy Padula and Norm Padula, JD, GRI said about Florida Statute 475.15.

     A real estate "agent" cannot open a real estate brokerage in our state by herself or himself.  There must be at least one active Broker of record to serve as a member, officer or director of the corporation, partnership, LLC, LLP, or other business entity.  See my additional remarks below.

I think its inappropriate.

Who is the Boss now?

Broker or Owner/Agent?!

It's actually an awesome solution for a high producing agent that wants to go out on their own without the day to day broker responsibilities. Hire a pro and keep doing what they're good at. 

Nothing wrong with that.  One of my good friends has been doing that since the 80s.

It seems like that is the most often used practice.

It is not something I would do.  I would, and did, get my broker license. 

Happens in our market.  Works if there is a clearly defined job description. Typically the managing Broker will not sell, but the owner/agent is a competing agent. In two local cases, I see one working well, and in another case, the managing Broker keeps getting fired over and over again.

Too little information. 

I don't think it is a good idea.  I know some brokers that will be the broker of record for as many owners who wish to pay them.  The agents are not properly supervised.

Happens all the time. 

Running a business and doing the brokerage work are two different activities and we have plenty of great people doing both in our company.

How it is structured is between them and the state, I just concentrate on leading my teams and let them provide a great environment for us to thrive in.

Check state law.  It's legal in PA.

You mean, the office is owned by a licensee but a managing broker is designated. Happens.
I've also seen a broker SELL their business to one of their agents who then gets licensed as DB and the former owner remains on as an agent under them.
There are many reasons to do this - they want to be free to travel or semi-retire, they want to free up cash for another project, etc, etc.
Being the DB requires that you assume liability and you're where the buck stops. The company is not without liability, though. A lot depends on structure.

I know successful agents, team leaders doing essentially the same duties, who could, are smarter than, but would NEVER want to be 'the broker'.
It ain't for everyone.

We had an office here where a licensee opened the company and hired a Principal Broker. The office had two PB’s prior to the licensee obtaining a broker license. The haves keep having more. 

It happens here in CA. Depends on the relationships, if everyone works as a team and clearly understands their roles, no issues should be. 

Not a good situation,  as stated many times before me.  

many ways to skin the Real Estate cat...this be one of them

Follow the rules in your state.

Agents cannot own firms... they have to be brokers and also complete the broker-in-charge licensing.

 Sounds ok with me. If you follow what's going on with the courts, supervising brokers will eventually be a thing of the past.

I think you better have a really good relationship like Father Daughter

I like Debe Maxwell, CRS answer

It allows the owner to work on strategy and growth while the broker deals with personnel and compliance issues.

That is done in my area. Owning a company can be a source of income and brokering could be a distraction for a really busy agent and cut into sales time.

in MA, agents cannot open an office.....they need to hang their shingle with a broker....

Evelina Tsigelnitskaya once I associate with an office the broker was not the owner.

The agent, money man, should get a broker’s license. Renting someone else’s is becoming more common for certain brokerages. Soon lessons will be learned.

I think a real estate agent can own as much stock in a brokerage as they wish.

You really don't want to create a tail wagging the dog situation.

But ALL the biggies started somewhere.

We see this around here too.

No issue

Wow, Interesting,  I would wonder which one is the boss or the real broker!

I don't have a problem with this as long as everything is done legally.

I have seen it in my area. The real estate agent is an investor and opened his office abd hired a broker of record with a broker's license.

Not healthy for sure, Evelina Tsigelnitskaya. 

It's not something I would do but seems to me you could, based on the responses. Not that familiar with the CA laws. Interesting question...

The following quote is from the most recent issue of the monthly newsletter from the State of California Department of Real Estate:"...

"...we continue to see brokers who abuse their license privilege by acting as “ghost” or “shadow” brokers (also referred to by us as “rent-a-brokers” or “brokers for lease”). Those brokers provide very little or no supervision, or simply (and unlawfully) “rent” or “lease” the use of their broker license to salespersons who in turn operate a real estate practice without any broker supervision as if they were real estate brokers. Such “ghost” brokers put themselves, their salespersons, and the public, at great risk."

Evelina,

You have great answers here, and there is nothing more I can add to this.  Wishing you great success in Sunny Isles, Florida. A

Number 1 question--WHY? At KW we have mega teams which are basically offices unto themselves but working under a broker. Question 2--an agent can't OPEN their own company WITHOUT a broker! There are all sorts of different models out there. At KW we have mega and expansion teams which work in many cities across the nation. I think the industry is getting away from the BIG company umbrellas and going lighter in their market share but aggressive in their technology.