I am working on starting a business and need some advice. Real Estate Consultant service

[Joon Yi]

Hello All.

I'm planning on starting a business related to Real Estate Consulting. Currently I do not have my real estate license as it is expired and am working on getting it back. I have some questions on a business I'm planning to start this year and would appreciate if BPers can give me some advice.

I'm going to start a consulting service. I won't be doing any selling/buying/managing as those require a license. Later when I do get my license, this would also be an option but not at the moment.

My plan is to help owners with any handyman service, cleaning service, maintenance, marketing and consultation service in regards to landlords or owners. The difference between me and the competition would be that I would be a one stop shop. Instead of owners having to go to 10 different vendors, the owners/landlords would come to me and just have to deal with me and I would set everything up. I would have contractors, handyman and other vendors that I would call on for services. I have been a property manager for the past few years as well as having been a resident manager so I am proficient with landlord/tenant issues as well as leasing and others.

I am not planning on getting paid for leasing because I won't be doing leasing but will be giving advice and offering marketing/ad service as well as consulting them on what kind of tenant to find and how to deal with issues as they arise. I would also be doing move-in/move-out inspections as well as doing maintenance for them when they call on me. I will not be managing the property but will help deal with issues when they arise.

Here are my questions:

1. Do I need to be bonded/insured if I require the contractors to be bonded/insured?

2. Which business entity would be best for my situation when I'm trying not to have employees (not want to be responsible for worker's comp and payroll)? LLC? Sole Proprietor? C or S Corp?

3. Is it normal to ask for pay as soon as the job is done or are owners/landlords used to Net 15 or Net 30 pay?

I am working on finding the answers to these questions on my own but thought I'd put it up here in hopes that I can find it faster. I understand this could be the wrong forum to ask but I'm asking this as part of my introduction to BP.

Hopefully, I can get my business started this year and hope I can get some of BPers as clients if they need someone like me. My hope is to save owners time and headache in dealing with bunch of different people, rather just deal with one person instead.

Thank you for reading and your advice. Have a great week.