Real Estate investors vs Wholesalers

[Mike Rosback]

I have been attending many meetup groups in my area. Several of the meetings are predominately wholesalers. One subject came up that has been troublesome.  The topic is when a wholesaler is unable to convince a seller to discount their property the stance on this by wholesalers is to reach out to their realtor partner and send the seller to them. If the agent sells the home they are expected to pay the wholesaler a commission. Sometimes this is masked as a "marketing" fee or under some other name.  In some cases I hear the wholesaler may be getting a small fee for each referral even without closing on a deal.

Everything I am hearing from long time brokers here including those who teach at the local association is that is a no-no.  Both parties must be licensed agent in order to get a commission and using fees or other descriptions to disguise it is not proper.

Thoughts?