Maybe the friend is a newer licensee...Most good GCs will come in around the same general price range.

Getting paid from an agent when you are not licensed is NOT legal and the licensee could lose their license. 

Acting as a licensee is a felony. 

Texas bar licensees are exempt from TRELA.  

Seems like the most common regulations are (1) minimum rental period, usually 30 or 90 days (2) licensing requirements with the number of licensees being fixed (3) area exclusivity such as must be at least 600 feet from another STR and (4) applying hotel regulations such as occupancy tax, etc, to the STR.When my daughter was running a STR business very successfully in NYC in 2015-2016, the city decided to fine the apartment building where she had the STR leases $10,000 per day per unit for violation of safety codes.

You just need to disclose that you are a licensee.

Waiting on my licensee to go active with Keller Williams.

You'll see that the regulations apply even for single-family rentals, which includes renting a room in a place you occupy: "One-family rental, which shall include the rental of single-family homes, townhouses, duplexes, individual condominium units, or individual rooms (including individual rooms in a residential building that the licensee also occupies)."

I was recently informed that in VA, the independent contractor agreement must be between the licensee and the brokerage.

Our brokerage is accepting new licensees.