@Russ Draper  your thinking of Real Estate 20 to 30 years ago.No one hardly ever goes into the office any more... you can have an office if you pay extra only about 5% or less agents work out of the office the rest work at home. you really should shop around .. you can do waht you want no problem. you will have to pay 250 to maybe 500 a deal for the first 2 years while you apprentice once thats done you .. then can be your own broker..Many I know ( myself included) don't mind paying small fee to have my broker handle all my paper work and make sure its all in compliance.. 

Check with you state compliance issues with installment contracts.If they have the capacity to turn any other asset into cash, selling it or trading it to you, means they don't have the capacity to buy.

This was posted here:https://www.biggerpockets.com/forums/52/topics/849919-str-compliance-companies-popping-up?

-Hotel Design & Architecture Groups - handle design, architecture,  PIP review, ADA compliance, potentially procurement.  

As more and more clients ask me to recommend property managers for their SFH, Duplex and Fourplex properties, I'm updating my due diligence checklist when comes to what to ask a property management provider:Here are some of the questions I have:Preliminary (Time in business):Operations (Geographical Footprint Of Properties Managed)Preliminary (Credentials / Associations Involved In)Operations (Number Of Rental Properties Managed)Operations (Property Type Managed and Percentage Breakdown Of Each)Preliminary (Personally Invest In Properties Managed)Legal Compliance With Fair HousingLegal (Insurance Carried)Legal (Contract Terms and Cancellation Policy)Legal (Company Sample)Operations (Managers / Staff Employed)Sales (Rental Price Determination)Sales (Vacancy Fees)Sales (Management Monthly Fees)Sales (Company Cancellation Fees)Sales (Miscellaneous Fees - Marketing, Cleaning etc)Operations Specific (Marketing To Good Tenant Base)Operations Specific (Tenant Income Requirements)Legal (Eviction Timeline - When Does It Start?)

Still check your local housing laws to be in compliance, but that should be all you need.

One con of the suburbs is that they also don't allow non-conforming dwelling units since they have City compliance inspections, while Chicago does not. 

Ask them for proof of e.g. rental registrations, so that you know you are in compliance.

I don't see any licensing or compliance information on their website, which is the first thing I look for when a HML calls/mails/etc for my referral business - I'm checking out their website while politely nodding "uh huh" to their intro pitch, and just hang up if they aren't even bothering to pretend to be compliant.

Lower loan amounts can be tough because 1) loan officers don’t make much on them, so they don’t like to do them and 2) we run into issues with them passing compliance once loan costs are accounted for (compliance = the things we have in place these days to protect buyers and the economy from a 2008 repeat).