Question:  I am a licensed Arizona real estate broker.  I know that Arizona licensed sales agents must operate through a professional corporation (PC) or professional limited liability company (PLLC).  Must I operate my brokerage business in a PLLC or can I do it through a vanilla LLC?  Also, if I can use an LLC can I use the LLC I formed that owns two investment rental properties?

Answer:  Arizona does allow a licensed real estate broker to operate the brokerage business through an LLC or a PLLC.  See Section 3 of the Entity / Employing Broker License Application LI-212.  You could use your existing LLC.  Keep one asset protection concept in mind:  If you put all your eggs in one basket and you drop your basket you lose all of your eggs.  If you have an operating brokerage LLC that owns other assets like stocks, bonds or investment real estate and a lawsuit arises out of the conduct of the business that turns into a large judgment for money, you lose the brokerage business and all the assets owned by the LLC.  If you had put the investment assets in one LLC and operated the brokerage in a different LLC a financial disaster with the brokerage LLC would not cause a loss of the assets in the other LLC.