Yes, a real estate company can be a sole proprietorship.  The only prerequisite for owning and creating a sole proprietorship is that the person begins "doing business" under their own name or an assumed name. Individuals will typically do this by starting their Craigslist posts with either their name (Jane Doe) - independent agent OR “Jane Doe (independent agent)”; or we may see they include “(independent agent)” at the end of the post to let us know they are not affiliated with any particular brokerage.