Legal Question in Business Law in California

Probably. You'd have to check with your city hall, or if you are in an unicorporated part of a county, then with the county. What you really need to be sure of, though, is that you have the proper either real estate licensing or securities licensing, depending on how you are structuring your company. You may also want to look at an LLC rather than incorporation. If you will have any employees you'll also need a state EDD employer number to go with the federal TIN.

If you are doing it for yourself only, you don't need anything. If you are actually going to run a 'business', you'll need all the suggested business licenses and IRS filings. If you are going 'manage' other people's money for investment, either investors or 'partners', you'll probably be required to obtain real Estate Broker and/or Securities licenses.