To RENEW YOUR LIMITED NR COMMERCIAL LICENSE ONLINE, click
here
Licensing Reciprocity
Licensing Reciprocity ends February 29.
Read more...
Bad-Check Scam
Beware of a bad-check scam still circulating in NC. An out-of-country
buyer makes an offer on a property sight unseen with a large
“certified” earnest money check for deposit in
an attorney’s trust account The buyer then rescinds
the offer, hoping for a refund of the deposit before the check
bounces. Or, the buyer overpays the earnest money, and asks
for a refund of the difference. Too often, the broker and
attorney discover too late that the funds were no good in
the first place.
Rule Changes
For current proposed rule additions, changes, or deletions, click
here
Residential Property Disclosure Form Revised
As mandated by recent legislation, the Real Estate Commission
has revised the Residential Property Disclosure Statement
to include disclosures about property owners’ associations.
The new form is available now and its use will be required
on January 1, 2012. Now four pages in length and titled “Residential
Property and Owners’ Association Disclosure Statement,”
the form sets out the required disclosures intended for use
when a property is governed by an owners’ association.
In addition, the form clarifies the instructions so that users
will better understand that disclosure requirements apply
to sellers of condominiums, townhouses, and similar residences
in the same way it applies to sellers of single-family detached
residences.
Sellers required to provide a disclosure form under the current
law will be required to provide prospective buyers with the
new form on January 1, 2012. Real estate brokers working with
buyers and sellers during this transition period should prepare
their clients for the change in forms. The form may be downloaded
by clicking here.
Law, Commission Rules Booklet Available
An updated and expanded edition of the North Carolina Real
Estate License Law and Commission Rules booklet is being published.
The printed booklet contains the Real Estate License Law,
Commission Rules, Trust Account Guidelines, and the Commentary
on the Law and Rules (a study guide for the licensing test)
and is a convenient portable reference source.
Each of the booklet’s four sections is also published
as an individual PDF file on the Law/Rules page of the Commission’s
Web site.
The Law section has been expanded with the inclusion of Article
3 of the Real Estate License Law covering Private Real Estate
Schools. Articles 1 (Real Estate Brokers), 2 (Real Estate
Recovery Fund), and 4 (Time Shares) are already included.
The Rules section with Subchapters 58A (Real Estate Brokers)
and 58B (Time Shares) has been expanded to include Subchapters
58C (Real Estate Prelicensing Education), 58E (Real Estate
Continuing Education) and 58G (Real Estate Commission Administration).
The booklet may be ordered at $3 per copy using the publications
order form in this issue of the Bulletin or the online or
mail-in order forms on the Publications page of the Commission’s
Web site.
Update Course, BICAR Topics Now Online
Selected topics from the Commission’s Update and Broker-in-Charge
Annual Review Courses from 2005-2006 to 2010-2011 are now
available online. More content will be added in the future.
Organized by topic, the content can be reviewed on the new
Update Course/BICAR page by clicking here.
To search for specific information within the topics, use
Google on the Web site Search page. The text is the same as
that provided in the courses and, in digital form, provides
a fast, convenient reference source.
Real Estate Manual Online
The Digital Version
of the Real Estate Manual is now available Online as a paid subscription.
Real Estate Bulletin Online
The May
2012 issue of the Real Estate Bulletin is now available.
The Commission’s Broker-in-Charge Annual Review (BICAR)
course is designed for and restricted to currently designated
brokers-in-charge and brokers who are broker-in-charge eligible.
A broker who is not a broker-in-charge or who is not broker-in-charge
eligible will not receive credit for the BICAR course.
A broker is broker-in-charge eligible when he or
she has been designated as a broker-in-charge and completed
the Commission’s 12-hour Broker-in-Charge course.
A broker may maintain that eligibility indefinitely, even
when not serving as a broker-in-charge, by taking the Broker-in-Charge
Annual Review (BICAR) course each license period. The
BICAR satisfies the annual continuing education elective requirement.
In addition, the broker must also take the mandatory annual
Update course and timely renew his or her license.
From time to time a broker who has lost his or her designation
or eligibility will take the course and not fully understand
why he or she is not receiving continuing education credit.
If you believe yourself to be a broker-in-charge or broker-in-charge
eligible, select “Licensees Only” from the menu
on the left side of the Homepage and check your status. Eligible
brokers will be able to login and select a “BIC Eligible
Document” verifying their current eligibility status.
All others will not have this option available to them. If
you are unable to print a “BIC Eligible Document”
from this area of the Web site and feel that your record is
incorrect, please contact the Commission’s Information
Services Section at 919-875-3700, Ext. 772.
A broker may lose his or her status or eligibility to serve
as a broker-in-charge for any of the following reasons: 1)
the broker’s license expires or the broker’s license
is suspended, revoked or surrendered; 2) the broker’s
license is made inactive for any reason, including
failure to satisfy the continuing education requirements;
3) the broker fails to complete the Broker-in-Charge Annual
Review Course; or 4) the broker is found by the Commission
to have not possessed the experience required at the time
of either initial designation as a broker-in-charge or re-designation
as a broker-in-charge.
Please take the time to consult the Commission’s Web
site prior to taking the BICAR course to verify that the Commission’s
records reflect that you are indeed a broker-in-charge or
broker-in-charge eligible to ensure you will receive your
continuing education credit.
Hurricanes, Evacuations, and Vacation Rentals
With hurricane season well underway, a review of the laws
governing evacuations and vacation rentals is appropriate.
(1) The first and most important thing to remember is that
when state or local authorities order a mandatory evacuation
of a coastal area, tenants occupying vacation rental properties
must comply with the order. Evacuations are ordered to protect
human life and health and are not undertaken lightly. Brokers
managing vacation rental properties should support state and
local authorities by encouraging and facilitating tenant compliance
with evacuation orders.
(2) When a vacation tenant complies with an evacuation order,
he or she is entitled to a refund of a share of the money
he or she has paid for the rental (rent, security deposit,
taxes, etc.) prorated for each night the evacuation order
was in effect. There is an exception to this rule, however.
If the tenant was offered travel insurance that covered the
risk of mandatory evacuation, then the landlord has no obligation
to refund the tenant’s money. To trigger the exception,
the cost of the insurance offered cannot exceed 8% of the
cost of the vacation rental.
(3) If, following the storm, the landlord or his broker cannot
provide a promised rental property to a vacation rental tenant
- whether the reason is that the house was significantly damaged
or that it is inaccessible due to damage to or closure of
roads or ferries - the tenant is entitled to either a refund
of his money or the substitution of a reasonably comparable
property at the same cost. This refund may come in the form
of a paid claim against travel insurance. Tenants are encouraged
to read and understand the limits of coverage.
Guide to Contacting the Commission
You will find the new Guide to
Contacting the Commission on the Publications page right after the
mail-in and online order forms. Print this guide and save it for a handy
reference to help you reach the appropriate Division and staff members for your
purpose. To be updated as needed, the Guide provides information about each of
the Commission's four divisions, phone and fax numbers, email addresses, forms
to order by fax, tips on productive use of the Commission website, and a map to
the Commission office.
Postlicensing Educational Guidelines
For complete information about your postlicensing education requirements
according to your license category (PB, PB9, PBT or Nonresident), go to the
"Postlicensing" button to the left on this page and follow the appropriate
links. Your license category appears on your pocket card.
Trust Account Compliant Software Vendors List Now Available
A list of vendors of software that the Commission has found to be
"substantially" compliant with Commission rules and the Trust Account
Guidelines can be found by clicking
here.
