NEW LICENSING PROGRAM IN PLACE

 

It’s now official!  Persons applying for real estate licenses must obtain more real estate education in order to qualify for and retain them; real estate experience is now required to become a broker-in-charge; and, for the first time ever, there are no real estate “salespersons” in North Carolina.  All of this is a result of landmark legislation which took effect April 1.

Implementing these changes was a monumental undertaking for the Real Estate Commission and its staff involving the adoption of comprehensive rule changes, the development of a variety of education programs and the creation of new administrative forms and procedures.  Compounding this was an unprecedented increase in the number of license applications and broker-in-charge declarations received from persons rushing to beat the April 1 deadline and the thousands of telephone calls they generated.  As you will see in the “Numbers” article in this Bulletin, the number of license applications increased by 50% over the previous year (in fact, the Commission in March issued five times more licenses than usual), 108,000 additional telephone calls were managed and 133,000 more records changed.

       Throughout it all, the goal of  the Commission was to make the transition as smooth as possible for licensees and license applicants.  This required many late nights and long weekends for the Commission staff and bringing in a number of temporary employees to assist.  Some persons calling to inquire about their license applications were surprised to be talking to one of the Commission’s attorneys or other members of the Legal Services Division who volunteered to help answer telephone calls.  In January,  the Commission even sent letters to all salespersons and brokers-in-charge explaining the many, and sometimes confusing, changes.

            Despite the Commission’s best efforts, there were times when all telephone lines were jammed and no staff members immediately available to personally speak with callers.  For any inconvenience which this may have caused, the Commission apologizes.  And for the cooperation and understanding of those many thousands of licensees and license applicants who contacted the Commission office during this extremely busy time, the Commission is most grateful.