This May, as in previous Mays, you will receive an envelope from the Real Estate Commission. A familiar white envelope with a blue bar and blue printing - it will contain your application to renew your real estate license for the coming year.
If you earn your living selling, buying, leasing or managing real estate for others, you will no doubt promptly return your renewal application and check to the Real Estate Commission. Even those of you who use your license for only infrequent referrals or occasional transactions will probably quickly renew it.
But if you are one of the estimated 50,000 licensees not currently using your real estate license, you may think twice about renewing - especially since this year, for the first time, you must complete continuing education courses to renew your license on active status.
"Should I pay the fee and renew my license just in case I need or want it sometime in the future? Or should I save my money and simply let it expire? Is the investment I made in becoming licensed worth the price of a renewal fee?" Before making this decision, you may wish to consider all that you have invested in your real estate license and what you stand to lose if you do not renew it.
Most of us had to complete a real estate course or series of courses before taking our real estate broker or salesman examination. Ranging from 30 to 120 or more classroom hours of instruction, these courses were spread out over weeks and sometimes months, usually requiring us, as adult students, to give up our evenings and weekends. The preparation before the classes, the concentration during classes, and the final examination at the end required a special commitment on our part - not to mention the expense of tuition, books, and maybe even a "cram course" for good measure.
Finally, we were ready to file our license applications and "prep" for THE LICENSE EXAM. For most of us, taking the examination ranked, on the "fun scale," somewhere between a root canal and filling out our income tax returns. Nevertheless, we persevered, and after a half-day of pondering questions and filling in answer bubbles, we turned in our exam materials and waited for the results.
Every day we anxiously awaited the postman. Then came the letter with if congratulations" from the Commission. We had passed!
Since then, we have continued to renew our licenses each year even though we may have never used them. But that was B.C. (before continuing education), and now the question arises: 'Must I return to school to keep my license?"
No. If you are not using your real estate license, you may place it on inactive status and continue to renew it without completing any continuing education courses. Men, ifyou later decide to activate your license, you will have to make up only the amount of continuing education you missed, up to a maximum of 20 hours. If, on the other hand, you decide not to renew your license on either active or inactive status, it will automatically expire June 30.
But then you ask, "What if I let my license expire but change my mind and want it back?"
You may 'late renew" your license any time within twelve months following its expiration by paying the regular renewalfee and a $5 late fee. [Of course, if you have not satisfied your continuing education requirement, you will renew your license on inactive status.] But if your license remains expired for more than one year, you may be required to retake and pass the license examination in order to reinstate it.
The Commission realizes that the decision to renew your real estate license (whether on active or inactive status) is a personal one based upon your own best judgment at the time. However, before allowing your real estate license to expire, the Commission encourages you to consider the investment you have in your license and the difficulty you may later encounter in getting it back, especially after it has been expired for more than one year.
For this reason, if you want to keep your license but are not currently using it and do not wish to complete continuing education courses, the Commission advises You to renew "inactive." Please notify our office in writing to place your license on inactive status. You may simply indicate "inactive" on your renewal application when you return it with your renewal fee.
In recognition of your demonstrated real estate knowledge, the State of North Carolina has granted you a license with exclusive privileges not enjoyed by your unlicensed fellow citizens. It represents a considerable investment of your time and energy an investment worth keeping.