Commission Meeting of January 8, 2020

Key reports, issues, and decisions of interest to licensees and/or the public are reported here from the most recent Commission meetings:

Pending Cases: The Commission permanently revoked one license; entered into consent agreements to suspend five licenses; closed its case without action of 2 licenses; and ordered hearings involving six licensees.

License Applications Involving Character Issues: Applications for licenses from persons who have character issues such as prior criminal convictions or disciplinary action by another licensing board are separately reviewed by the Commission. Decisions are made based upon criminal background checks, information supplied by the applicant, and in-person interviews.
Total candidates reviewed: 34; total approved: 22.

License Examination Results: A summary of key data relating to persons taking the examination for the first time is provided below:

North Carolina Community College System: The Commission voted to allocate up to $30,000 from the Commission’s Education and Recovery Fund to assist the Community College System in development of an online prelicense education course. Ms. Baer indicated that she would enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Community College System to that effect.

Larry A. Outlaw Excellence in Education Award Proposal Revision: Staff provided the Commission with revised proposed criteria for the Larry A. Outlaw Excellence in Education Award. Upon the motion of Staff, the Commission adopted the criteria. The criteria will be used to make the award at the spring 2020 Educators Conference.

Emerging Trends: Staff reviewed with the Commission an article from The Charlotte Observer concerning housing vouchers.

Report on License Numbers: As of December 1, 2019, there are 110,210 brokers and firms licensed by the Commission, as follows:

• Active Brokers 72,733
• Active Provisional Brokers 8,929
• Inactive Brokers 25,196
• Inactive Provisional Brokers 8,509
• Firms 13,547
• Brokers-in-Charge 17,202
• BIC-Eligible Brokers 4,003
• Limited Nonresident Commercial Brokers 278

Next Commission Meeting: The next Commission meeting will be held at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, February 12, 2020, at the Commission’s office in Raleigh, North Carolina and is open to the public.

Commission Meeting of December 11, 2019

Key reports, issues, and decisions of interest to licensees and/or the public are reported here from the most recent Commission meetings:

Pending Cases: The Commission accepted the permanent voluntary surrender of one license; suspended two licenses; entered into consent agreements to suspend two licenses and revoke one license; voted to deny a request to reconsider a Consent Agreement previously approved; extended the time within which a licensee must satisfy the conditions of the Consent Order previously entered into with the Commission; denied the issuance of one license; and ordered hearings involving two licensees.

License Applications Involving Character Issues: Applications for licenses from persons who have character issues such as prior criminal convictions or disciplinary action by another licensing board are separately reviewed by the Commission. Decisions are made based upon criminal background checks, information supplied by the applicant, and in-person interviews. Total candidates reviewed: 16; total approved: 6.

License Examination Results: A summary of key data relating to persons taking the examination for the first time is provided below:

Proposed Text of Education Provider Rules: Staff reviewed with the Commission the proposed text of rules relating to education providers as necessitated by recent changes in the License Law, specifically, Rules H.0101, .0203 – .0208, .0210, .0303, .0305, and .0401. that were substantively changed since the last meeting. The Commission also received oral comments from Matt Davies on behalf of the North Carolina Real Estate Educators Association. Following a motion by Ms. O’Connor, the Commission voted to publish the proposed Rules for publication. Miriam Baer, Commission Executive Director, reminded attendees that formal comments should be submitted during the official comment period in order to be properly considered by the Commission.

Rules A .0305, .1705, and .1712: Staff reported that changes to Rules A .0305, .1705, and .1712 were approved by the Rules Review Commission and will go into effect January 1, 2020.

General Update and BICUP Courses: Staff reviewed with the Commission the list of possible Update course topics for fiscal year 2020-21 based on suggestions provided by Commission members and staff to date. The determined by the Commission members to have the highest priority include contract formation and related issues, cybersecurity, Fair Housing laws pertaining to service vs. assistance animals, and the NC DOT database of public/private streets and Subdivision roads. Additional topics prioritized for the Brokerin- Charge Update Course include Rule A. 0110 as it relates to supervision of provisional brokers on teams, and advertising. Upon the motion of Staff, the Commission authorized Ms. Hamlin and Ms. Crawford Heath to choose as many of the topics as needed to create the four-hour Update courses in accordance with the priorities established by the Commission.

Larry A. Outlaw Excellence in Education Award Criteria: Staff provided the Commission with proposed new criteria for the Larry A. Outlaw Excellence in Education Award. The Commission suggested changes in the outlined process; staff will revise the proposal accordingly and bring it back to the Commission at the January meeting.

Emerging Trends: Miriam Baer, Commission Executive Director, reviewed with the Commission a recent North Carolina Court of Appeals decision, Stevens v. Heller (COA19-344).

Report on License Numbers: The Commission was advised that as of December 1, 2019, there are 110,210 brokers and firms licensed by the Commission, as follows:

• Active Brokers 72,484
• Active Provisional Brokers 9,309
• Inactive Brokers 24,099
• Inactive Provisional Brokers 7,835
• Firms 13,352
• Brokers-in-Charge 17,118
• BIC-Eligible Brokers 3,963
• Limited Nonresident Commercial Brokers 275

Next Commission Meeting: The next Commission meeting will be held at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, January 8, 2020, at the Commission’s office in Raleigh, North Carolina and is open to the public.