Key reports, issues, and decisions of interest to licensees and/or the public are reported here from the most recent Commission meeting:
Commission Meeting of August 13, 2025
Pending Cases: The Commission entered into consent agreements to suspend 7 licenses, ordered 7 hearings in cases involving licensees, left 2 cases pending, reprimanded 1 licensee, accepted the permanent voluntary surrender of 3 licensees, accepted the voluntary surrender of 1 licensee, approved the petition for reconsideration of 1 licensee, denied issuance of 1 license, and closed 1 case.
License Applications Involving Character Issues: License applicants who have character issues such as prior criminal convictions or disciplinary actions by another licensing board are separately considered by the Commission. Decisions are based upon criminal background checks, information supplied by the applicant, and in-person interviews.
Total candidates considered: 14; total approved: 3; approved with conditions: 3; continued: 6; deferred: 2.
License Examination Results: If you are interested in reviewing the most recent statistics and pass rates regarding the North Carolina broker license examination, click here License Examination Results.
Education Town Hall: The Assistant Director of Education and Licensing noted that the next Education Town Hall will be on August 19 at 3:00 p.m. The Assistant Director invited all the members to attend. The Town Hall is an open forum for educators to bring forth questions to staff.
Career Accelerator Participant: The Director of Education and Licensing provided a brief report on the Career Accelerator Program noting that the Consumer Resource Officer coordinated the program in partnership with the Wake County Public School System. High school students visited the Commission and discussed the process of becoming a real estate broker and also how the Commission oversees brokers to protect consumers. The Director of Education and Licensing commended the Consumer Resource Officer for receiving her Gold Standard designation from REEA at the recent national conference. The Executive Director commended the Director of Education and Licensing, who was awarded the Jack Wiedemer Distinguished Career Award at the National REEA Conference in recognition of his history of excellence throughout his career.
Petition to Amend Consent Order – Case D04-0774: The Commission considereda petition to amend certain conditions in a 2008 consent order entered into between the Commission and Respondent D.R. Horton in case D04-0774. Attorney Doug Brocker presented the petition on behalf of D.R. Horton. The Director of Regulatory Affairs reviewed the underlying facts and the consent agreement, indicating that she did not oppose the Petition. Upon a motion from Mr. Ramseur, the Commission granted the petition for D.R. Horton as more particularly described in the Order.
Legislation: The Director of Regulatory Affairs reviewed the Legislative Report, which summarizes bills currently pending in the General Assembly that relate to real estate brokerage, occupational licensing, or other matters of interest to the Commission.
Rulemaking: The Compliance Manager provided an update on rulemaking noting that recent legislation impacts the rulemaking process. The Commission’s proposed Rule 58A .0503 is affected by the new law, which includes stricter standards for the requirement of adding a fiscal note. Specifically, the Commission must analyze a rule change over a five-year period, and if the cost exceeds the one-million-dollar threshold a fiscal note is required. Because the fee increase proposed in Rule A .0503 will exceed that threshold, staff has withdrawn the proposed amendment and is working on a fiscal note for the Commission’s review at the September Commission meeting.
Ethics Commission SEI Evaluation Letter: The Executive Director read into the record of the Commission’s meeting the results of the evaluations of the Statement of Economic Interest of Commission member Jonathan Barfield, Jr., by the North Carolina State Ethics Commission; namely, that the Ethics Commission did not find an actual conflict of interest but did find the potential for a conflict of interest, and that the potential conflict does not prohibit his service on the Commission.
Strategic Planning RFP: The Executive Director presented an RFP for strategic planning. Upon a motion from Mr. Beaty, the Commission directed staff to discontinue the RFP for strategic planning and work in-house on succession planning for the Executive Director. The Executive Director indicated that she would provide the members with the current succession plan.
Character Conference Schedules: The Executive Director presented the draft 2025 Character Conference Panels.
Commission Member Email Addresses: The Executive Director reported that part of the ongoing projects is to give each member an NCREC email address. She asked for feedback on the naming convention. After discussion, the members agreed that the address should be their given name or nickname followed by a dot and their surname. The Executive Director explained to the members that it is possible that if a member responds from a non NCREC email address, they are at risk for other emails being requested in a records request. The Executive Director will provide the Commission with a draft email policy for consideration prior to implementation that will address these and other issues.
Report on License Numbers: As of August 1, 2025, there are 101,428 brokers and firms licensed by the Commission, as follows:
Active Full Brokers – 75,784
Active Provisional Brokers – 3,909
Brokers-in-Charge – 17,086
BIC Eligible Brokers – 6,635
Inactive Full Brokers – 16,299
Inactive Provisional Brokers – 5,436
Firms – 17,076
Limited Nonresident Commercial Brokers – 230
Next Commission Meeting: The next Commission meeting will be held at 8:30 am, September 17, 2025, at the North Carolina Real Estate Commission in Raleigh, NC, and is open to the public. It can be viewed via Zoom online video.