Commission Meeting News
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 July 19, 2023
Pending Cases: The Commission entered into consent agreements to suspend 17 licenses, 1 instructor approval, and 1 education provider approval, accepted the permanent voluntary surrender of 1 instructor approval, reprimanded 4 licenses, extended the time to satisfy conditions involving 1 licensee, closed cases without action against 3 licensees, left cases pending involving 6 licensees, denied 1 license following a hearing, continued cases involving 3 licensees, and ordered hearings in cases involving 14 licensees.
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 made based upon criminal background checks, information supplied by the applicant, and in-person interviews.
Total candidates considered: 10, total approved: 3, total approved with conditions: 2, continued: 3, and 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
Legislative Report: The Director of Regulatory Affairs reviewed the Legislative Report, summarizing bills that are currently pending in the General Assembly that relate to real estate brokerage, occupational licensing, or other matters of interest to the Commission.
BIC Span of Control: The Director of Regulatory Affairs reviewed the report on the BIC Focus Groups and surveys and asked Commission members to consider what actions and next steps they might like to pursue relating to the span of control of brokers in charge. The report will be reviewed at the August meeting and staff will seek the Commission members’ feedback on each of the topics listed.
Residential Property and Owners’ Association Disclosure Statement: Staff reported that the Residential Property and Owners’ Association Disclosure Statement rule changes were approved at the Rules Review Commission on June 15, and effective on July 1, 2023. The public comment period for the RPOADS form is open until August 1, 2023. The comments received during this period will be presented to the Commission at the August 16, 2023, meeting.
Commission Commendations: Mr. Fox commended Mr. Malarney and Mr. Lindsey on their elections as Chair and Vice-Chair of the Commission. He also commended Ms. Mallette on her nomination to the North Carolina Business Court and Mr. Black for his work as Chair of the Commission this year.
Renewals: The Director of Education & Licensing reported that as of July 1, 2023, 90% of brokers, and 89% of firms renewed their licenses, which is slightly below previous years. A total of 3,235 licensees were marked inactive due to a CE deficiency, and 13, 757 licenses expired due to the failure to renew. Further, he stated that 1,015 BICs lost their BIC status. Out of approximately 129,000 licensees, only 126 licenses were affected by an inactive BIC, 12 licensees were affected by a BIC who failed to complete CE, and 62 licensees were affected by an expired BIC.
Education Provider and Instructor License Examination Performance: The Director of Education & Licensing provided a report on the Education Provider and Instructor License Examination Performance. He indicated that 3,017 people tested on the NC licensing exam and first-time test takers had a 67.5% yearly pass rate. Sixty-four education providers offered the prelicensing course and only 3 fell below the 40% minimal competency threshold. Additionally, there were 147 instructors who taught prelicensing and only 6 instructors went below the 40% minimal competency rule. The Director commended the education providers for working to improve their delivery of education. Ms. Chandler asked that the Commission discuss the feasibility of allowing instructors to take a licensing exam periodically in order to determine the instructor’s competency level, noting that some instructors may be presenting incorrect information.
Year-End CE Student Survey: The Director of Education & Licensing provided a report on the year-end CE student survey noting that 13,244 surveys were returned over the course of the year. According to the survey results, there has been a transition of some courses from Zoom back to in-person. He noted that the survey respondents indicated that the overall performance of instructors and the perceived quality and value of the course remains very high. There were also improvements reported in student engagement and instructor delivery. In addition, the report included the most frequent comments on CE courses and the Update course.
Report on License Numbers: As of July 1, 2023, there are 115,911 brokers and firms licensed by the Commission, as follows:
Active Brokers 79,298
Active Provisional Brokers 4,373
Brokers-in-Charge 17,223
BIC-Eligible Brokers 6,178
Inactive Brokers 21,133
Inactive Provisional Brokers 5,546
Firms 15,285
Limited Nonresident Commercial Brokers 195
Next Commission Meeting: The next Commission meeting will be held at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, August 16, 2023, in the Commission’s office in Raleigh and is open to the public. It also can be viewed via Zoom online video.