Commission Education Program Wins Top ARELLO Award
The Association of Real Estate License Law Officials (ARELLO) presented its top education recognition award to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission for its “Total Education Program.”
This award honors a jurisdiction’s real estate licensing agency for operating an overall education program that is judged to be particularly outstanding based on awards criteria such as program design, program standards, innovation, resources devoted to the program and benefits of the program.
Specific aspects of the Commission’s education program that contributed to the Commission’s selection for this honor include:
Education Award – Lanny Wilson, Commission Chairman, (r) receives ARELLO award from Larry Outlaw, Director, Education and Licensing. Commission members (l. to r.) are Marsha lordan, Raymond Bass Wanda Proffitt, William Lackey, Sang Hamilton, Allan Dameron and Mona Hill.
New Broker Prelicensing Course —The emphasis on practical application of laws, rules and concepts, inclusion of a major section on “Introduction to Commercial Real Estate Brokerage,” and provision by the Commission of high quality course final examinations for use by instructors are particularly noteworthy.
Standards for Prelicensing and CE Update Course Instructors — Prospective CE update course instructors have long been required to demonstrate by videotape that they possess minimally acceptable basic teaching skills. Prelicensing instructors are now subject to this requirement and new instructors must attend a Commission-sponsored New Instructor Seminar. In addition, prelicensing instructors must obtain instructor continuing education to renew their approval.
CE Update Course — The Commission-developed mandatory update course, featuring entirely different subject matter each year, is highly regarded for the quality of information and instruction.
CE Elective Course Standards — The Commission utilizes very strict elective course approval standards in an effort to assure that approved courses serve the public interest and meet minimum quality standards regarding the information to be provided, course design, materials and similar matters.
Instructor Training — The Commission sponsors a two-day Real Estate Educators Conference each year for the benefit of approved instructors and other real estate educators. The Commission also conducts two six-hour training sessions for CE update course instructors each year to help prepare them to teach the update course for that year.
Broker-in-Charge Course — Since October 2000, all newly designated brokers-in-charge must take this Commission-developed course within 90 days of being designated. The 4 1/2-hour, PowerPoint®-based course focuses on the legal and practical responsibilities of brokers-in-charge and is conducted by the Commission 4-5 times a month at various locations across the state.
Trust Account Course — The Commission conducts both a Basic Trust Account Course and a Resort Property Managers Trust Account Course for licensees. The basic course is taught once a month in Raleigh and both are taught each spring in several locations across the state. The courses utilize a PowerPoint®-based instructional program.
North Carolina Real Estate Manual— The Commission publishes biennially this text on North Carolina real estate law and brokerage practices. It is used in the broker prelicensing course and also serves as a reference book for practitioners. The 718-page Manual features detailed coverage and many practical examples not found elsewhere.
Information Publications for Licensees and Consumers — The Commission publishes a licensee newsletter, the Real Estate Bulletin, a Working with Real Estate Agents brochure (which licensees must provide to prospective sellers and buyers), and aResidential Square Footage Guidelines booklet. In addition, the Commission publishes free of charge to licensees and consumers a series of Question and Answer brochures on *Fair Housing, *Renting Residential Real Estate, *Tenant Security Deposits, Condos and Townhouses, Residential Subdivisions and Planned Communities, Home Inspections, and Purchasing Coastal Real Estate in North Carolina (* available in a Spanish language edition).
The Commission is very proud to have received the ARELLO award recognizing its achievements in the education area. [ARELLO is an international organization of real estate licensing agencies and individuals involved with regulation of the real estate industry.]
This article came from the February 2002-Vol32-4 edition of the bulletin.