New Settlement Forms Among Topics At 2015 Spring Educators Conference

By Pamela R. Rorie, Continuing Education Officer

An eager crowd of real estate instructors, school officials and publisher representatives attended the 2015 Real Estate Educators Conference in Cary, March 16-17, at the Embassy Suites. The annual Commission-sponsored meeting drew a near- record crowd of 230 participants from across the state for this year’s event.

Commission Executive Director Miriam Baer opened the conference with the State of the Commission address. She reviewed the Commission’s accomplishments over the past year including website re-design, replacing BICAR with BICUP, publishing a new edition of the Real Estate Manual, and publishing fillable website forms. New initiatives included a Task Force on Instructor Approval and Development, reviewing ways to reinvent the Manual, creating a school bulletin template, improving the license exam question bank, and exploring distance education.

Bruce Moyer, Director, Education and Licensing, informed the group of Real Estate License Law and Commission rule changes, restructuring of the Education and Licensing Division, and a summary of the recent Instructor Development Task Force findings.

Anita Burt, Education and Examination Officer, recognized prelicensing schools whose students had exhibited outstanding performance on the license examination during the past year.

Corean Hamlin, Education and Licensing Officer, described some of the most common license application problems and offered suggestions about obtaining educational resources for both instructors and their students.

Sharon Montague, President of the North Carolina Real Estate Educators Association (NCREEA), presided over its spring meeting during which Immediate Past President Brian Pate presented the “Program of the Year” award to Jo Mangum for her continuing education elective course, Strategic Listing Specialist. Ms. Mangum also received NCREEA’s “Educator of the Year” award.

Commission Vice Chair Cindy Chandler presented the Commission’s Billie J. Mercer Excellence in Education Award to Ms. Mangum. The award is presented annually in memory of former Commission member and Chair Billie Mercer, who was especially dedicated to the cause of real estate education. The names of all award winners are engraved on the Mercer Award cup that is displayed in the Commission’s lobby. Commission members George Bell and “Vic” Knight were also in attendance for the award presentation.

Following the luncheon, Kimberly Rosenburg, President, Attorneys Title, and Elizabeth Harrison, current Chair, Real Property section of the North Carolina Bar Association, answered questions from the educators regarding the new Real Estate Settlement Forms. The new forms continued to be the focus of the remainder of the first day with a discussion of Brokers’ Responsibilities from Legal Education Officer Patricia Moylan, and information about how the new settlement forms will impact the licensing exam from Education and Examination Officer Anita Burt.

The second day of the conference opened with Crisis in the Classroom, a presentation by Education and Licensing Officer Corean Hamlin and Continuing Education Officer Pamela Rorie, in which various unforeseen issues that can arise in the classroom were described along with possible techniques and solutions for dealing with the unexpected.

Phillip Sutton, First Class Deputy, Wake County Sheriff’s Office, provided a presentation on Agent and Instructor Safety, which was a timely reminder to the attendees of behaviors that may place them in danger on the job and actions they can take to avoid being a victim.

The conference concluded with the popular session conducted by members of the Commission’s Regulatory Affairs Division – Director Janet Thoren, Assistant Director Charlene Moody, Deputy Legal Counsel Fred Moreno, and Associate Legal Counsel Eric Mine – who explained the complaint process, reviewed recently resolved cases with the group, and answered questions.

The Commission thanks North Carolina’s real estate educators for their continued interest and support, and congratulates Jo Mangum for her achievements.

This article came from the May 2015-Vol46-1 edition of the bulletin.