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Fair Housing

Do you have questions about fair housing requirements? Although the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has withdrawn some of the formal guidance documents that explain how HUD interprets and applies existing federal housing laws, the federal fair housing laws remain in force, along with the State Fair Housing Act. Depending on the specific law in question, enforcement of fair housing laws may be handled at the federal or state level, through an administrative agency, or by a private lawsuit.

It is important for brokers to understand their legal obligations and to continue to adhere to fair housing laws. Highlighted below are some key distinctions to consider when evaluating legal authority in housing matters:

Statutes

Administrative Codes

Case Law

Agency Guidance

Letters

Current Stats: Monthly Licensee Count as of May 1, 2026

Commission Presentations

May 2026 Presentations

Len Elder, Director of Education and Licensing, spoke at Cape Fear REALTORS® on May 6th.

Kizzy Crawford Heath, Assistant Director of Education and Licensing, and Tiffany Ross, Consumer Resource Officer, spoke at Wilmington Beaufort County Board of REALTORS® on May 12th.

Janet Thoren, Director of Regulatory Affairs, spoke at a Wire Fraud Summit on May 13th.

Bruce Rinne, Consumer Protection Officer, spoke at 220 Agents on May 14th.

Bill Aceto, Commission Chair, spoke at Catawba Valley Association of REALTORS® on May 15th.

Beau Minnick, Consumer Protection Officer, spoke at True North Realty on May 18th.

Brian Heath, Consumer Protection Officer, spoke at Asheville Property Managers on May 19th.

Kizzy Crawford Heath, Assistant Director of Education and Licensing, spoke at Coldwell Banker HPW- Midtown Office on May 26th.

Miriam Baer, Executive Director, spoke at Neuse River Region Association of REALTORS® on May 29th.

June 2026 Presentations

*These presentations are subject to change due to the availability of Commission members and/or staff.*

Charlie Moody, Deputy Legal Counsel, will speak at Real Broker LLC on June 3rd.

Bruce Rinne, Consumer Protection Officer, will speak at Stateline Realty and Property Management LLC on June 16th.

Bruce Rinne, Consumer Protection Officer, will speak at Coldwell Banker Advantage on June 18th.

Miriam Baer, Executive Director, will speak at Albemarle Area Association of REALTORS® on June 23rd.

Christy Evans, Consumer Protection Officer, will speak at Howard Hanna Allen Tate Lake Norman on June 30th.

Tech Corner: Summer Interns, Assistants, and Office Technology Access

Summer can bring increased activity for real estate offices. Offices may bring on interns, temporary assistants, or seasonal staff to help manage the summer season. While additional support can improve efficiency, it can also create technology and security risks if office systems are not properly managed.

Many real estate offices rely on shared digital tools such as customer relationship management platforms, transaction management systems, email accounts, shared drives, and electronic signature software. Providing quick access to these systems may seem convenient, but unrestricted or poorly monitored access can expose confidential consumer information.

Before granting access to any office technology, brokers-in-charge should review exactly what access is necessary for everyone’s role to conduct brokerage actively effectively and safely.  Also, shared usernames and passwords should never be used as a shortcut. Each user should have their own login credentials so activity can be tracked and monitored. Unique credentials also allow immediate removal of access when employment ends.

It is equally important to ensure that all devices and accounts are protected with strong passwords and, when available, multifactor authentication. Temporary workers should also receive clear guidance on cybersecurity best practices, including recognizing phishing emails, protecting confidential information, and avoiding unsecured public Wi-Fi.

Finally, offices should regularly review user access permissions, especially at the end of the summer season. Accounts that remain active after an intern or assistant departs can create unnecessary security vulnerabilities.

As technology continues to play a central role in real estate practice, careful management of digital access is part of professional responsibility. Taking a few simple precautions can help protect consumer information, maintain office security, and support compliance.

License Renewal

Link: https://youtu.be/5S3zcEr6P-s

Script: Have You Renewed Your Broker License Yet?

As a reminder, all North Carolina broker licenses must be renewed by June 30, 2026, to remain active. Under Rule 58A .0503, failure to renew your license will result in your license expiring, which may interrupt your ability to practice real estate.

What Do You Need to Know About Renewal?

The current renewal fee is $50.00. Brokers are encouraged to complete the renewal process early to avoid last-minute delays and ensure continued active status without interruption.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline?

If your license is not renewed by June 30, 2026, it will expire in accordance with Commission rules. An expired license may require additional steps to reinstate, which can delay your ability to engage in brokerage activity.

Have You Taken a Moment to Renew?

Renewal is quick and can be completed online. Taking a few minutes now helps ensure your license remains active.

NOTE: Qualifying brokers MUST renew their individual licenses and the firm’s license as well. You can review the eBulletin article, Reminder: QBs Renew Your Individual and Firm Licenses, here.

Continuing Education

Do You Know What Your CE Requirements Are?

Under Rule 58A .1702, all North Carolina brokers must complete eight (8) hours of continuing education each license year to maintain an active license. Those hours are divided into:

Have You Checked Your CE Status Yet?

Have you confirmed that you completed your CE course requirements? If not, follow these steps to confirm now:

From there, you’ll see your current CE status. If either your Update Hours or Elective Hours shows a (0) zero, you must complete these courses BEFORE the deadline of June 10, 2026, to remain eligible for active license status.

NOTE: The Commission published an article entitled, Check your CE Record, on April 1, 2026. You can review the article here and CE video on YouTube. 

Do You Know Where to Find Available CE Courses?

If you still need to complete your CE, finding a course is easy and convenient:

You can search by course number, provider, instructor, or location.

Course Numbers

Update courses must be taken live (in person or synchronously online). Elective courses offer more flexibility, including self-paced online options.

To explore those self-paced options:

Have You Confirmed Your CE Has Been Reported?

After completing a course, your education provider is responsible for:

To stay on track, make sure you:

If your credit is not posted within 10 days to your license record, you will need to contact the education provider (EP) to ensure it was submitted.

Reminder: RENEW your License!

License renewal opened May 15 and runs through June 30, 2026. While CE does not have to be completed before you submit your renewal, CE must be finished by June 10 to avoid your license becoming inactive.

FAQs: License Renewal

Link: https://youtu.be/8PTTWVUwarw

Script: Do you have questions about the license renewal process? If so, the Commission has a License Renewal FAQ page on its website! This page is designed to provide you with clear guidance on how to renew your license and answer some of your most frequently asked questions.  

Whether you are an affiliated broker, broker-in-charge, or qualifying broker managing a firm, these FAQs are here to ensure your license remains current and does not expire. 

You can access the FAQs here.

Link: https://www.ncrec.gov/Licensing/LicenseRenewalFaq

NOTE: All individual broker licenses, including limited nonresident commercial licenses, and firm licenses must be renewed by 11:59 pm on June 30, 2026.

Don’t Even Think About It!

As the 2025–2026 continuing education (CE) season moves toward its conclusion on June 10th, the Commission recognizes that brokers are balancing a busy spring housing market along with the demands of everyday life. During this time, it may be tempting to look for ways to delegate tasks or streamline responsibilities. However, brokers are strongly cautioned to personally complete all CE requirements.

The Commission is aware of third-party services advertising online that offer to “take and pass your real estate courses” on behalf of licensees. Don’t even think about responding to such ads! These offers are not permitted, and brokers should not engage with them under any circumstances. Further, disciplinary action may be taken against any licensee who allows another individual to attend, complete, or represent coursework in their place. Education Providers (EPs) and instructors are tasked with the responsibility to verify the identity of all students in Prelicensing, Postlicensing, and CE courses, whether delivered in person or virtually.

CE is designed with a clear purpose: to ensure brokers are equipped with the knowledge necessary to protect consumers in real estate transactions. Because of this, brokers are held responsible for possessing and implementing the information conveyed in these courses.

So…don’t even think about asking anyone else to “sit in” for you or providing false identification for any Commission-sanctioned coursework. Essentially, allowing someone else to complete coursework on your behalf, providing false identification, or misrepresenting attendance is a violation of License Law and Commission rules and may be treated as fraud, subject to disciplinary action by the Commission.

EPs are now asked to more actively verify the identification of all students and instances of non-compliance by the EP may be investigated. In summary, brokers must complete their own courses as intended—not only to remain in compliance, but also because the coursework is designed to provide meaningful, practical value to their professional practice.

So take the course…you will learn something!

Is this too good to be TRUE?

Have you ever been approached with a “perfect” listing opportunity that seemed to check all the boxes—quick sale, motivated seller, and minimal effort required?

Let’s say that you are contacted by an individual who has recently inherited their grandparents’ 100-acre family farm. The individual lives out of state, has no plans to return to North Carolina, and expresses a strong desire to sell the property quickly and entirely through electronic means, including closing. They also request that you do not contact neighboring property owners or place a “For Sale” sign on the land, citing concerns about upsetting long-standing family friends. Although you inform them that the absence of on-site marketing may limit exposure to the property, they further indicate they are willing to accept a below-market price in order to facilitate a fast sale.

While these circumstances may initially appear favorable, they should prompt careful scrutiny and appropriate verification procedures by a broker. As a broker, it is essential to confirm the identity of the seller and their legal authority to convey the property.

Reasonable steps include:

Additional safeguards may include sending the listing agreement via secure, trackable delivery to the owner’s address of record and promptly notifying your Broker-in-Charge of any concerns; contacting neighbors and family members to confirm the seller’s identity, and asking the seller questions about the property that a real owner would likely know better than a fraudulent one.

Situations that appear unusually advantageous or restrictive in nature warrant heightened due diligence. As always, brokers should remember that when a transaction seems “too good to be true,” it merits careful verification before proceeding.

Do You Know that Real Estate Appraisals Are Changing?

By:  Steve Fussell, Chief Consumer Protection Officer

                November 2, 2026, is the deadline for real estate appraisers to begin using a new appraisal form (UAD 3.6). Some lenders are already requiring the use of this new form. To complete the new form, it is possible that appraisers will contact listing agents more often than in the past to obtain information regarding properties.

                To educate licensees on this change, the Commission has included a section on appraisals in its 2026-2027 Mandatory Update Course that will be available in July 2026. We strongly encourage you to take the course as soon as possible.

                Other important points regarding appraisals:

  1. A lender hires an appraiser to determine the value of the property for which a buyer wants to borrow money so that, in the event of the buyer’s default on the loan, the lender will know how much it can reasonably expect to recover through foreclosure. Even though a lender will collect money from a buyer to pay for an appraisal, the lender orders the appraisal and is the appraiser’s client. Therefore, if a lender orders an appraisal, brokers should never refer to the appraisal as the “buyer’s appraisal.” You should refer to the appraisal as “the appraisal performed for the buyer’s lender.” Alternatively, if a buyer is paying cash for a property and decides to order an appraisal, then the buyer is the appraiser’s client and the appraisal would be the “buyer’s appraisal.”
  2. A broker may provide any information or documentation requested by an appraiser. However, Rule A .0120(c) prohibits a broker from influencing or attempting to influence an appraiser’s decision of value.
  3. Buyer agents should make a habit of (1) asking their buyer-clients to obtain copies of the appraisal reports from their lenders as soon as the reports are available and (2) carefully reviewing the reports and disclosing material information, such as square footage and other information that a reasonable buyer would want to know. If the square footage in the appraisal report differs from the advertised square footage in the MLS, then a buyer agent should look for “below grade” square footage in the appraisal report to see if it explains the difference.
  4. Buyers who pay cash for properties rarely order appraisals, because there is no requirement to do so. However, an appraisal can provide useful information to a buyer, such as square footage verification and other property information. NC Realtors Form 760 (Professional Services Disclosure and Election) includes “appraisal” in the list of services. Brokers who represent and/or assist buyers should explain the value of an appraisal so that buyers can make informed decisions rather than dismiss an appraisal just because it is not required.