The text of the Commission’s Questions and Answers on: Tenant Security Deposits brochure (English and Spanish versions) has been changed to incorporate recent revisions to the law concerning the return of residential security deposits by landlords to tenants.
The main change relates to the second to the last question concerning the deadline to return the security deposit. While the law still requires a refund and/or accounting for the deposit within thirty days, as explained in the brochure, “where the full amount of damage cannot be determined within 30 days, the landlord or agent may send [the tenant] a written interim accounting of deductions claimed, followed by a final accounting no later than 60 days following the end of the tenancy.” In addition, the brochure now adds in the last question a statutory reference to the Tenant Security Deposit Act: N.C. Gen. Stat. § 42-50 et seq.
New reprints of the free brochure are available and should replace existing inventory. Digital files on the Commission Web site, www.ncrec.gov, are also available.
This article came from the January 2010-Vol40-3 edition of the bulletin.
Real estate brokers should become familiar with these new forms in order to properly advise buyer clients/customers during their loan search process and to assist both seller and buyer clients/customers at closing.
The Real Estate Commission will devote a portion of its 2010-11 continuing education Update course to this topic (available after July 1, 2010), and it is hoped that education providers will offer seminars and perhaps a continuing education elective course on RESPA reform during the spring of 2010.
This article came from the January 2010-Vol40-3 edition of the bulletin.
Following is a summary of proposed Commission rule changes which, if approved, would become effective July 1, 2010:
• Require retention of trust account and transaction records for a period of five years instead of three as the current rules require.
• Add questions to the Residential Property Disclosure Form for home sellers to disclose whether their properties are located within one mile of the boundary of certain military facilities and to disclose noise, air traffic, vibrations, lights and other impacts from nearby military facilities;
• Allow postponement and completion of continuing education, Broker-in-Charge, and postlicensing courses, and the payment of license renewal fees for individuals licensed as brokers and approved as instructors who are also members of theUnited States armed forces who are serving in combat or in presidentially-declared disaster areas.
• Clarify when and under what circumstances students in the Broker-in-Charge Course and in all continuing education courses may be absent during the scheduled classroom hours and still receive continuing education credit for attending the course.
A public hearing for comments on the proposed rule changes will be held at 9:00 a.m., February 10, 2010 in the Conference Room of the Commission’s office.
This article came from the October 2009-Vol40-2 edition of the bulletin.
The Commission’s North Carolina Real Estate License Law and Commission Rules book has been updated and reprinted.
This 92-page book is published as a convenient, portable reference and contains four sections:
• North Carolina Real Estate Law
• Commission Rules
• Trust Account Guidelines
• License Law and Rules Comments
The Rules and Comments sections are current with the rule changes effective July 1. The Comments section serves as a study guide for the initial licensing examination.
This article came from the October 2009-Vol40-2 edition of the bulletin.
Marsha H. Jordan of Lincolnton has been elected Chairman of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission for the 2009-2010 term beginning August 1, it was announced by Phillip T. Fisher, Executive Director.
A graduate of the University of Virginia (MWC), Jordan entered the real estate business in 1986.
She is owner of Apple Realty in Lincolnton, a Graduate of the REALTOR® Institute and holds the Certified Residential Broker, Certified Residential Specialist, and GREEN designations.
Appointed to the Commission in 1999, Jordan is president of the North Carolina Real Estate Education Foundation and past president and 2001 REALTOR® of the Year of the Lincoln County Board of REALTORS®.
Active in community affairs, she is a former director of the Lincolnton Chamber of Commerce, past president for Downtown Development, and currently president of the Lincolnton Rotary Club.
Jordan and her husband, Max, a REALTOR® and contractor, reside in Lincolnton and have one son, Jason, a student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and a REALTOR®.
This article came from the October 2009-Vol40-2 edition of the bulletin.
The pocket card you receive with your real estate license has been redesigned to be more useful and better protected. Issuance of the new design began in June with renewals following depletion of existing card inventory.
As shown, the card has a cover to shield the surface containing your name, license number and signature. Kept closed, it will prevent smudging.
The opposite side of the cover contains Commission contact information for easy access along with a continuing education deadline reminder.
This article came from the October 2009-Vol40-2 edition of the bulletin.
As part of the Real Estate Commission’s quality control program for its approved real estate schools and instructors, it monitors the performance of their students taking the license examination for the first time within 180 days of course completion. The results are periodically reported to the schools/instructors and annually reviewed by the Commission. The most recent annual performance record for each school may be found on the Commission’s website.
During the July, 2008-June, 2009 reporting period, 72% of all first-time candidates passed. The Commission congratulates the following schools and instructors (which had six or more students tested) for having at least 80% of their students pass the license examination on their first attempt:
Schools
Allen Tate School of Real Estate, Charlotte; Asheville-Buncombe Community College, Asheville/Madison; Cape Fear Community College, Wilmington; Central Piedmont Community College, Charlotte/Matthews/Huntersville; Coastal Carolina Real Estate Academy, Wilmington; Cumbie Institute of Real Estate, Asheville; Galloway School of Real Estate, Hayesville/Murphy; Mingle School of Real Estate, Charlotte/Cornelius; Mitchell Community College, Statesville/Mooresville; Superior School of Real Estate, Charlotte/Concord/Cornelius/Huntersville
Instructors
Oscar Agurs, Charlotte; Richard Barden, Franklin; Pete Camak, Pine Knoll Shores; Lowell Dotson, Matthews; Rick Fuller, Greensboro; Bill Gallagher, Charlotte; Frank Galloway, Andrews; Scott Gibson, Raleigh; Violet Harrington, Durham;Sandra Hubbard, Kittrell; Carolyn Lambert, Charlotte; Dwight Lawing, Jr., Parkton; Stephen Lawson, Winston-Salem; Saundra Martin, Salisbury; Terri Minnis, Wilmington; Brian Pate, Wake Forest; Laurel Pettys, Wilmington; Rashad Phillips,Charlotte; Bobby Potts, Asheville; Kevin Sensing, Goldsboro; Tim Terry, Charlotte; Jerry Thomas, Wrightsville Beach; Glenn Weeks, Holly Springs; Sandy Williams, Charlotte; Terry Wilson, Huntersville; Ben Wirtz, Iron Station
This article came from the October 2009-Vol40-2 edition of the bulletin.
The statistics here generally reflect the activities of the Real Estate Commission during the period from May 1, 2008 to April 30, 2009.
Contact
• 246,609 telephone calls
• 1.5 million+ Web site “hits”
Publications
• 640,000+ publications distributed to brokers, consumers, applicants
Technology
• 8,645 student rosters electronically processed for CE courses and 859 for post licensing courses
Licensing
• 457,468 license records changed
• 5,663 applications processed for licenses by examination
• 5,273+ license examinations administered
• 2,993 licenses by examination issued
• 339 licenses issued by reciprocity
• 1,051 firm licenses issued
• 209 expired, surrendered and suspended licenses reinstated
• 2,243 Certificates of License History issued
• 216 license applications reviewed by Commission for character issues
• 106 license applicant conferences conducted
Education
• 7 new private real estate school licenses issued and 66 renewed
• 27 real estate instructors approved (a 19% increase) and 109 renewed
• 83 new continuing education elective courses approved (for a total of 437 courses)
• 28 new continuing education sponsors approved (for a total of 231)
• 13 new continuing education Update Course instructors approved (for a total of 190)
• 41 Broker-in-Charge Course sessions conducted for 2,027 licensees
Audits/Investigations
• 152 field investigations completed
• 196 trust accounts examined
• 373 persons interviewed
• 13 trust account sessions conducted for 310 students
• 1,848 students instructed for trust account portion of BIC course
Legal
• 1,037 case (complaint) files opened and 1,101 closed
• 33 licensees reprimanded
• 70 licenses suspended
• 70 licenses revoked
• 20 licenses surrendered
• 95 cases with conditional remedies
This article came from the October 2009-Vol40-2 edition of the bulletin.
By Charlene D. Moody
Deputy Legal Counsel
The Real Estate Commission often gets calls from licensees and homeowners seeking alternative ways to bring about sales. One such method suggested by callers is to raffle a home. The seller would sell raffle tickets, the winning ticket-holder would receive the property, and the seller would receive the proceeds.
In the past, the answer was clear that under North Carolina law, no real estate could be offered as a raffle prize under any circumstance. However, in May 2009, the N.C. General Assembly amended N.C.G.S. §14-309.15 to allow real property to be offered as a prize in a raffle by certain organizations.
The maximum appraised value of the real property to be raffled is $500,000 for any one prize and the total appraised value of all real estate prizes offered by one nonprofit organization may not exceed $500,000 in any one calendar year.
Licensees must note that the statute authorizes only nonprofit organizations or government entities to conduct raffles.
Sellers might ask if they would qualify if they donated a portion of the raffle proceeds to a charity. However, the statute provides that the proceeds of the raffle may not be used to compensate any person to conduct a raffle. The Commission, therefore, takes the position that the seller may not receive any part of the raffle proceeds nor may a licensee receive any fee or commission from the raffle proceeds.
A person conducting a raffle in violation of N.C.G.S. §14-309.15 shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor.
Additionally, licensees and the public should be aware that there may be surprising tax consequences of winning a real estate raffle. Licensees should advise any participant in such a raffle to consult a tax advisor concerning the tax consequences to the winner. For example, in the current tax year, the home may be reportable as ordinary income, leading to a large income tax bill.
Further, when the winner decides to sell the home, he or she may encounter a large capital gains tax because the cost basis for the home will be the ticket price rather than the value of the home.
This article came from the October 2009-Vol40-2 edition of the bulletin.
(The following is excerpted from ARELLO® Boundaries, the newsletter to members of the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials.)
The North Carolina Real Estate Commission recently joined numerous federal agencies and the state’s Commissioner of Banks in announcing the resolution of an inter-agency investigation of Beazer Homes, a home building company based inAtlanta, Georgia, with operations in at least 21 states, and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Beazer Mortgage Corporation.
In a criminal Bill of Information filed along with a Deferred Prosecution Agreement resolving the case, the United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina (Charlotte Division) charged the company with engaging in massive and complicated schemes that included discount point fraud, down payment assistance fraud, HUD-licensing fraud and mortgage loan stated-income fraud.
In the Deferred Prosecution Agreement executed by the United States Attorney and Beazer, the company agreed to pay up to $50 million dollars in restitution over several years.
The announcement of the investigation and resolution of the case included public statements by officials of the many agencies involved in the investigation including U.S. Attorney Edward R. Ryan, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, the North Carolina Deputy Commissioner of Banks and North Carolina Real Estate Commission Deputy Chief Counsel Janet Thoren.
Thoren said, “The North Carolina Real Estate Commission is committed to the fight against mortgage fraud. We are pleased that we were able to partner with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District and each of the other agencies involved in this complicated and detailed investigation and work together to bring about a result that includes restitution to so many consumer victims, both in North Carolina and nationwide.”
This article came from the October 2009-Vol40-2 edition of the bulletin.