ADAM W. O’NEAL AND ASSOCIATES (Belhaven) – By Consent, the Commission reprimanded Adam O’Neal and Associates effective December 1, 2010. The Commission found that Adam W. O’Neal and Associates failed to maintain its trust account records in accordance with Commission rules, failed to perform monthly reconciliations, and failed to remove earned commissions from the accounts in a timely manner.
ALEXANDER ARGIROFF (Kitty Hawk) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Mr. Argiroff for a period of two years effective December 1, 2010. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of two years through December 1, 2012. The Commission found that Mr. Argiroff, acting as qualifying broker and broker-in-charge of his licensed firm, engaged in credit repair consulting through his firm with an out-of-state company, collecting from clients fees for “consulting services” purported to be refundable if the client was “denied”, and failed to deposit the fees in a trust account, but forwarded a percentage to the out-of-state company while retaining his portion of the payment.
PAMELA BERRY (Wilmington) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Ms. Berry for a period of one year effective December 1, 2010. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of one year through November 30, 2011. The Commission found that Ms. Berry, acting as broker-in-charge of a real estate brokerage firm, failed to keep complete and accurate trust account records and failed to reconcile their trust records with statements supplied by the bank. The Commission also found that Ms. Berry approved the disbursement of more than $23,000 in client monies from the firm’s trust account without the authority of the firm’s clients. The funds were restored to the trust account.
BRASS LANTERN REALTY LLC (Swansboro) – By Consent, the Commission reprimanded Brass Lantern Realty effective December 1, 2010. The Commission found in a spot-audit performed by a Commission investigator that Brass Lantern Realty failed to maintain its trust accounts in accordance with Commission rules and monthly reconciliations had not been performed as required. The Commission noted that Brass Lantern Realty employed an accountant to correct the trust accounts and no shortages where found once the records were properly reconciled.
GENE R. DAVIS (Gastonia) – By consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Mr. Davis for a period of one month effective January 1, 2011. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of six months. The Commission found that Mr. Davis, primarily a commercial real estate agent, participated in three residential transactions involving a family member in which he failed to obtain written agency agreements as required by Commission rule.
GENE DAVIS REALTY COMPANY (Gastonia) – By consent, the Commission suspended the firm license of Gene Davis Realty Company for a period of one month effective January 1, 2011. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of six months. The Commission found that Gene Davis Realty Company, engaged primarily in commercial real estate, participated in three residential transactions involving a family member of the broker-in-charge in which it failed to obtain written agency agreements as required by Commission rule.
MONTE NELSON GRANDON (Charlotte) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Mr. Grandon for a period of two years effective January 1, 2011. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of two years on certain conditions. The Commission found that Mr. Grandon was convicted on or about February 1, 2008 and May 6, 2010 of Driving While Impaired in three separate instances. The Commission noted that Mr. Grandon has participated in both inpatient and outpatient treatment for addiction and regularly attends AA meetings.
GIAN HASBROCK (Raleigh) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Mr. Hasbrock for a period of one year effective December 1, 2010. One month of the stay was active with the remainder stayed for a probationary period extending through December 30, 2011. The Commission found that while Mr. Hasbrock acted as broker-in-charge of a real estate firm between January and September of 2007, the firm’s trust accounts were not properly funded and the books and records did not comply with Commission rules. The Commission also found that the firm’s owners primarily controlled the trust accounts during Mr. Hasbrock’s tenure as broker-in-charge; that an owner of the firm entered into a contract to purchase property owned by one of the firm’s clients; that the $10,000 earnest money check the firm’s owner gave the firm for the transaction was dishonored by his bank; and that Mr. Hasbrock did not notify the firm’s seller client or require the firm’s owner to make the check good. In addition, the Commission found that the firm’s owner did not complete the purchase and the firm’s client could not obtain a forfeiture of the earnest money as the client demanded.
GEORGE S. LANEY (Wilmington) – By Consent, the Commission revoked the broker license of Mr. Laney effective February 1, 2011. The Commission found that Mr. Laney, on two separate occasions in 2006, wrote checks on his real estate brokerage firm’s trust account for his personal real estate transactions without making contemporaneous deposits, which created shortfalls in the trust account that were not cured for several weeks. The Commission also found that Mr. Laney in 2007 caused more than $23,000 in abandoned client monies from his firm’s trust accounts to be disbursed to his firm’s corporate account without his former clients’ authority. The Commission finally found that Mr. Laney and others in his firm, acting as rental agents for the owners of vacation and long term rental properties, failed in 2010 in one of the firm’s offices to perform monthly reconciliations of the security deposit and rental trust accounts for a period of 120 days. The Commission noted that Mr. Laney has agreed to refund the trust account and to follow the correct procedures for disbursing abandoned funds.
JOHN JERRY MASS (Franklin) – By Consent, the Commission revoked the broker license of Mr. Mass effective January 14, 2011. The Commission found that Mr. Mass, as broker-in-charge during 2004-2008 of a real estate brokerage firm, listed and sold lots and homes in a subdivision developed by an entity owned and controlled by Mr. Mass, failed to provide purchasers with a disclosure required by law that the subdivision streets were privately owned, failed to pave its streets after having promised to do so, failed to follow the approved subdivision plan, and violated sedimentation and erosion control regulations. The Commission also found that Mr. Mass failed to maintain complete records of the sale of subdivision properties in the files of the firm where he was broker-in-charge, failed to account to the firm for commission monies in transactions involving the sale of subdivision properties, and used a firm credit card for personal expenses without authority. The Commission finally found that Mr. Mass, for a time the treasurer of the subdivision property owners association with dominion and control over the association’s money, failed to deposit and maintain the money in a trust account and failed to account to the association for the money or produce records of its disposition.
KRISTI ANN MORROW (Greenville) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Ms. Morrow for a period of six months effective January1, 2011. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of six months. The Commission found that Ms. Morrow entered into a lease agreement with the Section 8 tenant for an $800/month rental unit which had a Section 8 cap of $650/month; at the tenant’s request Ms. Morrow prepared and presented to the Section 8 representative a second lease for $650 and the tenant paid the additional $150/month out-of-pocket directly to the landlord through Ms. Morrow’s firm. The Commission also found that Ms. Morrow failed to confirm with the Section 8 representative that the payment directly to the landlord was permissible; it was not.
SHELLEY DENISE MORROW (Weaverville) – The Commission suspended the broker license of Ms. Morrow for a period of six months effective November 3, 2010. The Commission found that Ms. Morrow failed to report a DWI conviction of June 18, 2009 within 60 days as required by Commission rule and failed to respond to a Letter of Inquiry from the Commission.
ADAM W. O’NEAL (Belhaven) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Mr. O’Neal for a period of one year effective December 1, 2010. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of one year. The Commission found that Mr. O’Neal, acting as Qualifying Broker and Broker-in-Charge of his licensed firm, failed to maintain his firm’s trust account records in accordance with Commission rules, failed to perform monthly reconciliations, and failed to remove earned commissions from the accounts in a timely manner.
DIANNE S. PERRY (Wilmington) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Ms. Perry for a period of two years effective October 1, 2010. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period through September 30, 2013. The Commission found that Ms. Perry, acting as broker-in-charge of her sole proprietorship, failed to maintain her trust account in compliance with the Real Estate License Law and Commission rules, engaged in deficit spending, and failed to maintain security deposits she held on personal rentals in a trust account. The Commission noted that Ms. Perry has corrected the violations relating to her trust account records.
ERNEST H. PITT (Winston-Salem) – By Consent, the Commission revoked the broker license of Mr. Pitt effective February 9, 2011. The Commission found that Mr. Pitt was indicted in U.S. District Court in a scheme to defraud the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem and found guilty on July 21, 2009, after a trial, of two counts of mail fraud, and was sentenced to one year and one day in Federal prison.
LISA ANN REVIS (Mooresville) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Ms. Revis for a period of three years effective July 1, 2010. Six months of the suspension were active with the remainder stayed for a probationary period of 30 months. The Commission found that Ms. Revis, while associated with a licensed firm, established a new corporation with the North Carolina Secretary of State without the knowledge of her supervising broker-in-charge. The Commission also found that Ms. Revis advertised properties for sale and rent through her corporation’s Web site before the corporation obtained a firm license or had a broker-in-charge, prepared an offer to purchase and contract through the unlicensed firm, and falsely indicated on the contract that the firm held the earnest money deposit in its trust account when Ms. Revis, instead, shredded the check and the buyers brought cash to the closing. In addition, the Commission found that Ms. Revis, after her corporation was licensed, advertised properties listed with her former firm, although the former firm had not agreed to terminate those listings, and falsified an earnest money deposit check in a transaction which was not accepted by the seller.
LINDA L. SCHAFER (Cornelius) – By consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Ms. Schafer for a period five months effective December 1, 2010. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of five months. The Commission found that Ms. Schafer acted as a dual agent for a property with a septic system and permitted as a four-bedroom, two-bathroom, single-family residence and which she advertised as a three-unit apartment building with five bedrooms and three bathrooms, relying solely on tax records for her information. The Commission further found that the septic system failed after the transaction and the buyer was required to upgrade the system at a cost of $5,000 or allow the property to be condemned.
DAVID C. SNIPES (Ashland, Virginia) – By Consent, the Commission reprimanded Mr. Snipes effective December 1, 2010. The Commission found that Mr. Snipes was convicted of one count of misdemeanor embezzlement which he reported in a timely manner to the Commission. The Commission also found that Mr. Snipes reported the conviction to the Virginia Real Estate Board and entered into a Consent Order which included a fine and a required four-hour ethics course. The Commission noted that Mr. Snipe’s conviction stemmed from HVAC services he performed for which he billed the client’s employer, at the client’s direction, and that Mr. Snipes did not benefit personally or corporately from the events surrounding the embezzlement charge and cooperated fully with the investigation.
SOUTHERN CHARM REALTY, INC. (Mooresville) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the firm license of Southern Charm Realty for a period of one year effective July 1, 2010. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of one year. The Commission found that Southern Charm Realty advertised properties for sale and rent through its Web site before obtaining a firm license or having a broker-in-charge. The Commission also found that Southern Charm Realty advertised properties listed with a different firm although the other firm had not agreed to terminate those listings and Southern Charm Realty’s associated broker falsified an earnest money deposit check in a transaction which was not accepted by the seller.
CAROLINE M. THOMAS (Rockingham) – By Consent, the Commission reprimanded Ms. Thomas effective December 1, 2010. The Commission found that Ms. Thomas, qualifying broker and broker-in-charge of a licensed firm, failed to comply with Commission rules relating to the maintenance and supervision of the firm’s trust accounts from which a broker formerly associated with the firm embezzled approximately $85,000 in cash rental payments. The Commission noted that Ms. Thomas provided satisfactory evidence of having personally replaced the trust account funds and is now maintaining and supervising the firm’s trust accounts in accordance with Commission rules.
THOMAS REALTY COMPANY OF ROCKINGHAM (Rockingham) – By Consent, the Commission reprimanded Thomas Realty Company of Rockingham effective December 1, 2010. The Commission found that Thomas Realty Company failed to comply with Commission rules relating to the maintenance and supervision of its firm’s trust accounts from which a broker formerly associated with the firm embezzled approximately $85,000 in cash rental payments. The Commission noted that Thomas Realty Company provided satisfactory evidence that its broker-in-charge personally replaced the trust account funds and is now maintaining and supervising the firm’s trust accounts in accordance with Commission rules.
REID W. THOMPSON (Asheville) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Mr. Thompson for a period of one year effective October 1, 2010. The Commission then stayed the suspension for a probationary period of one year. The Commission found Mr. Thompson, broker-in-charge of a real estate brokerage firm, failed to disclose on his 1999 application for licensure a 1994 criminal conviction for having unsealed wine/liquor in his vehicle and a 1997 criminal conviction for resisting a public officer. The Commission also found that Mr. Thompson failed to report three criminal convictions after licensure: a 1999 conviction for possession of drug paraphernalia, a 2001 conviction for possession of marijuana, and a 2004 conviction for second degree trespass.
THOMAS P. TROLLINGER (Winston-Salem) – By Consent, the Commission revoked the broker license of Mr. Trollinger effective January 14, 2011. The Commission found that Mr. Trollinger was indicted in United States District Court, Middle District of North Carolina, in a scheme to defraud the Housing Authority of Winston-Salem. The Commission also found that Mr. Trollinger pled guilty to one count of making false statements and was sentenced, on certain conditions, to two years’ probation.
KENNETH BRAD WALSER (Mooresville) – By Consent, the Commission suspended the broker license of Mr. Walser for a period of three years effective November 15, 2009. One year of the suspension was active with the remainder stayed for a probationary period of two years. The Commission found that Mr. Walser entered into a contract to purchase a property with the intent of acquiring it as an investment, but submitted a loan application indicating he intended to occupy the property as his primary residence, which was a false statement and the transaction did not close. The Commission also found that Mr. Walser had been disciplined by the Charlotte Regional REALTOR Association in the same matter.
This article came from the March 2011-Vol41-3 edition of the bulletin.