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Real Estate Commission Meeting June 2021
The June Real Estate Commission meeting was held via Zoom and was very well attended with 44 attendees not including staff and commissioners. Best attendance in a long time!
New Fair Housing course: It is yet to be created and it will be required for renewals. This will go into effect June, 2022. Anyone licensed prior to June 2022 will have to take 6 hours of fair housing; renewals after that will be a 3 hour requirement. The 60 hour pre-license course will have a 3 hour requirement added and the 30 hour RE Law in the first renewal will also have a 3 hour requirement. These clock hours are part of the requirements, they are not in addition to. Don’t beat up the Department of Licensing for this – this requirement came out of the Legislature. DoL is just implementing it.
New Commissioner Applicants: 21 applications were received, 17 folks were qualified, and 15 were interviewed. The Governor’s office is now doing back-ground checks. Another Commissioner position will be coming open this fall. If you are interested go to DoL.WA.Gov/business/realestate, click on Commission and Meetings and you will find a link for an application. You MUST be an active agent.
Commission meeting dates: 2021 dates are posted on the DoL’s website. Commission meeting dates for 2022 will be determined at the December meeting. If you want to get a notice from DoL about the meetings sign up for ListServ. Scroll down to the Contact Us link on DoL’s web page and then scroll down to the bottom of the page to sign up for ListServ.
The new online system: They are slowly getting the bugs worked out. Is it fast enough for most of us? Heck no. But progress is being made.
Exam results: There have been issues with getting exam results for new licensees and Managing Broker applicants. DoL will be working with the provider to figure out what is going on and try and speed things up.
Renewals and fingerprints: If you mail in your renewal be aware they are running at least a month behind in getting those processed. Much faster to do it online. But if you mail it make a copy of your renewal form and your check and provide it to your office. If you have to get fingerprints you MUST use the company identified in your renewal notice. DO NOT go to the local police station and get them done there. DoL will NOT accept them.
New fees: They will be going into effect in August or September. Yes, it is a substantial increase (about 50%) but it is decades overdue. If you renew in August or September and you have ALL of your clock hours completed you can renew now at the current rates. DoL will not come after you for the difference.
It was a productive meeting with some good input from members of the audience. Hope we see more folks at the September meeting!