The Department of Real Estate’s Spring 2019 Bulletin contains several articles of interest to real estate licensees, including “Common Misconceptions About Senior Housing”, “What is Considered an On-Time License Renewal Submission”, changes to the National Association of Realtors® Code of Ethics course requirements and whether that also impacts California real estate license renewals (the answer is no), Caution About Mortgage Fraud, and DRE requests for continuing education records.
Department of Real Estate Spring 2019 Bulletin
However, one article stands out in particular – “Technology and Supervision in the Real Estate Industry”. Business and Professions Code section 10162 provides that every broker shall maintain a definite place of business in California and DRE Regulation 2725 requires that brokers exercise reasonable supervision over his or her salespersons. This includes having, as appropriate, policies, rules, procedures, and systems to review, oversee, inspect and manage:
- Transactions requiring a real estate license;
- Documents which may have a material effect on the rights or obligations of a party to a transaction;
- Filing, storage and maintenance of such documents;
- Handling of trust funds;
- Advertising;
- Familiarizing salespersons with federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination; and
- Regular and consistent reports of licensed activities of salespersons.
The Spring Bulletin article focuses on “virtual offices” and what such offices need to consider both in having a “definite place of business in California” and in setting up their review and supervision policies. While this article should be of interest to all brokers, brokers supervising “virtual offices” may want to pay particular attention to what the DRE is saying.