Maryland Real Estate Commission s1

MARYLAND REAL ESTATE COMMISSION

500 North Calvert Street

Baltimore, MD 21202

Mission: Protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public

through examination, licensing, and regulatory activities regarding real estate

BUSINESS MEETING MINUTES

April 15, 2009, 10:30 a.m.

Highlights from the meeting:

Legislation Update

Orbits joins staff as investigator

Current license count 50,499

GF balance $2,299,597.94

On-line pre-licensing for salespersons approved

Education Committee recommendations approved

PRESENT:

Commissioner J. Nicholas D’Ambrosia, Chair (Industry)

Commissioner Nancy R. Simpers, Vice Chair (Industry)

Commissioner Anne S. Cooke (Industry)

Commissioner Surina Jordan (Consumer)

Commissioner Robin L. Pirtle (Consumer)

Commissioner Georgiana S. Tyler (Industry)

Commissioner Colette P. Youngblood (Consumer)

Elizabeth Trimble, AAG, Counsel

Katherine F. Connelly, Executive Director

J. Steven Long, Assistant Executive Director

Patricia Hannon, Education Administrator, Session Recorder

PUBLIC IN ATTENDANCE:

Bob Johnston, AACAR

CALL TO ORDER:

J. Nicholas D’Ambrosia, Chair, called the meeting to order at 10:40 a.m.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion (made by Nancy R. Simpers, seconded by Colette P. Youngblood) To approve the minutes of the March 18, 2009 business meeting. Unanimous approval.

REPORT OF COMPLAINTS/ADMINISTRATIVE DISMISSALS:

Motion (made by Anne S. Cooke, seconded by Nancy R. Simpers) To approve the Administrative Dismissals for the month of April 2009. Motion carried.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

  1. Education – Georgiana S. Tyler, Education Chair, read the exam statistics report from PSI, the testing vendor. For the month of March 2009, 317 sales exams and 27 broker exams were administered. These numbers were compared to March 2008, when 560 sales and 52 broker exams were administered by PSI.
  2. Legislative – Anne S. Cooke, Legislative Chair, and Elizabeth Trimble, Counsel

·  Both HB 1408 “Real Estate Licensees-Services Provided Through Teams” and HB 1411 “Maryland Real Estate Commission-Continuing Education” failed to reach vote by the Senate committee before the end of this year’s Session. Commissioners recommended trying again next year. In the meantime, it was decided to contact the Senators to learn of their concerns, questions, or suggestions for each bill.

·  HB 729 “Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Area-Prospective Land Purchases-Inspections” (McConkey bill) failed in its House committee.

·  No action in the Senate on HB 233 “Full Disclosure of Real Estate Taxes Act.”

·  SB 1027/HB 754 “Real Property-Conservation Easements-Disclosure” requires a seller to disclose a conservation easement (pre-contract) with right of recession if notice not given. The legislation passed and is awaiting signature by the Governor. It will take effect October 1, 2009, so there is time to add the language on real estate’s disclosure/disclaimer form.

COMMENTS FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Katherine F. Connelly

  1. Ms. Connelly acknowledged Marla S. Johnson, who will be sworn in shortly as a Commissioner representing Allegany, Frederick, Garrett, Montgomery, and Washington counties.
  2. New investigator Hal Orbits was introduced by Ms. Connelly.
  3. Current license count totals 50,499, of which 4,984 are brokers, 3,249 associate brokers, 41,208 salespersons, 786 branch offices, 3 timeshares, 56 reciprocal brokers, 17 reciprocal associate brokers, and 196 reciprocal salespersons. Of the total, 5,213 are inactive.
  4. The Guaranty Fund balance as of February 28, 2009 is $2,299,597.94.
  5. Delegate Niemann will attend the June business meeting to talk about PHIFA. His presentation is planned for 11 a.m.
  6. Copy of Ms. Connelly’s letter to Delegate McConkey was provided to each Commissioner.
  7. Maryland Higher Education Commission approved Frederick Academy of Real Estate’s distance learning program in principles and practices for real estate salespersons. MREC’s website will be updated.
  8. The request for bids on a new exam contract was published. Proposals are due by May 4, 2009.
  9. On April 1, 2009, the Board of Public Works approved an extension to PSI to conduct exam services until November 4, 2009, with a 5 month extension if needed. The approval included an increase in exam fee to $78.
  10. New York Department of Real Estate was sent a copy of MREC’s reciprocal agreement with Pennsylvania as a sample. New York counsel will review.
  11. The State’s fiscal year closes June 30, 2009. The deadline to submit mileage and travel reports is July 8, 2009 so that costs of travel can be charged to FY 2009.
  12. E-licensing was not available for the past week, with the Department’s IT unit working on a fix. All boards and commissions Department-wide were affected.
  13. Reminder to Commissioners that their Financial Disclosure Forms are due by April 30.
  14. The quarterly newsletter is under construction and should be available by the end of April. It will be posted on MREC’s website, and licensees will be notified by email how to link to the website.

Page 2 of 4 4-15-09

  1. In addition to the usual email and snail mail reminders to renew, the Commission continues to email licensees who are 3 days from their expiration date but have not yet renewed. This notification depends on the licensee keeping a current email address on record with MREC.

COMMENTS FROM COUNSEL: Elizabeth Trimble

Counsel will be meeting with the Office of Administrative Hearings on April 17 for various purposes and training. Commissioners may contact her with any issues, suggestions or concerns about real estate orders which they would like to be brought to the meeting.

COMMENTS FROM CHAIR: J. Nicholas D’Ambrosia

  1. The Chair spoke recently at the Frederick County Association of Realtors member luncheon and at a meeting of the Maryland Real Estate Educators Association. There were many questions about short sales.
  2. Chairman D’Ambrosia reported on a new area of concern. Individuals are calling themselves “negotiators” of loans and expect to be paid out of a real estate commission when a property sells. The negotiators present themselves as helping the seller and/or the seller’s lender and in return want a referral fee without holding a real estate license. Other Commissioners were aware of similar cases and had concerns. Pre-arranged business relationships raise the potential for the consumer to be victimized again; a desperate consumer will often enter into such a situation. Real estate licensees are reminded that their services are one part of the larger picture, that various state agencies are looking at the transaction from mortgage, insurance, financial, etc. perspectives, and that real estate licensees must operate within the terms of the real estate law. An article in MREC’s newsletter is one way to alert real estate licensees to these kinds of issues which may appear at settlement.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:

  1. Commissioner Tyler reported the Education Committee discussed the following items at its meetings on March 20 and April 8, 2009 and presented two recommendations:

·  Fees for continuing education course submissions and re-submissions – House Bill 1411 giving authority to charge these fees did not pass the 2009 Session, so no recommendation can be made this year.

·  Recommendation #1 – Ethics - Only courses which meet the mandated 3.0 hours in ethics and include Maryland Code of Ethics, flipping and predatory lending are approved by the Maryland Real Estate Commission. General ethics programs, out-of-state ethics programs, the National Association of Realtors ethics program, etc. do not meet the mandate, are not approved, and do not count as professional enhancement (elective) hours.

·  Recommendation #2 – DC GRI - No longer accept Washington DC Association of Realtors GRI to qualify for Maryland’s broker exam. Applicants completing the DC GRI program are to contact the DC Real Estate Board for exam and licensure, then apply to Maryland based on out-of-state licensure. Further, the DC GRI modules are not to be approved by MREC for continuing education courses. The DC Real Estate Board is the approving jurisdiction for these modules. This recommendation is to take effect January 1, 2010.

Motion (made by Nancy R. Simpers, seconded by Colette P. Youngblood) To accept these two recommendations of the Education Committee. All in favor; Motion passed. Ms. Connelly will contact the Greater Capital Area Association of Realtors of the decision on DC programs so that the Board can inform its students.

  1. Next meeting of the Education Committee will focus on continuing education regulations.

Page 3 of 4 4-15-09

NEW BUSINESS:

Virtual Office Web Sites are advertising real estate services, and Chairman D’Ambrosia questioned how to regulate supervision, home offices, deposits, records, etc. It was decided to start with ARELLO’s administrator groups to learn how other states are addressing VOW and also home offices.

ADJOURNMENT:

There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 12:10 on Motion by Nancy R. Simpers, seconded by Colette P. Youngblood, and agreed by all. The next monthly business meeting is Wednesday, May 20, 2009.

APPROVED AS PRESENTED ______

J. Nicholas D’Ambrosia, Chairperson

APPROVED AS AMENDED ______

J. Nicholas D’Ambrosia, Chairperson

Page 4 of 4 4-15-09

Top View