The latest California Bureau of Real Estate (CalBRE) Real Estate Bulletin was released a tad late for the season, but contains some key reminders about changes in 2016.

Real estate license renewals – don’t put them off

CalBRE wants to remind all you tireless brokers and agents out there to renew your CalBRE real estate licenses on time. Here at first tuesday, we also think this is pretty important – maybe you’ve gotten one or two (or eleven or twelve) continuing education (CE) reminders from us?

If you’re procrastinating, remember there’s a minimum timeline for completing your CE and renewing – and you don’t need the last-minute stress, believe us. Here’s an article on how to timely renew your license. If you’ve already missed your renewal deadline, here’s another article on how the two-year real estate renewal grace period works.

New 3-hour CE course: Office Management and Supervision

CalBRE brokers and most sales agents renewing their licenses on and after January 1, 2016 need a new 3-hour CE course in Office Management and Supervision (OMS).

As always, first tuesday has your CE covered. We were the first school to have the course approved for you. It’s now integrated into all our 45-hour CE packages. When you’re up for a renewal, any one of our packages completely fulfills the CalBRE’s CE requirements. Or, if you need the standalone OMS because the school you went through isn’t approved to offer it, we have it available a la carte, too. Just call.

/end of shameless plugging

The TILA-RESPA integrated disclosures and the Mortgage Loan Disclosure Statement

The federal Truth in Lending Act (TILA)-Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) integrated disclosure (TRID) mortgage requirements became effective October 3, 2015. The Loan Estimate is now provided to borrowers in lieu of the old good faith estimate (GFE) and initial TILA disclosure.

How does the new consumer mortgage disclosure form affect a mortgage loan originator (MLO) broker’s duty to provide the California Mortgage Loan Disclosure Statement (MLDS) when originating a consumer mortgage?

A real estate broker arranging a mortgage secured for any purpose – consumer or business – in exchange for a fee is required to provide the California MLDS to the borrower. In contrast, the federal Loan Estimate is only required to be prepared and handed to borrowers of consumer mortgages, which are mortgages made for a consumer purpose AND secured by one-to-four unit residential property.

For consumer mortgages, a federal Loan Estimate may be provided to the borrower by the MLO broker in lieu of CalBRE’s MLDS if:

  • the consumer mortgage is a first lien mortgage of $30,000 or more, or a junior lien mortgage of $20,000 or more; and
  • the borrower is provided with, and signs, a disclosure indicating the Loan Estimate is not a mortgage commitment and providing the borrower with information on how to check the CalBRE licensee’s license status.

Editor’s note — Our Forms Editor is working on the standalone disclosure mandated to be provided in conjunction with the Loan Estimate. We’ll notify you when it’s released!

For all consumer mortgages with mortgage amounts below the statutory thresholds, and all business (non-consumer) mortgages, the arranging broker is required to provide the MLDS. [Calif. Business and Professions Code §10240(c)]

Need more information on the TRID? Check out the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB)’s TRID webpage, including the small entity compliance guide.

Team names

Another update to the rules about using team names: remember to include the name and license number of at least one member of the team AND the employing broker. This applies to all advertisements, solicitations and for sale signage. See a review of the recent rules here and here. Stay tuned for an upcoming first tuesday plain-language guide on how you can make team names work for you.

Finally, the Commissioner includes a short message reviewing the history of cooperation between the CalBRE and the broader real estate community it oversees. Along that line, this year may be the year for the CalBRE to cooperate with the media by providing press releases giving reasons for the public to regain their optimism and faith in real estate professionals, and work with all licensees.

The Fall 2015 CalBRE Bulletin can be found here, for your reading enjoyment.

Next time, readers.