Increased scrutiny is required to straighten brokers’ lax oversight of sales agents, a negligence which helped bring about the Great Recession and the current lack of public confidence in real estate licensees. Brokers with more than three agents working under their license will be required to obtain a Department of Real Estate (DRE) endorsement for Office Management, subject to an additional three to six hours of continuing education and an annual renewal fee as set by the DRE, say $25. Additionally, newly-licensed sales agents need to be “apprenticed” to a broker for a period of two years before they can directly act on behalf of a broker with a client. The same sort of training and timeframe is currently required of appraisers, who are in positions to be of far less harm to the public than wayward and unschooled agents.
Related article:
The rabbit and the greyhound: DRE disciplinary action and broker supervision
