The California Bureau of Real Estate’s (CalBRE’s) mission is to safeguard public interests in real estate matters, focusing on CalBRE license enforcement and consumer protection.

Here’s how to keep tabs on what’s happening at CalBRE:

Real estate forums

The CalBRE holds public forums three times a year in the winter, spring and fall. CalBRE forums are free and open to the public. The forums provide the real estate industry with an opportunity to ask questions and alert CalBRE of new trends, fraud or misconduct taking place within the real estate market.

If you can’t make it to the forums in person, CalBRE posts presentation materials for each forum on their website.

The 2015 CalBRE forum locations and dates are:

  • Indian Wells, California January 30, 2015 at the Renaissance Indian Wells;
  • Sacramento, California April 24, 2015 at the Sacramento Convention Center; and
  • San Jose, California October 7, 2015 at the Fairmont Hotel, Marriott Hotel, and San Jose McEnery Convention Center

Click here to view the posted material for the January and April presentations.

One note for the more independent-minded majority of licensees: while the public forums are free, they are still improperly held in conjunction with the California Association of Realtors (CAR) expos. To attend any of the union’s expo events, you’ll need to pay for an expo ticket.

This tethering between CalBRE and the real estate trade union continues to be an unacceptable blurring of the lines between state regulatory authority and the optional trade union membership.

But don’t worry — if you’re not interested in the noise of the CAR expo, you can just show up for the public form. You may need to pay parking, but no other special reservations are required.

Yearly fee hearings

In addition to the public forums on regulatory matters, the CalBRE holds at least one hearing each year to review CalBRE licensing and renewal fees. These fee hearings are held at the CalBRE’s Sacramento office in Sacramento, California.

Notices published in the California Regulatory Notice Register indicate when these fee meetings will take place. The notice provides contact information for anyone interested in sending in statements or arguments relevant to the hearing. [Calif. Business and Profession Code §10226]

The CalBRE will mail a copy of hearing notices to anyone who provides their name, address and request to receive hearing notices to:

Regular Mail

Bureau of Real Estate

Attn: Daniel E. Kehew, Sacramento Legal Office

P.O. Box 137007

Sacramento, CA 95813-7007

Electronic Mail

CalBRERegulations@dca.ca.gov

A separate invitation for public comment on pending regulations can be found on the CalBRE’s website.

CalBRE Bulletins

The CalBRE publishes a Real Estate Bulletin on its website every three months. Each Real Estate Bulletin includes a message from the Real Estate Commissioner and cover recent topics affecting the industry.

 Keeping tabs on CalBRE activity

In addition to live forums and public hearings, real estate licensees can stay informed on CalBRE policies and guidance by:

  • signing up for the CalBRE’s email RSS feed, which notifies subscribers of CalBRE news releases and new Real Estate Bulletins;
  • following CalBRE on Facebook and Twitter;
  • reading CalBRE Watch articles on the first tuesday journal; and
  • participating in first tuesday’s annual Ask CalBRE

CalBRE is still fulfilling its role as industry disciplinarian when licensees run afoul of real estate law. However, we’re pleased to see CalBRE is also taking a more proactive stance on protecting consumers by suggesting improvements to real estate practice and licensing standards.

Have your own suggestion for improving real estate practice? Email the Commissioner directly at wayne.bell@dre.ca.gov. Let him know the first tuesday Journal sent you!