Department of Real Estate Is Raising The Bar For California Real Estate Licensees

May 30, 2007 ·

California presently has 1 licensed real estate agent for every 50 residents. Most of these agents are so poorly trained in providing adequate service for their customers that serious legal problems have increased dramatically in California real estate transactions.

Under the old rules, the only pre-requisite for a licensee to take the State’s Real Estate exam was to complete 1 college-level course of Real Estate Principles. They then qualified to take the State’s real estate exam -as many times as it took to pass it. The entire process could take as little as 3 months if they scheduled and passed their State exam the first time out. The licensee would then receive a conditional license that required them to take two additional classes within 18 months to qualify for a 4-year license.

“There has been quite an influx of new agents into the marketplace over the past several years which has eroded the quality of service, the level of services and the professionalism in the industry,” said Alex Creel, chief lobbyist for California Association of Realtors, which sponsored the legislation.

To address this growing problem, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed into law a new measure AB 2429, which requires prospective licensees to complete 3 Department of Real Estate mandated courses before they can qualify to take the State’s Real Estate license examination. The measure, which is highly supported by the real estate industry, takes effect October 2007.

I, for one, applaud the Governor’s move to require much more education for California licensees. This has been a controversial topic among professional, experienced Realtors for some time as we have seen the influx of new inexperienced real estate agents in the marketplace. Agents so inexperienced and proud to confess that it took them 10-13 attempts at passing the State exam and feeling such a sense of pride and accomplishment that that was all it took to now be entrusted with the most valuable financial resource that the average person has. As selling real estate becomes more litigious, the need for on going training becomes more apparent to the professionals that take this business seriously.