In the eternal quest for our Department of Licensing to make our lives and the lives of our clients simpler and clearer, the new licensing law in the State of Washington has forced the NWMLS to revise about half the forms real estate Brokers use everyday to conduct business.
Thankfully we live in a digital age where most of these forms can be easily downloaded but this does not eliminate the mountains of useless forms that Brokerages are forced to keep “in house” and are now being shredded or thrown away in favor of the new ones. I’d love to see the exact number…as in tons…of paper that was used to make these now extinct forms…but I digress.
Due to the change in the vernacular, in particular the name change from agent to broker, many of these forms saw only minor revisions for clarity purposes only (which somehow makes things feel all the more wasteful). However, one of the more noticeable changes is a direct result of the new licensing law that allows real estate teams to operate under an assumed name. This may make things clearer for the client when working with a real estate team that holds a license with a Brokerage. Pretty dry stuff but important none the less.
There is a State mandated transition course that goes over (most of) this that you are required to take…kinda?
Here’s the fun part for many Brokerages…Some of the working professionals haven’t gone through the required transition course that explains these changes yet, even though the licensing law went into affect nearly 2 weeks ago! As a run-up to this major change in our licensing law, all licensee are required to attend a 3 clock hour transition course however, there is (or was) a loop hole for some. If your renewal fell on or before June 30th, you didn’t need to attend this class as part of your renewal and furthermore, need not attend this transition course at all until your next renewal in 2 years. In essence, we have a fair number of real estate professionals currently writing deals and taking listings on forms they’re not fully familiar with! A little like closing the barn door after the horses have gotten out, isn’t it?
