Coming Soon: Broker Beware!

“Broker Beware will provide licensees with greater knowledge of the steps required to get from contract to closing including an in-depth examination of known property issues (home buying hazards) and transaction issues so that they can protect their home buying clients. Attendees will also discuss the importance of writing the RANM Objection, Resolution and Waiver Notice and Agreement properly to ensure that sellers are using licensed contractors and obtaining required city inspections.”


Broker Beware Marketing Image

That description is very similar to the one I submitted to the New Mexico Real Estate Commission for course approval, but it doesn’t really say what the class will be all about. Let me explain further:

Broker Beware grew out of my consideration of the broker duty that says “Written disclosure of any adverse material facts actually known by the broker about the property or the transaction, or about the financial ability of the parties to the transaction to complete the transaction…”

I think everyone knows adverse material condition in a property when they see it, when it is readily apparent, but how about those adverse material conditions that you can’t see?

That’s where the experience of a seasoned Realtor becomes valuable to their clients – when the Realtor knows what items/systems should be investigated by a inspection even when they can’t be seen. Examples of this are plenty, such as the presence of aluminum wiring, in-floor heating/cooling ducts, and polybutylene pipes, just to name a few. These are red flags that an experienced Realtor should know.

But how about the inexperienced Realtor? There are plenty of them out there right now, to be sure.

The new licensee goes through 90 hours of prelicensing classes where they learn plenty about protecting the public, and they probably go through some forms training when they join a brokerage, no doubt, but in most cases they have to learn the kind of items that seasoned real estate brokers discover over time.

In other words, there is no substitute for experience, right?

Of course experience is the best teacher, but what if someone could teach a class that covered these known adverse property conditions and share their experiences with transaction issues that can destroy closings too? Now that would be an awesome class.

That’s what I was thinking as I created this course.

Broker Beware: Getting from Contract to Closing, should be available June 2018,p pending final approval by the New Mexico Real Estate Commission.