Real Estate Sales Associate Candidates are filling up the classes again, and demand is up for the weekend Exam Cram Course. Nature Coast Real Estate School is offering an Exam Prep Weekend Class on May 18 & 19 at US 19 in Spring Hill. Class is from 8-5 Saturday and Sunday and the pace is intense.
In order to prepare for maximizing the experience, it is critical to be prepared! We will be utilizing the FLORIDA REAL ESTATE EXAM MANUAL FOR SALES ASSOCIATES AND BROKERS, 35TH EDITION from DEARBORN REAL ESTATE EDUCATION.
There are 650 sample questions with answers included. It is imperative that, to maximize the experience, the questions be answered and the student prepared for discussion on the correct answers. The questions are similar in content to those on the state exam, although the actual state exam questions are confidential by Statute.
There will be discussion on test taking tips, anxiety quelling techniques, and plenty of discussion on content.
This is an excellent Exam Cram Course for Florida Real Estate Broker Candidates as well, since much of the material on the Broker State Exam is found in the Real Estate Sales Associate Course.
For more information on the location and class preparation, call Jeanne Gavish at 352-650-1029 or email me at jmgavish@aol.com. This course cannot be found on my website, but if you cannot attend you may check the website or follow my blog for future dates. I can also be found on Facebook and Linkedn.
Recent law changes regarding Florida Condominiums were enacted by the Division of Florida Condominiums, Timeshares and Mobile Homes (718 F.S.) of the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR).
Many of these changes are a result of the record high levels of delinquencies of mandatory Association Fees by homeowners, which has created a crisis in many of the Condominium Communities. Many communities are facing bankruptcy as a result of owner abandonment of properties, and the resulting blacklisting of Condo Communities by institutional lenders, who consider Condominiums in Florida and other affected states to be too high risk to approve mortgage applications. This hinders the recovery of the Communities, even with attractively low prices on the units, perpetuating the cycle of abandonment and foreclosure.
Short sales were frequently denied by lenders due to the high amount of delinquent condo fees owed. Lenders now own a large number of Florida condos and are required to pay more past due assessments on foreclosed properties.
Owners or occupants may now be denied use of recreational facilities and amenities if the owner is 90 days delinquent in the mandatory condominium fees/assessments.
Associations how have the right to demand that tenants pay the rent to the Association if the owner is delinquent in their fees/assessments to compensate the Associations for assessments owed to Association.
Under Florida Law, any purchaser of a Condominium has the right to cancel the purchase contract of a resale Condominium unit within 3 business days after receiving certain documentation. Such documentation includes the Declaration of Condominium, Q & A sheet, Articles of Incorporation, By Laws, Rules of the Association, most recent year’s end financial statement, and the Governance Form. This cancellation period begins after signing the purchase contract or signing receipt of documents, whichever is later.
Purchasers should be very mindful of the risks involved in purchasing condominiums in areas of high foreclosure rates.
Florida Real Estate Licensees must now report any convictions or pleas of Nolo Contendere to the Florida 
Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
If the offenses took place prior to the law change in July 2009 (455.227 F.S.), the licensee must have reported it within 30 days. Prior to this date, only felonies were required to be reported.
While Florida Licensees are encouraged to attend continuing education courses through the Associations or Boards of Realtors, 3 hours of the required 14 hours of Continuing Education MUST be Core Law. Associates, if you do live classroom instruction through your Board or Association of Realtors, please make sure you “LIKE” the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation’s Facebook page so that you can be kept current about important Law changes that affect your business.
Go to https://www.facebook.com/pages/Florida-Department-of-Business-and-Professional-Regulation/119644237869 and “LIKE” the page. You will then receive announcements about Law Changes. It is your license and your responsibility to know the law.
If you have any questions about a career in real estate in Florida, please call or email me, or visit my website. If you have any questions about the licensing process, the Division of Real Estate has a complete Candidate Information Booklet to guide you through the process of getting your license. To apply for a real estate license in Florida, follow the link to the license application.
A Florida Real Estate License Candidate may review their most recent exam if they did not pass the state licensing examination. This is recommended if the student has repeatedly attempted to pass the Real Estate Licensing exam, which is a fairly common occurrence. In a previous blog post, I wrote a commentary on why this is such a phenomena.
The Bureau of Education and Testing is implementing a new rule based upon the updated Florida Administrative Code. The date to submit a request to review the most recent examination administered has changed from two years to 21 days.
The post-examination review process is designed to allow each candidate who sits for and fails an examination developed by the State of Florida the opportunity to review the examination questions, answers, grades and grading key used for that examination. All examinations review requests must now be submitted within 21 days from Grade Report mailing date or received at the test site. Review appointments are scheduled with the test vendor, Pearsonvue.
For information on how to review your most recent Real Estate License Exam, go to http://www.pearsonvue.com or call 888-204-6289.
If you have any questions about a career in real estate in Florida, please call or email me, or visit my website. If you have any questions about the licensing process, the Division of Real Estate has a complete Candidate Information Booklet to guide you through the process of getting your license. To apply for a real estate license in Florida, follow the link to the license application.
I received the July 2012 Florida Real Estate Exam Performance Summary, which showsFlorida Real Estate Schools how many candidates for Real Estate licenses took the Real Estate Sales Associates and Real Estate Brokers exam, how many passed and how many failed. The interesting fact is, across the board, month after month, those who took their license exam for the first time have a much higher pass rate than those who are retaking the exam. This is true for both Real Sales Associate and Real Estate Broker exams.
During the Boom Times we had many more Real Estate License Sales Associate candidates than we do today. However, the ratios remain the same, whether there were 4,000 first time real estate license candidates per month,which was not uncommon, or closer to 1,250 first time candidates this past July. The pass rate for these first time exam takers runs just over 50%, pretty consistently. The retakers for the same exam, those who failed and are trying again, are over 1,350, and the pass rate is approximately 33%, which means that two thirds fail!
Real Estate Broker candidates have the same dilemma, although their pass rate for retakers run a little higher.
So what is happening here? It the exam just impossibly hard? If you ask the real estate students who are failing over and over, they may answer yes. However, there is another factor to consider, and it has to do with timing.
Before the test was computerized, a real estate license candidate had to drive to one of the designated test sites, and the tests were administered once a month, on Monday. The major real estate schools rented space and offered the Real Estate Exam Prep Weekend Review course, where the key points of the licensing course were delivered in an intense, fast paced setting, and many of the candidates stayed overnight in the hotel facility where the course was offered. Books and tapes were purchased and studied so that when the time came for the test, we were prepared. This was because we only had one chance a month to pass that exam, and passing became our primary priority. If we failed, we buckled down for a month and studied, and repeated the process.
This is vastly different from what I have witnessed as a Real Estate Instructor since the exam was moved online. Pearsonvue is the test vendor, and tests can be scheduled at the real estate candidate’s convenience. If the candidate fails the test, they are required to wait 24 hours before rescheduling their exam, which is done at their earliest convenience. The robs the candidate of the study time required to have a more successful outcome.
My advice to a Real Estate Student who fails their exam twice or more? It is not what you do not know; it is what you think you know that is incorrect. Schedule a review of your most recent exam with the test vendor. You will be given the opportunity to review the questions that you answered incorrectly in your most recent exam.
Find an Real Estate Exam Prep Weekend Review Course. It is well worth the money spent to pass that exam and get your new career on track.
If you have any questions about a career in real estate in Florida, please call or email me, or visit my website. If you have any questions about the licensing process, the Division of Real Estate has a complete Candidate Information Booklet to guide you through the process of getting your license. To apply for a real estate license in Florida, follow the link to the license application.
Real Estate Professionals’ income is anticipated to increase by 13% from last year, according to National Association of Realtors Chief Economist. That is encouraging news for those who have been considering real estate as a career, but were worried that they would make enough money to support themselves.
When the real estate decline hit, the licensees exiting the business did not occur in proportion to the lack of business. It was not until 2010 that the numbers normalized and those professionals whose business was based on hard work and consistent lead generation were those remaining in the business.y to appearances, during the real estate boom, income for Realtors was diluted by the incredible amount of people getting into the business by the anticipation of easy money. Surprisingly, the fast pace of homebuying and selling did not produce a commensurate rise in incomes because there were so many more agents competing in the real estate business.
New licensees are aware that they are responsible for their own success and hard work and a good business plan are necessary for success. The sales are brisk in 2012 and the prices and interest rates are at an all time low. A great time to get into the Real Estate Profession.
If you have any questions about a career in real estate in Florida, please call or email me, or visit my website. If you have any questions about the licensing process, the Division of Real Estate has answers to Frequently Asked Questions as well as a complete Candidate Information Booklet to guide you through the process of getting your license. To apply for a real estate license in Florida, follow the link to the license application.
As the Permit Holder of a Accredited Florida Real Estate School, it is my duty to notify the Department of Business and Professional Regulation when a licensee successfully completes their required post licensing or continuing education requirements. This is accomplished by uploading the necessary information to the DBPR.
I have received numerous calls or emails from licensees this year from students who were distressed to find that their license status shows “involuntary inactive” with the state. They wanted to see if their continuing education hours had been uploaded. I verified that it was uploaded on each occasion and they expressed confusion as to why their licenses had gone from “active” status to “involuntary inactive”.
Each time I asked the same question…”Did you go to the website, complete the renewal process, and pay the required fee?”
Silence on the other end of the phone, and then “what do you mean?” It appears that many licensees believe that when the required education hours are posted, the license automatically renews and this is not the case.
Each license renewal period does indeed require that education hours be completed, but also require that the licensee request the renewal and pay the required fee. Only then is the license renewed.
This year, the March renewal date falls on a Saturday. Although any renewal that is requested on Saturday, March 31 will be processed on Monday April 2, all education must have been completed by March 30, 2012.
If you have any questions about your license, please contact me at 352-650-1029, jmgavish@aol.com, or visit my website.
