Prior to renewing a license, the licensee shall be required to complete the continuing education between May 1, 2008 and April 30, 2010.
(There is no longer a CE exemption for licensees that were “grandfathered”).
• Licensed as a Broker on or before 4/30/2008, Or Brokers previously licensed as a Salesperson - 18 hours of CE is required:
6 hours core/mandatory, 6 hours elective, and 6 hours of the Broker Management Course.
• Licensed as a Broker between 5/1/2008 and 4/30/2009, if NOT previously licensed as a Salesperson, 12 hours of CE is required:
3 hours core/mandatory, 3 hours elective, and 6 hours of the Broker Management Course.
• Licensed as a Broker on or after 5/1/2009 and not previously licensed as a Salesperson, 6 hours of the Broker Management Course.
You may access the Real Estate License Act of 2000 and Administrative Rules Website at http://www.idfpr.com/DPR/RE/REALEST.asp
New Federal RESPA rules became effective on January 16, 2009 and new forms are required to be used as of January 1, 2010. Lenders are required to use a new Good Faith Estimate form (GFEs) and a new HUD-1 Settlement Statement (HUD-1).
RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) is a HUD consumer protection statute which covers closing costs and procedures. It also requires that consumers receive disclosures at various times concerning fees involved in a closing and also prohibits cost inflating “kickbacks.”
These new rules standardize the Good Faith Estimates of Closing Costs, promote transparency, and allow buyers to make educated decisions when shopping for a lender. These new rules apply to all residential contracts.
As of January 1st, 2010 the amended Act created some new forms and amended some of the old forms. It is increasingly important that you are using the most recent forms. The forms can be downloaded at the Illinois Association of Realtors® website store.
As of January 1st, 2010, the Act was modified to state that a licensee can be disciplined based on a guilty plea regarding a crime, even if it is unrelated to the real estate business. A licensee can be disciplined if he/she is determined to be unable to practice with the necessary degree of skill and judgment, which might be determined by a hearing.
The Illinois Real Estate License Act of 2000 is intended to protect the public through the regulation of all real estate licensees. Although the Act was passed in 2000, it is amended each year.
On January 1st 2010 The Illinois Human Rights Act was amended by Public Act 96-447 (HB 721) which added “order of protection status,” as a protected class. What this means for housing is that housing cannot be denied to a person based on the fact that the person is covered by an order of protection in Illinois, or any other state.
Happy New Year! 2009 flew right on by. April 30th is going to be here before you know it. Brokers need to take a broker management course, along with 6 hours of mandatory courses and 6 hours of elective continuing education. To all of our students in 2009, we wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!
Tribune Co., the newspaper company that filed for bankruptcy in December, is looking for options for two buildings other than a sale because it doesn’t expect to find buyers.
Falling real estate values and tighter lending restrictions hurt the publisher’s plan to divest the Tribune Tower in Chicago and Times Mirror Square, home of its Los Angeles Times newspaper, said Gary Weitman, a company spokesman. A sale is still an option, he said, denying a Crain’s Chicago Business report that Tribune scrapped plans to put the Chicago building up for sale.
“Given the downturn in the real estate market, it’s less likely that we’ll sell the properties but we are still looking at all the options to maximize the value of both properties,” Weitman said.
Tribune is working with real estate firms to secure tenants and determine other uses for the buildings, Weitman said.
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Atlanta Fed president sees U.S. housing troubles spreading to office and retail segments.
Word of another wave of mortgage-related pain added to investor unease Monday after a top Fed official warned that American real estate troubles will go commercial this year. Nearly all asset classes took a hit for the day, with only the dollar showing appreciable gains.
Dennis Lockhart, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, said he was concerned that U.S. banks remain “pretty heavily exposed” to commercial real estate. “It is the one domestic factor that keeps me up at night,” he said.
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