REAL ESTATE BULLETIN
N o r t h C a r o l i n a R e a l E s t a t e C o m m i s s i o n
V o l u m e 4 5 • O c t o b e r 2 0 1 4 • N u m b e r 2
NORTRTH CACARAROROLINANA REREREALAL ESTATATATATE COMMISSION
ESSE QUAUAMAM  I ERI
Lawing is a second-generation Certi-fied
Property Manager and President of
T. R. Lawing Realty, a family-owned resi-dential
property management company
serving the Charlotte region since 1957.
He is a past president and REALTOR®
of the Year of both the North Carolina
Association of REALTORS® (NCAR)
and the Charlotte Regional REALTORS®
Association (CRRA) and a past director of
the National Association of REALTORS®
(NAR).
Active in civic affairs, Lawing is a
past chair of the Church Council at
Hawthorne Lane United Methodist
Church, a past president of the Char-lotte
West Rotary Club, a Co-Captain
with the Wells Fargo Championship &
Chiquita Classic and an Eagle Scout.
Chandler, owner of The Chandler
Group, a commercial real estate con-sulting
and training firm, has been in
real estate for more than 30 years in the
areas of investment real estate, syndica-tion,
strategic planning, management,
marketing and education.
Thomas R. Lawing, Jr., of Charlotte, has been elected Chairman and Cindy
S. Chandler of Charlotte, Vice Chairman, of the North Carolina Real Estate
Commission effective August 1, 2014, it was announced by Miriam J. Baer,
Executive Director.
Judy F. Greenhill of Hickory has
been appointed to
the North Carolina
Real Estate Commis-sion
by Governor Pat
McCrory, it was an-nounced
by Miriam
J. Baer, Executive
Director.
Greenhill succeeds S. R. “Buddy”
Rudd, Jr., of Oak Island.
The broker/owner of Classic Proper-ties
of the Catawba Valley in Hickory,
Greenhill has been a licensed broker
since 1983.
She is a past director of the North
Greenhill
Lawing Chandler
(See Commission, page 3)
(See Greenhill, page 3) (See BICUP, page 8)
(See Whitley, page 6)
The Commission changed the bro-ker-
in-charge rule effective July 1, 2014,
and, in doing so, eliminated the Bro-ker-
in-Charge Annual Review (BICAR)
course, and created
two versions of the
Update course: the
Broker-in-Charge
Update course (BICUP) and the General
Update course.
Rule 58A.0110(k) now requires
brokers-in-charge and those brokers
wishing to maintain BIC eligibility, to
complete the BICUP course beginning
the first full license year after the license
year in which the BIC declares her/him-self
as BIC. The four-hour BICUP will
satisfy the mandatory CE portion of the
BIC’s CE requirement for the license
year, and the elimination of the required
BICAR elective will allow brokers-in-charge
to select an approved elective of
their choice to satisfy the remaining 4
hours.
Those brokers
who are NOT
BICs or are not
BIC-eligible will take the four-hour
General Update course as their manda-tory
CE, and will also select an approved
elective of their choice to satisfy the re-maining
four hours. Licensees who are
neither BICs nor BIC-eligible will not
receive any CE credit if they mistakenly
take the BICUP course instead of the
General Update course.
If a BIC or BIC-eligible licensee
Brokers-in-Charge;
BIC-Eligible Brokers
Broker-in-Charge Update
(BICUP) + Elective
Non-Brokers-in-Charge General Update + Elective
New Oil and Gas Disclosure Statement Effective January 1 (Page 8)
Mary Frances “Fran” Whitley, Di-rector
of Administration for the Real
Estate Commission,
will retire January 1,
2015 after 36 years of
service.
Whitley joined
the staff of the Com-mission
(then known
as the Real Estate Licensing Board) in
1978 as an administrator with financial
oversight responsibilities. She soon took
on the responsibilities of Financial Offi-cer,
and in 1987, was named the Direc-tor
of Administration.
Whitley received her Bachelor of
Science degree from Atlantic Christian
College. In 2007, she received the Old
Whitley
2 Real Estate Bulletin October 2014
REAL ESTATE BULLETIN
Published as a service to real estate licensees to promote
a better understanding of the Real Estate License Law and
Commission rules, and proficiency in real estate practice.
The articles published herein shall not be reprinted or
reproduced in any other publication without specific refer-ence
being made to their original publication in the Com-mission’s
Real Estate Bulletin.
NORTH CAROLINA REAL ESTATE COMMISSION
1313 Navaho Drive
P. O. Box 17100
Raleigh, North Carolina 27619-7100
Phone (919) 875-3700
www.ncrec.gov
Pat McCrory, Governor
COMMISSION MEMBERS
Thomas R. Lawing, Jr., Chairman Charlotte
L. S. “Cindy” Chandler, Vice Chairman Charlotte
George Bell Winston-Salem
Leonard H. “Tony” Craver, Jr. Durham
Walter “Walt” F. Crayton, Jr. New Bern
Judy F. Greenhill Hickory
Everett “Vic” Knight Raleigh
Richard L. Sullivan Raleigh
Anna Gregory Wagoner Winston-Salem
EXECUTIVE
Miriam J. Baer Executive Director
Paula L. Ricard Chief Financial Officer
ADMINISTRATION
Mary Frances Whitley Director
Vickie R. Crouse Technology Administrator
Wendy C. Harper Administrative Officer
Jake A. Gore Network Administrator
Robert L. Forshaw Publications Officer
Brenda Hollings Information Services Officer
EDUCATION AND LICENSING
Bruce W. Moyer Director
Anita R. Burt Education/Examination Officer
Pamela R. Rorie Continuing Education Officer
Patricia A. Moylan Legal Education Officer
Matthew A. Wentz License Application Analyst
REGULATORY AFFAIRS
Janet B. Thoren Director, Legal Counsel
Charlene D. Moody Assistant Director, Legal Counsel
Frederick A. Moreno Deputy Legal Counsel
Curtis E. Aldendifer Associate Legal Counsel
Emmet R. Wood Chief Auditor
Michael B. Gray Chief Financial Fraud
Investigator
D. Scott Schiller Financial Fraud Investigator
Bart H. Allen Sr. Auditor/Investigator
Jennifer Kee Sr. Auditor/Investigator
M. Spier Holloman Sr. Legal Auditor/Investigator
Stephen L. Fussell Sr. Consumer Protection Officer
Jean A. Wolinski-Hobbs Consumer Protection Officer
Glenn M. Wylie Consumer Protection Officer
Peter B. Myers Information Officer
Elizabeth W. Penney Information Officer
Editor-In-Chief
Miriam J. Baer
Editor
Robert L. Forshaw
taff pdate
S
U
Commission
Speakers Available
Real Estate Commission staff members are
available to speak to your local board, office, or
special group. You can request a presentation
relating to a specific subject or a general discus-sion
on topics of interest to those attending.
To schedule a speaker, call Janet Thoren at
(919) 875-3700, Ext. 112, or submit the “Request
for Program Presenter” form available on the
Commission’s Web site, www.ncrec.gov. Please
allow at least four weeks prior to your group’s
meeting.
Miriam J. Baer, Executive Direc-tor,
spoke to the general membership
of the North Carolina Association of
REALTORS® at its annual meeting and
to the Cary office of Fonville Morisey
Realty.
Janet B. Thoren, Legal Counsel, spoke
to the general membership of the North
Carolina Association of REALTORS® at its
annual meeting and to the Hendersonville
Board of REALTORS® in Hendersonville.
Charlene D. Moody, Chief Depu-ty
Legal Counsel, spoke to the Wilkes
County Association of REALTORS®.
Eric A. Mine, Associate Legal Coun-sel
II, spoke to the Harnett County NC
Fair Housing Training and Seminar and
to the USDA Rural Development Area
II All-Hands Staff Meeting in Statesville.
Stephen L. Fussell, Senior Consum-er
Protection Officer, hosted a North
Carolina Association of REALTORS®
webinar on the topic of “Ten Top Com-plaints”.
Jean Wolinski-Hobbs, Consumer
Protection Officer, spoke to Barbara
Caravan Realty and Associates in Jack-sonville
and to L&F/Fonville Morisey
Real Estate in Raleigh.
Glen M. Wylie, Consumer Protec-tion
Officer, spoke to the Raleigh Re-gional
Association of REALTORS®.
Peter B. Myers, Information Of-ficer,
spoke to Fonville Morisey &
Barefoot in Raleigh, the NC 2nd An-nual
Short Sale Conference of Advance
Mortgage Education in Raleigh, to the
Winston-Salem Regional Association
of REALTORS®, and to the Yancey-
Mitchell Board of REALTORS®.
Frederick A. Moreno has been
named as Deputy Legal Counsel in
the Regulatory Af-fairs
Division. He
is a graduate of East
Carolina University
with a BS in Busi-ness
Administration
and the North Carolina Central Uni-versity
School of Law. Prior to joining
the Commission, he was an Assistant
District Attorney for Durham County.
The Real Estate Commission has
received two awards for Education and
Communications from ARELLO® (As-sociation
of Real Estate License Law Of-ficials).
A new course and publication, Is-sues
and Answers in North Carolina Real
Estate Practice, received the Education
award. The course reviews selected is-sues
which often result in violations of
the Real Estate Law and Commission
rules.
The re-designed Commission Web
site received the ARELLO® Communi-cation
award.
Real Estate Bulletin October 2014 3
November 12
December 10
January 14
February 11
All meetings, unless otherwise noted, begin
at 9:00 a.m. and are held in Raleigh in the
Commission’s Conference Room at 1313 Navaho
Drive (27609). Occasionally, circumstances
necessitate changes in meeting times and
locations. C alendar
C ommission
Broker-in-Charge and
Basic Trust Account Procedures Courses
Register online at the Commission Web site, www.ncrec.gov,
under Education/Course Registration.
Broker-in-Charge Course
(Two days) Day 1: 1 - 5 p.m.; Day 2: 8:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Asheville Holiday Inn East/Blue Ridge Parkway November 18-19
February 17-18
Concord Hilton Garden Inn, Concord
December 3-4
January 26-27
March 11-12
Greensboro Deep River Event Center October 28-29
February 11-12
Raleigh McKimmon Center
November 6-7
December 15-16
January 21-22
March 4-5
Wilmington Best Western Coastline Center October 22-23
February 23-24
Basic Trust Account Procedures
(Commission Offices, Raleigh)
(All classes 1 - 5 p.m.)
Raleigh Commission Offices
1313 Navaho Drive, Raleigh
October 22
November 18
December 16
January 26
February 23
See Commission Web site to confirm course dates.
Your Email Address:
Public or Private?
You now have the option to designate your email address(es) on
file with the Commission as "public" or "private - for Commission use".
Your "private" email address will be used by the Commission to com-municate
with you, and will not be disseminated to anyone. Your "pub-lic"
email will be provided on request to others such as schools to send
you CE information.
To make your selection, log in and update your record.
Carolina Association of REALTORS®,
past president, vice president and direc-tor
of the Catawba Valley Association
of REALTORS®, past president and di-rector
of the Multiple Listing Service of
Catawba Valley, and past director of the
North Carolina Real Estate Educational
Foundation.
Greenhill received the North Caro-lina
Association of REALTORS® Life-time
Achievement Award in 2008 and
the Regional Service Award in 1997. She
received the Catawba Valley Association
of REALTORS® Lifetime Service Award
in 2014 and was named the Association’s
REALTOR® of the Year in 1996.
She is a 2011 recipient of the Billie J.
Mercer Excellence in Education Award
of the Real Estate Commission and
is the author of The Insider’s Guide to
Commercial Real Estate, published by
Dearborn/Kaplan Publishing.
A past regional vice president of the
National Association of REALTORS®,
Chandler was also Chair of the Meck-lenburg
County Zoning Board of Ad-justment
and Charlotte Chapter Presi-dent
of Commercial Real Estate Wom-en
(CREW).
Chandler is a past president of the North
Carolina Association of REALTORS® and
the North Carolina Real Estate Educa-tors
Association and a past Vice Chair
of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Planning
Commission.
(Continued from page 1)
(Continued from page 1)
4 Real Estate Bulletin October 2014
o v e r n m e n t -
sponsored en-terprise
(GSE) Fannie
Mae recently launched
enhancements to its on-line
tool that helps real
estate professionals to
navigate and close no-toriously
slow, cumber-some
and complicated
short sale transactions.
Along with its coun-terpart
GSE Freddie
Mac, Fannie Mae sup-ports
secondary U.S.
mortgage markets by
acquiring and securitiz-ing
mortgage loans. The
GSEs own or guarantee
about half of all U.S.
mortgages and current-ly
back the vast majority
of new mortgage loans.
Short sales, of course, involve homes that are sold for less
than the amount owed on the existing mortgage. For loans
owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae, the GSE must ap-prove
the transaction since it will incur any resulting loss.
Fannie Mae’s www.homepathforshortsales.com por-tal
is a resource for listing agents who are working with
clients considering or pursuing a short sale on a prop-erty
whose first lien is held by the GSE. Over the last
few years, the system has been upgraded several times.
A recent enhancement allows real estate professionals
to “escalate” short sale problems such as valuation dis-th
the recent upgrades to its
web portal, www.homepath-forshortsales.
com, Fannie Mae now al-lows
real estate professionals to submit
problems in short sale transactions di-rectly
to a representative. Other features
rolling out soon will allow brokers to
negotiate and receive first lien approval
directly from Fannie Mae. While this
may appear to be a welcome change
to the process, licensees should bear in
mind that in North Carolina negotiat-ing
the settlement of a debt and coun-seling
a seller or buyer on the legal or
tax implications that may result from a
short sale are both considered the prac-tice
of law. Potential clients considering
selling property through the short sale
process should be directed to consult
with a licensed attorney.
Upgrades to the Fannie Mae web
portal aren’t the only changes that will
affect brokers in North Carolina. With
the release of Servicing Guide An-
© ARELLO® (Association of Real Estate License Law Officials)
Reprinted courtesy of ARELLO® Boundaries magazine.
putes, servicer delays
and uncooperative
subordinate lien hold-ers.
Upon submission
of an “inquiry”, a Fan-nie
Mae representa-tive
responds and gets
directly involved in an
attempt to resolve the
problem. With the lat-est
round of system
upgrades, the por-tal
now allows listing
agents to determine if
Fannie Mae owns the
mortgage, understand
Fannie Mae home-owner
short sale eli-gibility
requirements,
request list price guid-ance,
submit an ac-cepted
contract offer
and take steps to close
the transaction. One of the primary new features will soon
allow listing brokers to negotiate and receive first lien ap-proval
on a short sale directly from Fannie Mae, which al-lows
earlier contact with Fannie Mae representatives and
the ability to preempt some of the problems that continue
to plague short sale transactions. Fannie Mae says that
allowing real estate professionals to directly negotiate
short sales is an important step in its continuing efforts
to streamline the short sale process. (But, see the article
below concerning North Carolina limits on negotiating
and counselling “short sales”.)
By Eric A. Mine, Associate Legal Counsel II
nouncement SVC-2014-09, the mort-gage
giant announced changes to some
short sale servicing requirements which
took effect on August 1, 2014.
For all new short sales in which Fan-nie
Mae is the lender, borrowers will be
prohibited from listing their own prop-erty.
Practically, this change means that
all short sale properties now must be
listed with a licensed real estate profes-sional
who is not the borrower before
Continued
Real Estate Bulletin October 2014 5
Fannie Mae will approve an offer.
Fannie Mae has also announced
a change to its Short Sale Affidavit
(Fannie Mae Form 191). Since 2012
Fannie Mae has required that all par-ties
involved in a short sale, including
real estate brokers, sign that affidavit
at the time of closing to confirm that
the transaction was conducted at arm’s-length.
The affidavit has now been up-dated
to include an attestation from the
listing broker affirming that all purchase
offers have been presented to the seller/
borrower and that no offers have been
held or concealed. While the attestation
is new, the requirement to deliver all of-fers
to a seller is not.
Commission Rule 58A.0106(a) re-quires
that all agency agreements, con-tracts,
offers, leases, or options affecting
real property be delivered immediately,
but in no event more than five (5) days
after execution. Licensees should also
keep in mind that in a short sale trans-action,
once an offer has been submit-ted
to the lender, all subsequent offers
must also be submitted to the lender,
even after an offer has been accepted by
the seller. Fannie Mae, as lienholder, is
an interested third party and must ap-prove
the short sale; therefore Fannie
Mae is owed a duty of honesty and fair
dealing in the transaction.
The changes implemented by Fan-nie
Mae are designed to stream-line the
short sale process. But they do not make
the pit-falls and problems inherent in
short sale transactions any less signifi-cant.
Licensees should be well aware
and well versed in the risks posed to
their clients, whether buyer or seller, be-fore
engaging in a short sale transaction.
Scholarships for academic excellence were presented by then Commission
Chairman Everett “Vic” Knight, left, and then Vice Chairman Thomas R. Lawing, Jr.
to three brokers at the June Commission meeting.
The recipients of the Commission scholarships, which honor former Commis-sion
Executive Directors, are (l. to r.) Thao-Van “Amy” Thai, Cary, Joe Schweidler
Memorial Scholarship; Ray Gasperson, Columbus, Blanton Little Memorial Schol-arship;
and Deborah Kempter, Charlotte, Phillip T. Fisher Scholarship.
Winners received reimbursement of course tuition fees. Thai and Gasper-son
were selected by the North Carolina Real Estate Educational Foundation
(NCREEF) for courses in the REALTORS® Institute, and Kempter was selected by
the North Carolina chapter of the National Association of REALTORS® Council of
Real Estate Specialists (CRS).
6 Real Estate Bulletin October 2014
he North Carolina Real Estate Commission monitors applicant perfor-mance
on the license examination and regularly reports this informa-tion
to schools and instructors. In particular, the Commission uses information
about the performance of applicants who are taking the licensing examination
for the first time in order to assure that quality instruction is being provided in
prelicensing courses by schools and instructors. The most recent performance
record for each school can be found on the Commission’s website at http://www.
ncrec.gov/pdf/schools/LicExamPerfRep.pdf.
The overall examination performance (passing rate) for all first-time candidates
taking the comprehensive real estate examination for the license year July 1, 2013
– June 30, 2014 was 61%. The Commission congratulates each of the following
schools for achieving an outstanding examination performance record of 75% or
higher during the most recent annual reporting period. The Commission recogniz-es
that to have students perform at such a level on the license examination requires
a combination of high quality instruction and high course completion standards.
School
Brunswick Community College, Leland; Cape Fear Community College,
Wilmington; Central Carolina Community College, Sanford; Dream Weaver
School of Real Estate, Kannapolis; Laney School of Real Estate, Wilmington;
Northeast NC School of Real Estate, Kitty Hawk; Onslow Real Estate Insti-tute,
Jacksonville; Pitt Community College, Winterville; Wayne Community
College, Goldsboro; Wilkes Community College, Wilkesboro.
James W. Nelson, a second-year law student at the Charlotte School of Law,
is the recipient of the 2014 Allan R. Dameron Legal Internship award. Nelson
received the award from then Commission Chairman Everett “Vic” Knight, left,
and then Vice Chairman Thomas R. Lawing, Jr., in June. The award is given an-nually
in memory of and tribute to former Commission Chairman Dameron for his
dedicated service in protecting the interests of consumers.
(Continued from page 1)
North State Award for dedication and
service beyond expectation and excel-lence
to the State of North Carolina.
As Director of Administration, Whit-ley
has managed the Commission’s fi-nances,
personnel, information technolo-gy,
publications, and information services.
One of Whitley’s responsibilities has
been the annual renewal of real estate
licenses. She has seen the number of li-cense
renewals grow from fewer than
25,000 to about 100,000 in recent years.
Whitley also oversaw the develop-ment
of the Commission’s first Web site.
Most recently, she played a key role in
the creation of the design and features
of the Commission’s new award-winning
Web site, including easier navigation,
improved search functions, and display
on mobile devices.
Whitley has always managed the
Commission’s data and recalls when li-censee
records were housed in file draw-ers
within the Commission’s offices. Since
that time, she has overseen the mainte-nance
of Commission records from paper
files to microfilm to microfiche to digital
storage to cloud storage. Utilizing chang-ing
technology, she has kept the Commis-sion’s
record keeping systems functional
and efficient.
Whitley has been a dedicated member
of the Association of Real Estate License
Law Officials (ARELLO®) and in 2006
was elected its President. She has twice
received an ARELLO® Presidential Award
for her outstanding leadership and service.
Whitley is a member of the Board
of Directors for The American Red
Cross of Eastern North Carolina. She
is a member of the Board of Advisors
for Project Enlightenment, an early
childhood education and intervention
program of the Wake County School
System, which focuses on building
children's strengths in order to help
them succeed in school and life.
The Commission congratulates Mrs.
Whitley on her long and distinguished
career, with many thanks for her service
to licensees, the Commission, and to
citizens of this State.
Real Estate Bulletin October 2014 7
n a tight rental market, competi-tion
between multiple applicants
for a single vacancy is becoming the
norm rather than the exception. While
this is good for the landlord, it places
additional challenges on the property
manager to properly screen prospective
tenants with the goal of selecting the ap-plicant
who best meets the owner’s re-quirements.
A thorough tenant screen-ing
increases the chances of procuring a
tenant who will maintain the landlord’s
property and pay rent on time.
In order to determine the minimum
qualifications for a prospective tenant,
the property manager must first deter-mine
the owner’s needs and expecta-tions.
Typical issues to address include
whether pets will be allowed, whether
smoking will be permitted, and the
number of permitted occupants. The
property manager and landlord should
also review the application form to en-sure
that it covers the essential questions.
These and related questions should be
resolved at the time the property man-agement
agreement is formed.
While many property managers
may attempt to pre-screen tenants to
eliminate unqualified candidates early
in the process, it is important that each
interested person be provided with an
application regardless of their qualifica-tions.
Each applicant should receive an
identical application form and be asked
the same questions. Picking and choos-ing
who receives an application form or
providing different application forms
to different applicants may violate state
and federal fair housing laws.
The property manager should take
care to inform each applicant in writ-ing
regarding non-refundable applica-tion
and “hold/reservation” fees, and
what will be required for the formation
of a binding rental agreement. In a situ-ation
where multiple applications have
tified. While some property manag-ers
notify all qualified candidates and
award the rental to the first applicant to
submit a signed lease agreement and se-curity
deposit check, such an approach
invites claims of discrimination and
may even result in a fair housing com-plaint.
The unsuccessful candidates should
also be notified. If the applicants are
otherwise qualified, the property man-ager
can suggest other available rental
properties for them to consider. If an
applicant was rejected, the property
manager may notify him or her of the
basis of the rejection, such as poor credit
score, adverse rental history, or unac-ceptable
criminal history; however, such
notification is not required. If the rejec-tion
was based on information obtained
from a credit agency, the property man-ager
will need to provide the applicant
with information regarding the credit
agency that provided the information in
accordance with Fair Credit Reporting
Act requirements.
Thorough tenant screening will
benefit both the landlord and prop-erty
manager. The selection of a reli-able
tenant who maintains the property
will provide the landlord with a steady
source of income and will reduce the
time and energy expended by the prop-erty
manager in servicing the account.
Broker Numbers
As of October 1, 2014, there are
90,335 brokers licensed by the Real
Estate Commission in the following
categories:
Active Brokers 56,412
(Active Provisional Brokers 4,495)
Inactive Brokers 23,387
(Inactive Provisional Brokers 3,862)
Firms 10,536
Brokers-in-Charge 17,534
been submitted, each applicant should
be informed of the existence of com-peting
applications and the manner in
which the applicants will be notified as
to whether or not they were selected.
The applicant should also be informed
regarding the types of information that
will be accessed during the screening
process, such as credit reports, criminal
history, rental history, employment ver-ification
and history, and personal ref-erences.
The property manager should
also explain how the information ob-tained
during the background check will
be used in the selection process, and the
type of information that might result in
a rejection of the application, such as a
low credit score or prior eviction. The
tenant will have to provide written con-sent
for the property manager to obtain
some of the required information.
When the application has been sub-mitted,
the property manager’s next task
is performing the background check to
verify the information provided by the
applicant. A typical background check
might include obtaining a credit report,
criminal history, rental history, and em-ployment
verification.
After the background check has been
completed, the property manager is
ready to make a selection in accordance
with the tenant qualifications agreed
upon with the landlord. The selection
process should be based on an objective
and documented system to avoid pos-sible
fair housing issues.
Once the applications have been
evaluated, the best qualified applicant
should be notified of the deadline (e.g.,
within 72 hours of acceptance) for sub-mitting
the signed lease agreement, se-curity
deposit, and applicable pet fee.
If the applicant fails to respond within
the prescribed time limit, the next most
qualified applicant would then be no-
By Thomas R. Lawing, Jr., Commission Chairperson,
and Curtis E. Aldendifer, Associate Legal Counsel
8 Real Estate Bulletin October 2014
mistakenly takes the General Update
instead of the BICUP, s/he will receive
CE credit for the General Update course;
however, s/he will lose his/her BIC sta-tus
or eligibility the following July 1.
The only way to prevent loss of BIC sta-tus/
eligibility is to also take the BICUP
course and a 4-hour elective.
(Verify BIC status on the Commis-sion’s
Web site under “Licensing” from the
Navigation Bar and “BIC Only” from the
drop-down menu. From here, BICs can
obtain an eligibility statement/certificate/
verification that their BIC status is cur-rent.)
(Continued from page one)
ffective January 1, 2015, sell-ers
must provide a new Mineral
and Oil and Gas Mandatory Disclosure
Statement (MOGMDS) to buyers prior
to making an offer.
The form for the Statement is
being developed by the Real Es-tate
Commission and will be avail-able
on the Commission Web site,
www.ncrec.gov., in December to
allow sellers time to complete the
disclosure for any properties on the
market as of January 1. It will be
separate from and in addition to the
Residential Property and Owners’
Association Statement (RPOADS).
The new requirement results from
the legislature’s amendment of the Resi-dential
Property Disclosure Act (North
Carolina General Statutes Chapter
47E), which previoiusly required that oil
and gas disclosures be included in, not
separate from, contracts for the sale of
any real property subject to the Act. In
tephen L. Fussell, Senior Con-sumer
Protection Officer, has
received the 2014 In-vestigator
of the Year
Award from the As-sociation
of Real Es-tate
License Law Of-ficials
(ARELLO®),
an international or-ganization.
Fussell’s investigation involved the ac-tivities
of a real estate broker whose con-duct
went outside the scope of her em-ployment,
without her employer’s knowl-edge.
Fussell obtained evidence that the
broker offered to assist a disabled tenant,
whose rental unit was being demolished
as part of a right-of-way taking by NC-DOT,
in relocating from the property
and convinced the tenant to purchase a
property that resulted in a windfall profit,
not to the broker, but, in secret, to her
close friend. The Commission suspended
her real estate license as a result.
Distinguishing Fussell from other
real estate investigators was his role as
a Consumer Protection Officer (CPO)
rather than a field/auditor investigator.
Fussell performed his investigation en-tirely
from within the office by letter,
telephone, fax, and email, not in person
as a field investigator. Most complaints
received by the Commission every year
are handled by CPO’s, who can com-plete
certain types of cases much faster
than a field investigator. Fussell’s knowl-edge,
expertise, and experience enable
him to investigate difficult cases with-out
outside field assistance.
Fussell, who has been with the
Commission for 23 years, holds an un-dergraduate
degree from the University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a
graduate degree from Campbell Univer-sity.
He is a licensed real estate broker
and a Certified Fraud Examiner.
the amended Act, there is no exemption
from the MOGMDS for new construc-tion,
properties under a lease/purchase
agreement, and properties for which the
parties have agreed that RPOADS is not
required. (These exemptions still apply
to the RPOADS.
The amendment adds the require-ment
of the disclosure of the severance
of mineral rights to the severance of oil
and gas rights. Minerals are not specifi-cally
defined, but other North Carolina
statutes provide some guidance: under
the NC Mining Act of 1974 (NCGS
§74-49(6)), “mineral” is defined as soil,
clay, coal, stone, gravel, sand, phos-phate,
rock, metallic ore, and any other
solid material or substance of commer-cial
value found in natural deposits on
or in the earth.
Sellers are allowed the option
to mark No Representation in the
Disclosure Statement as to wheth-er
mineral and oil and gas rights
were severed from the property
by a previous owner. Sellers must
mark “yes” or “no” as to their own
previous severance of rights or
their intended severance prior to
transfer of title to the buyer.
The Commission is proceeding with
temporary rulemaking to have appro-priate
rules and the Statement form in
place by January 1. Information about
the rulemaking process is available on
the Commission Web site.
Fussell
By Charlene D. Moody,
Assistant Director, Regulatory Affairs
Real Estate Bulletin October 2014 9
How To Order:
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Mail: NC Real Estate Commission, ATTN: Publications,
P. O. Box 17100, Raleigh, NC 27619-7100
Fax: 1-919-877-4227
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publications only.
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Questions and Answers on:
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Tenant Security Deposits
Condos and Townhouses
Residential Subdivisions and Planned
Communities
Purchasing Coastal Real Estate
in North Carolina
Renting Residential Real Estate
N.C. Military Personnel Residential
Lease Termination
Trato Con Agentes de Bienes Raíces
(Working With Real Estate Agents)
Preguntas y Respuestas sobre:
(Questions and Answers On:)
Vivienda Justa (Fair Housing)
El Depósito de Seguridad del
Inquilino (Tenant Security Deposits)
Alquiler de Inmuebles para
Viviendo (Renting Residential Real Estate)
Real Estate Licensing in North Carolina
Residential Property Disclosure
Statement (Available online)
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10 Real Estate Bulletin October 2014
2013-2014 Edition
NORTH CAROLINA REAL ESTATE MANUAL
The North Carolina Real Estate Manual, published by the Real Estate Commission, is a
comprehensive reference addressing real estate law and brokerage practice, the North Carolina
Real Estate License Law and Commission rules. It serves as the authorized textbook for the
real estate broker postlicensing courses and is highly recommended for licensees, attorneys,
instructors and anyone else engaged or interested in real estate law and brokerage practice.
The 1,021-page, 2013-2014 edition includes coverage of new laws and rules on broker
price opinions and comparative market analyses, mechanics’ liens and commercial real estate
broker liens, as well as coverage of significant revisions to standard forms.
The files on the Web site and on disk are “READ ONLY” and may not be printed or changed.
Mailing address:
North Carolina Real Estate Manual
P. O. BOx 28151
Raleigh, NC 27611
eMail:
manual@cesmail.com
Fax:
1-866-867-3746
CustoMer serviCe:
1-866-833-5785
Order Form
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*All prices include taxes, shipping and handling.
Also
available in
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CD-ROM provides digital,
searchable files in Portable Doc-ument
File format (PDF) which can be read
by free Acrobat Readers across all platforms.
Online subscriptions
permit online access to
the Manual and expire
upon publication of a new edition projected
for late 2014. (Users of older computers may
prefer the CD-ROM for faster load times).
CD-ROM ONLINE
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TO ORDER: Online at the Commision’s Web site, by mail, or fax. Credit cards accepted are MasterCard and Visa.
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NORTH CAROLINA
REAL ESTATE MANUAL
2013-2014 Edition
Patrick K. Hetrick Larry A. Outlaw Patricia A. Moylan
Published By The North Carolina Real Estate Commission
Hetrick
Outlaw
Moylan
2013-2014
Edition
ISBN 978-0-9704907-7-3
North Carolina
Real Estate Manual
North Carolina
Real Estate Manual
2013-2014 Edition
©2013 North
Carolina Real Estate
Commission
ISBN 978-0-9704907-8-0
North Carolina
Real Estate Commission
P. O. Box 17100
Raleigh, NC 27619-7100
www.ncrec.gov
Real Estate Bulletin October 2014 11
Penalties for violations of the Real Estate License Law and Commission
rules vary depending upon the particular facts and circumstances
present in each case. Due to space limitations in the Bulletin, a complete
description of such facts cannot be reported in the following Disciplinary
Action summaries.
D isciplinary
A ction
Write
License
Your
Number
On All
Agency
Agreements
KIMBERLY E. ABRAHAM (Braden-ton,
Florida) – By Consent, the Commis-sion
reprimanded Ms. Abraham effective
August 13, 2014. The Commission found
that Ms. Abraham, a North Carolina and
Florida real estate broker, voluntarily placed
her Florida license on inactive status in or
around August 2008; and that despite her
Florida license being inactive, beginning in
2009 and continuing through 2013, Ms.
Abraham represented to the Commission
that she had a current, active out-of-state
license on her annual renewal form in order
to maintain the active status of her North
Carolina license.
APS REALTY GROUP INC. (Win-ston-
Salem) – By Consent, the Commission
suspended the firm license of APS Realty
Group for a period of one year effective May
1, 2014. The Commission then stayed the
suspension for a probationary period end-ing
May 1, 2015. The Commission found
that APS Realty Group, a real estate broker-age
firm, contracted to manage a property
for a landlord-client who lived out of the
country; that APS Realty Group entered
into a one-year lease agreement with a ten-ant
on behalf of its landlord-client and that,
shortly thereafter, APS Realty Group de-ducted
$572 from rental proceeds to cover
the cost of unapproved repairs in violation
of the property management agreement
with the landlord-client. The Commission
also found that APS Realty Group executed
a “Release and Termination of Lease Con-tract”
with the tenant in violation of the
property management agreement; that APS
Realty Group used rental proceeds to pay
the attorney who had drafted the tenant
release agreement; that APS Realty Group
refunded the tenant security deposit to
the tenant without its landlord-client’s ap-proval;
and that after termination of the
lease agreement in June 2013, the tenant
remained in the property until the end of
July 2013, without paying rent.
HAL G. BARNES (Fort Lauderdale,
Florida) – By Consent, the Commission
reprimanded Mr. Barnes effective June 18,
2014. The Commission found that Mr.
Barnes, who resides in Florida and maintains
a license there, was placed on inactive sta-tus
in Florida August 2008 when his affilia-tion
with a real estate firm ended; and that,
despite being inactive, beginning in 2009
and continuing through 2013, Mr. Barnes
misrepresented to the Commission that he
had a current, active out-of-state license on
his annual renewal form in order to main-tain
the active status of his North Carolina
license.
CHESLEY G. BOWENS, JR. (Raleigh)
– By Consent, the Commission suspend-ed
the broker license of Mr. Bowens for a
period of one year effective May 1, 2014.
The Commission then stayed the suspen-sion
for a probationary period of one year.
The Commission found that Mr. Bowens,
acting as broker-in-charge of his sole pro-prietorship,
between 1987 and 2011, was
convicted of multiple offenses that he failed
to disclose on two separate license applica-tions,
and which he failed to report to the
Commission after licensure. The Commis-sion
also found that Mr. Bowens failed to
report at least four civil judgments at the
time of his 1995 application for a real estate
salesperson license.
NICOLE ANN BULLARD (Fuquay
Varina) – The Commission accepted the
permanent voluntary surrender of the bro-ker
license of Ms. Bullard effective April 16,
2014. The Commission dismissed without
prejudice allegations that Ms. Bullard vio-lated
provisions of the Real Estate License
Law and Commission rules. Ms. Bullard
neither admitted nor denied misconduct.
RONALD G. CAMERON (Waynes-ville)
– By Consent, the Commission sus-pended
the broker license of Mr. Cameron
for a period of three months effective June
1, 2014. The Commission found that Mr.
Cameron listed for sale his personal resi-dence
and advertised it has having 2,600
square feet including 600 square feet of
heated space with garage doors; that the
space had been used as a garage, office and
spare bedroom; and that Mr. Cameron dis-puted
the action taken against his license
CYNTHIA R. CARSWELL (Gastonia)
– By Consent, the Commission revoked the
broker license of Ms. Carswell effective July
1, 2014. The Commission found that Ms.
Carswell agreed to the terms of a Consent
Order issued September 8, 2011, which re-voked
her broker license unless, by July 1,
2012, she made full payment of $10,000
owed to a consumer as reimbursement of
a down payment in a failed transaction, in
which case the revocation would be reduced
to a one year stayed suspension; that when
Ms. Carswell failed to satisfy the terms of
the 2011 Consent Order, having made only
Continued
12 Real Estate Bulletin October 2014
Licensees Must
Report Convictions
Commission Rule A.0113
requires any licensee who is
convicted of a misdemeanor or
felony or who has disciplinary
action taken against him or her
by any occupational licensing
board to file a report with the
Real Estate Commission.
The reporting requirement
includes convictions for driving
while impaired (“DWI”). The
report must be filed within sixty
(60) days of the final judgment
or board action.
If you have questions about
this rule, please call the Commis-sion’s
Regulatory Affairs Division
at 919-875-3700 for more infor-mation.
Your Pocket License Card
is your ticket for admission
to Continuing Education classes.
Allow at least 10 days to
process a replacement request
or
purchase and download
a replacement immediately
from the Commission’s Web site.
partial repayment, she was notified that her
license was subject to revocation; that Ms.
Carswell notified the Commission that her
pending bankruptcy action prohibited her
from complying with the 2011 Consent
Order and that she had renegotiated a pay-ment
plan that would satisfy the terms of
the 2011 Consent Order, but over a longer
period of time.; that Ms. Carswell agreed to
the terms of a second Consent Order issued
June 14, 2012, which extended her repay-ment
deadline to July 1, 2014, and which
Ms. Carswell failed to fulfill.
CHANTICLEER PROPERTIES LLC
(Pinehurst) – By Consent, the Commission
reprimanded Chanticleer Properties effec-tive
August 1, 2014. The Commission found
that a local attorney created a listing agree-ment
for Chanticleer Properties so that its
agents could sell townhouses for a builder;
that the listing agreement did not contain
the required anti-discrimination provision;
and that the listing agreement was signed by
both Chanticleer Properties and the builder.
Chanticleer Properties neither admitted nor
deined, but did not object to the Commis-sion’s
findings.
BRIAN CINC (Winston-Salem) – By
Consent, the Commission suspended the
broker license of Mr. Cinc for a period of
one year effective May 1, 2014. The Com-mission
then stayed the suspension for a pro-bationary
period ending May 1, 2015. The
Commission found that Mr. Cinc, acting
as qualifying broker and broker-in-charge
of a real estate brokerage firm, contracted to
manage a property for a landlord-client who
lived out of the country; that Mr. Cinc and
his firm entered into a one-year lease agree-ment
with a tenant on behalf of their land-lord-
client and that, shortly thereafter, Mr.
Cinc deducted $572 from rental proceeds to
cover the cost of unapproved repairs in viola-tion
of the property management agreement
with the landlord-client. The Commission
also found that Mr. Cinc executed a “Release
and Termination of Lease Contract” with the
tenant in violation of the property manage-ment
agreement; that Mr. Cinc used rental
proceeds to pay the attorney who had drafted
the tenant release agreement; that Mr. Cinc
refunded the tenant security deposit to the
tenant without his landlord-client’s approval;
and that after termination of the lease agree-ment
in June 2013, the tenant remained in
the property until the end of July 2013 with-out
paying rent.
DAN RYAN BUILDERS-NORTH
CAROLINA LLC (Raleigh) – By Con-sent,
the Commission reprimanded Dan
Ryan Builders effective August 1, 2014. The
Commission found that a listing agent for
a real estate brokerage firm signed a listing
agreement with Dan Ryan Builders to mar-ket
and sell new houses on townhouse lots
in a subdivision; that the listing agent pro-vided
a purchase contract drafted by Dan
Ryan Builders to a buyer and the buyer’s
agent for a property in the subdivision; that
the contract contained an addendum given
to the listing agent by Dan Ryan Builders
disclosing that the streets were “public”; that
the developer had also placed street signs in
the neighborhood which indicated that the
streets were “public”; that the listing agent
also provided a plat map of the lot location,
provided by Dan Ryan Builders, which in-dicated
that the street was “private”; that,
after the property closed, it was determined
that some of the streets in the subdivision
were “public” and some, including the street
where the property which had closed was
located, were “private”. The Commission
noted that Dan Ryan Builders, after dis-covering
the street disclosure discrepancy,
issued the proper “private” street disclosure
form with its contracts. Dan Ryan Builders
neither admitted nor denied, but did not
object to the Commission’s findings.
MICHELLE SIZEMORE DAVIS (San-ford)
– By Consent, the Commission sus-pended
the broker license of Ms. Davis for a
period of two years effective March 1, 2014.
Three months of the suspension were active
with the remainder stayed for a probationary
period ending February 28, 2016. The Com-mission
found that Ms. Davis acted as a dual
agent in selling her own home and failed to
obtain a written Buyer’s Agency agreement
or written consent for Dual Agency; that
after closing, the buyer discovered evidence
of mold and ordered a home inspection; and
that testing revealed a significant infestation
of black mold which rendered the basement
of the home uninhabitable.
ROBERT M. DAVIS (Charlotte) -
The Commission accepted the permanent
voluntary surrender of the broker license
of Mr. Davis effective April 16, 2014. The
Commission dismissed without prejudice
allegations that Mr. Davis violated provi-sions
of the Real Estate License Law and
Commission rules. Mr. Davis neither ad-mitted
nor denied misconduct.
Continued
Real Estate Bulletin October 2014 13
DAVID ROBERT DICECCO (Char-lotte)
- The Commission accepted the
voluntary surrender of the broker license
of Mr. DiCecco for a period of five years
effective April 1, 2014. The Commission
dismissed without prejudice allegations that
Mr. DiCecco violated provisions of the Real
Estate License Law and Commission rules.
Mr. DiCecco neither admitted nor denied
misconduct.
BENJAMIN EDWARDS FALCON
(Asheville) – By Consent, the Commission
suspended the broker license of Mr. Falcon
for a period of two years effective July 1,
2014. Six months of the suspension is active
with the remainder stayed for a probation-ary
period ending July 1, 2016 on certain
conditions. The Commission found that in
November 2013 Mr. Falcon pled guilty to
felony sale of marijuana; and was sentenced
to between 8 and 19 months imprisonment
(suspended), 72 hours of community ser-vice,
and ordered to pay $1,224.50. The
Commission noted that Mr. Falcon self-re-ported
the criminal conviction to the Com-mission
on January 7, 2014.
FOURTH DEVELOPMENT COM-PANY
D/B/A AL WILLIAMS PROPER-TIES
(Atlantic Beach) - By Consent, the
Commission reprimanded Fourth Develop-ment
Company effective October 1, 2014.
The Commission found that Fourth Devel-opment
Company, a real estate brokerage
firm, listed a property, which went under
contract for purchase as a short sale; that
the buyer’s agent requested the rental sched-ule
for the unit from the firm managing the
property and requested that the advanced
rents be given to the buyer at closing; that
closing on the property did not occur as
scheduled because the property was being
foreclosed; that the buyers then went under
contract with the new owner and the buyer’s
agent again requested that advance rents be
given to the buyers at closing; that on the
day before closing, the firm managing the
property notified the listing agent that there
were no advanced rents to be given to the
buyers, but did not notify the buyer’s agent;
that the property closed without any ad-vanced
rents being reflected on the HUD-
1 statement; that the buyer’s assumed that
the advanced rental deposits were still in the
firm’s trust account; and that, after closing,
the buyers realized there were no advanced
rental deposits available to them. The Com-mission
also found that Fourth Develop-ment
Company failed to enter into a new
listing agreement with the new owner of the
property.
KAREN H. GRACE (Charlotte) – By
Consent, the Commission suspended the
broker license of Ms. Grace for a period
of ten months effective May 1, 2014. The
Commission found that Ms. Grace, acting
as qualifying broker and broker-in-charge
of a real estate brokerage firm, entered into
numerous property management agree-ments
with landlord clients through the
firm when, in fact, the firm was controlled
by another individual. The Commission
also found that Ms. Grace failed to remit
collected rents to her clients and failed to
keep trust account records in compliance
with Commission rules.
J. ANTHONY HAWKINS (Raleigh)
– By Consent, the Commission suspended
the prelicensing and postlicensing courses’
instructor approval issued to Mr. Hawkins
for one year effective February 1, 2014.
The Commission found that Mr. Hawkins
in August 2013 taught the 30-hour postli-censing
course, “Contracts and Closings”,
and during the conduct of the course made
inappropriate comments and behaved inap-propriately
in response to various questions
raised by students.
HERITAGE REALTY ASHE INC
(Jefferson) – By Consent, the Commission
reprimanded Heritage Realty Ashe effective
August 1, 2014. The Commission found
that Heritage Realty Ashe was the listing
firm for a property; that the listing agent
for Heritage Realty knew that the home
on the property was “owner built” and the
MLS listing advertised that it contained
one bedroom and one bath with a septic
system; that no septic or building permits
were pulled for verification; and that, after
closing, it was determined that the home
was not built to code and that it lacked the
proper building and septic permits.
ASHLEE AMELIA HOOKS (Oak
Ridge) – The Commission accepted the
voluntary surrender of the broker license
of Ms. Hooks for a period of two years ef-fective
August 13, 2014. The Commission
dismissed without prejudice allegations that
Ms. Hooks violated provisions of the Real
Estate License Law and Commission rules.
Ms. Hooks neither admitted nor denied
misconduct.
JENNIFER M. JOHNSON (Apex) –
By Consent, the Commission suspended
the broker license of Ms. Johnson for a peri-od
of 18 months effective July 1, 2014. The
Commission then stayed the suspension
for a probationary period of 18 months.
The Commission found that Ms. Johnson,
on or about December 5, 2012, was con-victed
of Misdemeanor Attempted Larceny
after attempting to shoplift clothing from
a department store. The Commission noted
that Ms. Johnson notified the Commission
within 60 days of the conviction as required
by Commission rules.
GLENN EMERSON MAGILL, III
(Nags Head) – By Consent, the Commis-sion
suspended the broker license of Mr.
Magill for a period of one year effective
July 1, 2014. The Commission found that
Mr. Magill’s real estate license was issued in
November 2012, but never placed on ac-tive
status because Mr. Magill has never af-filiated
with a broker-in-charge; that in No-vember
2012, Mr. Magill began managing
rental properties on behalf of an unlicensed
property management firm; and that Mr.
Magill conducted business, including ad-vertising
rental properties on the unlicensed
firm’s Web site and collecting tenant secu-rity
deposits and rental payments without
the supervision of a broker-in-charge. The
Commission noted that Mr. Magill no lon-ger
performs property management services
on behalf of others.
ELIZABETH ANN MASSEY (Cor-nelius)
– By Consent, the Commission
reprimanded Ms. Massey effective Septem-ber
10, 2014. The Commission found that
Ms. Massey, on February 20, 2014, pleaded
guilty in District Court to one count of mis-demeanor
larceny, was sentenced to one year
of unsupervised probation, ordered to pay
a $1,000 fine, and was banned from all TJ
Continued
14 Real Estate Bulletin October 2014
Maxx and Marshall’s stores in the state of
North Carolina. The Commission noted that
Ms. Massey reported the criminal conviction
to the Commission on April 14, 2014.
SEAN NICHOLAS MCGOVERN
(Belville) – By Consent, the Commission
suspended the broker license of Mr. McGov-ern
for a period of four years effective July 1,
2014. One year of the suspension is active
with the remainder stayed for a probationary
period ending July 1, 2019 on certain condi-tions.
The Commission found that on May
17, 2011 Mr. McGovern pled guilty in U.S.
District Court to one count of “Conspiracy
to Distribute and Possession With the Intent
to Distribute More Than 100 Kilograms of
Marijuana”; that Mr. McGovern was sen-tenced
to 21 months of imprisonment and
upon completion of that term, five years
of supervised probation; and that Mr. Mc-
Govern failed to report his guilty plea to the
Commission within 60 days of sentencing.
The Commission noted that Mr. McGovern
self-reported his guilty plea in October 2013,
more than two years after sentencing.
JOHN A. MILLER (Wilmington) – By
Consent, the Commission reprimanded Mr.
Miller effective October 1, 2014. The Com-mission
found that Mr. Miller was convicted
of Misdemeanor Driving While Impaired on or
about June 6, 2011, and again on November
28, 2011; and that Mr. Miller self-reported
these convictions to the Commission on
March 7, 2014, after reading an excerpt from
the February 2014 Bulletin reminding him
of the Commission rule to report convictions
within 60 days. The Commission noted that
Mr. Miller has been on inactive status for a
number of years, that he wishes to obtain ac-tive
status now, and that he has completed
all requirements imposed by the court for
these convictions and has received numerous
hours in substance abuse treatment.
JAMES WILLIAM PAYLOR (Atlan-tic
Beach) - By Consent, the Commission
reprimanded Mr. Paylor effective October
1, 2014. The Commission found that Mr.
Paylor was a broker with a real estate bro-kerage
firm that listed a property that went
under contract for purchase as a short sale;
that the buyer’s agent requested the rental
schedule for the unit from the firm man-aging
the property and requested that the
advanced rents be given to the buyer at clos-ing;
that closing on the property did not oc-cur
as scheduled because the property was
being foreclosed; that the buyers then went
under contract with the new owner and the
buyer’s agent again requested that advance
rents be given to the buyers at closing; that
on the day before closing, the firm manag-ing
the property notified Mr. Paylor that
there were no advanced rents to be given to
the buyers, but he failed to notify the buy-er’s
agent; that the property closed without
any advanced rents being reflected on the
HUD-1 statement; that the buyer’s assumed
that the advanced rental deposits were still
in the firm’s trust account; and that, after
closing, the buyers realized there were no
advanced rental deposits available to them.
The Commission also found that Mr. Paylor
failed to enter into a new listing agreement
with the new owner of the property.
BROOKS LIVINGSTONE POOLE
(Kinston) – By Consent, the Commission
suspended the broker license of Mr. Poole
for a period of two years effective August
1, 2014. Six months of the suspension are
active with the remainder stayed for a pro-bationary
period ending August 1, 2016 on
certain conditions. The Commission found
that Mr. Poole was convicted on or about
October 16, 2013 of three counts of misde-meanor
possession of controlled substances
and one count of misdemeanor possession
of drug paraphernalia and sentenced to
120 days imprisonment (suspended), and
placed on 18 months of supervised proba-tion.
The Commission also found that Mr.
Poole failed to respond to four Letters of
Inquiry sent by Commission staff, failed to
fully respond to Commission staff’s requests
by failing to report two of the four convic-tions
and the resulting prison sentence (sus-pended),
and failed to provide copies of any
judgments and a detailed account describ-ing
the relevant facts and circumstances sur-rounding
the convictions, as requested by
Commission staff.
CHRISTY ESTHER QUICK (Corne-lius)
– By Consent, the Commission sus-pended
the broker license of Ms. Quick for a
period of three years effective June 1, 2014.
The Commission then stayed the suspen- Continued
sion for a probationary period ending June
1, 2017. The Commission found that Ms.
Quick, acting as a provisional broker, hired a
contractor to perform work on bank-owned
properties listed by her firm; that Ms. Quick
represented that the contractor had been paid
when it had not; and that instead of paying
the contractor’s invoices with the monies
received as reimbursement from her owner
clients, she converted the funds to her own
personal use. The Commission noted that
Ms. Quick has repaid a substantial portion of
the original amount owed to the contractor
and continues to make monthly payments to
settle the debt.
GAYLE S. RAY (Fayetteville) – By Con-sent,
the Commission reprimanded Ms. Ray
effective October 1, 2014. The Commission
found that Ms. Ray represented a buyer who
closed on a property in Raleigh in March of
2013; that Ms. Ray possessed a reasonable
knowledge of the I-540 completion project
which included various proposed routes for
future highway construction; that the buyer
discovered in the fall of 2013 that the pro-posed
“Orange Route”, if built, would come
to rest within a quarter of a mile from his
front door; that the route was proposed by
the North Carolina Department of Trans-portation
(NCDOT) in 1996 and is still
pending approval; that Ms. Ray did not dis-close
the proximity of the Orange Route to
the property; and that the buyer did not or-der
an appraisal. The Commission also found
that NCDOT has still not decided which of
the proposed various routes will be used and
that the proximity of I-540 was not disclosed
in the Residential Property Disclosure State-ment,
the MLS listing, or other marketing
materials.
CARLA HINESLEY SEVILLA (Ra-leigh)
– By Consent, the Commission
reprimanded Ms. Sevilla effective August
1, 2014. The Commission found that Ms.
Sevilla, on behalf of her real estate broker-age
firm, signed a listing agreement with a
builder to market and sell new houses on
townhouse lots in a subdivision; that Ms.
Sevilla provided a purchase contract drafted
by the builder to a buyer and the buyer’s
agent for a property in the subdivision; that
the contract contained an addendum given
Real Estate Bulletin October 2014 15
Continued
to Ms. Sevilla by the builder disclosing that
the streets were “public”; that the builder
had also placed street signs in the neighbor-hood
which indicated that the streets were
“public”; that Ms. Sevilla also provided a
plat map of the lot location, provided by the
builder, which indicated that the street was
“private”; that, after the property closed, it
was determined that some of the streets in
the subdivision were “public” and some, in-cluding
the street where the property, which
had closed was located, were “private”. The
Commission noted that Ms. Sevilla, after
noticing the street disclosure discrepancy,
immediately informed the builder. Mr. Se-villa
neither admitted nor denied, but did
not object to the Commission’s findings.
PATRICIA MOORE SMITH (Atlan-tic
Beach) – By Consent, the Commission
reprimanded Ms. Smith effective October
1, 2014. The Commission found that Ms.
Smith was the buyer agent for a property
that went under contract as a short sale list-ing
on or about May 27, 2013; that Ms.
Smith requested a rental schedule for the
property and requested that any advanced
rents already paid to the previous owner be
given to the buyer at closing; that on June
18, 2013, the property management firm
tried to contact the closing attorney with
these figures, however, the closing did not
occur on this date due to the property be-ing
foreclosed on and the note sold; that the
buyers then went under contract with the
new owners of the property and Ms. Smith
again requested the advanced rents be given
to the buyers at closing; that on July 18,
2013, the day before closing, the property
management firm told Ms. Smith that the
correct amount would be forwarded to the
closing attorney; that the property closed on
July 19, 2013 without any advanced rents
being reflected on the HUD-1 statement;
that buyers and Ms. Smith were present
at closing and buyers assumed that the ad-vanced
rental deposits were still in the prop-erty
management firm’s trust account; and
that after closing the buyers realized there
were no advanced rental deposits available
to them.
MARCUS SCARBOROUGH
SPENCER (Durham) – By Consent, the
Commission suspended the broker license
of Mr. Spencer for a period of two years ef-fective
May 1, 2014. One year of the sus-pension
is active with the remainder stayed
as a probationary period on certain condi-tions.
The Commission found that Mr.
Spencer, acting as broker-in-charge of his
sole proprietorship, timely reported to the
Commission that on July 23, 2013, he was
convicted of two counts of Possession With
Intent to Sell/Distribute Marijuana in Bruns-wick
County and was ordered to ;ay fines
and court costs of $800 and placed on 24
months’ supervised probation. The Com-mission
also found that Mr. Spencer was
previously disciplined by the Commission
for failing to report criminal convictions,
including convictions in 1993, 1996, and
1998 and for which his real estate license
was suspended for a period of two years
which was stayed after a six-month active
period.
LARRY A. STANLEY (Jefferson) – By
Consent, the Commission reprimanded Mr.
Stanley effective August 1, 2014. The Com-mission
found that Mr. Stanley was the bro-ker-
in-charge of a real estate brokerage firm
when the firm listed a property for sale; that
the listing agent for the firm knew that the
home on the property was “owner built” and
the MLS listing advertised that it contained
one bedroom and one bath with a septic
system; that no septic or building permits
were pulled for verification; and that, after
closing, it was determined that the home
was not built to code and that it lacked the
proper building and septic permits.
GENE D. THOMAS (Goldsboro) – By
Consent, the Commission revoked the bro-ker
license of Mr. Thomas effective August
13, 2014. Mr. Thomas shall be ineligible to
reapply for reinstatement five years from the
date of revocation. The Commission found
that Mr. Thomas was Executive Director
of the Housing Authority for the City of
Goldsboro (GHA); that the GHA received
funds from the federal government through
annual grants and other assistance; that be-ginning
in August 2002, and continuing
until June 2012, Mr. Thomas falsified GHA
time sheets to reflect that a former employee
worked 20 hours per week, when, in fact,
that employee had resigned and did very
little work for the GHA; that as a result of
Mr. Thomas’ actions, federal funds were il-legally
converted; and that on April 8, 2014,
Mr. Thomas pleaded guilty to one count of
Unlawful Conversion of Federal Funds in
the U.S. District Court.
MINDY S. WALLER (Wallace) – By
Consent, the Commission suspended the
broker license of Ms. Waller for a period
of six months effective July 1, 2014. The
Commission then stayed the suspension for
a probationary period of six months. The
Commission found that Ms. Waller listed a
bank-owned property and received multiple
offers on the property but failed to submit
to her seller the highest written offer of
$40,000, instead allowing her seller to ac-cept
an offer of $38,500.
ALFRED WILLIAMS IV (Atlantic
Beach) – By Consent, the Commission rep-rimanded
Mr. Williams effective October
1, 2014. The Commission found that Mr.
Williams was Broker-in-Charge and Quali-fying
Broker for a real estate brokerage firm
when it listed a property that went under
contract for purchase as a short sale; that the
buyer’s agent requested the rental schedule
for the unit from the firm managing the
If you are a BIC or BIC eligible, you must take the
Broker-in-Charge Update Course (BICUP) + an Elective.
Do not take the General Update Course - it will not satisfy your BIC CE requirements.
(See article, page 1.)
16 Real Estate Bulletin October 2014
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property and requested that the advanced
rents be given to the buyer at closing; that
closing on the property did not occur as
scheduled because the property was being
foreclosed; that the buyers then went under
contract with the new owner and the buyer’s
agent again requested that advance rents be
given to the buyers at closing; that on the
day before closing, the firm managing the
property notified the listing agent that there
were no advanced rents to be given to the
buyers, but did not notify the buyer’s agent;
that the property closed without any ad-vanced
rents being reflected on the HUD-
1 statement; that the buyer’s assumed that
the advanced rental deposits were still in the
firm’s trust account; and that, after closing,
the buyers realized there were no advanced
rental deposits available to them. The Com-mission
also found that Mr. Williams failed
to enter into a new listing agreement with
the new owner of the property.
KEVIN A. WOLBORSKY (Raleigh) –
By Consent, the Commission suspended
the broker license of Mr. Wolborsky for a
period of four months effective August 1,
2014. The Commission then stayed the sus-pension
on certain conditions. The Com-mission
found that Mr. Wolborsky repre-sented
a buyer who submitted an offer for a
property and paid a $2,500 earnest money
deposit; that after the Due Diligence period
ended, the buyer’s financing fell through;
that the seller terminated the contract and
sent the buyer a Release Request for the
earnest money deposit; that Mr. Wolborsky
assisted the buyer in obtaining new financ-ing
and later submitted an offer to purchase
another property upon pre-approval from
the bank; that after the offer was submitted,
the buyer signed the Release Request of the
earnest money deposit and prepared a state-ment
to the seller of the first property; that
the statement contained inaccurate infor-mation
and requested the return of the ear-nest
money deposit due to the buyer’s finan-cial
troubles; that Mr. Wolborsky forwarded
the buyer’s letter to the seller’s listing agent
for delivery to the seller; and that ultimately
the seller kept the earnest money deposit.
CHARLES GARY ZAHLER (Ashe-ville)-
Following a hearing, the Commission
reprimanded Mr. Zahler effective August
5, 2014. The Commission found that Mr.
Zahler, a licensed real estate broker listing his
own property, failed to disclose to the buyer
problems with the foundation, settlement
and other issues affecting the property that
had been revealed in a structural engineer-ing
report provided to Mr. Zahler prior to
his purchase of the property in 1997; that
in 1998, Mr. Zahler replaced an aluminum
overhang with a new roof and had a new re-taining
wall constructed to support the new
roof; that Mr. Zahler believed that the new
retaining wall and re-poured concrete slab
cured all of the settlement and foundation
issues; that between 1998 and 2008, Mr.
Zahler did not notice any indications of fur-ther
settlement in the home; that an appraisal
performed on the home in 2006 did not in-dicate
any deficiencies or adverse conditions
affecting the structural integrity of the prop-erty;
that in 2007, the City of Asheville issued
a Housing Certificate and determined that
the property met the requirements for occu-pancy
under the city’s Housing Code; that
when Mr. Zahler sold his property in 2008,
he failed to provide the buyer with a copy
of the 1997 engineering report or otherwise
disclose the settlement and foundation prob-lems
revealed in the report; that in 2010, the
same engineer who prepared the 1997 report
inspected the property and found that several
of the problems addressed in the 1997 report
were still present.