A new pamphlet has been started for licensees within WA State to receive semi-annual updates of legislation affecting our industry. I’m a fan of it so far and the very first story on the front page of the pamphlet tells us about the new licensing law for RCW18.85 coming into effect on July 1, 2010.
Not only will there be higher initial education standards for new agents, but there will be other fun updates to the requirements such as fingerprinting and background checks with WSP and FBI. This is not new for other states such as Kansas (where my mom, Myrna Haas, does business) as they’ve implemented this kind of procedure as well. And, I for one, am happy to see it happen. Hopefully we’ll be able to better monitor the quality of those getting into the industry and hold higher standards overall.
Want another reason for those kinds of background checks to be done? One of the noted disciplinary actions in the document revealed that an agent had a level II sex offender background and he’d failed to register and provide that information to the department. There are others who may have convictions in drugs, theft, larceny or fraud that the public might want to have screened out from the business as well.
Oh, and one other thing. The titles of agents will change too. People who are currently labeled Sales Associates, Real Estate Agents, or some similar name will become “brokers”. And those folks that had broker licenses before will become “managing brokers”. Happy licensing……
