DO oversee the agents associated with and sponsored by your company.
This is generally a good practice, and while RELA requires a certain amount of oversight over all sponsored licensees it also contains some very specific requirements for oversight of newer broker licensees.
Consumer protection regulates the industry so even though brokers are treated as independent contractors, there is a level of oversight required by the DMB
Do remember those broker licensees who have not completed their 45-hour post-license education must be under the direct supervision of their DMB.
Specific Requirements/Prohibitions for new broker licensees:
- Don’t allow new broker licensees to bind the company by signing contracts to which the company is a party. This includes brokerage agreements, like listing agreements with seller clients and buyer brokerage agreements with buyer clients.
- Don’t allow new broker licensees to handle earnest money or other escrow deposits and transmissions.
- Do assist new broker licensees with contract negotiations.
Here are some practical ways DMBs might handle these requirements:
- For earnest money/escrow handling. The office manager could have a specific process where money tendered is physically or electronically logged in to the company business office under the direct supervision of the DMB, because the DMB is included as a party in the written or electronic transmission of the deposit loop.
- For document signing, electronic options can be very helpful tools so the DMB can see all documents being processed in a transaction and ultimately, at least where new broker licensees are involved, the signing can be restricted to the DMB only. For other situations, the DMB could establish office policies and procedures related to who has or hasn’t got signing authority to bind the company.
Do consider mentoring programs for your office. Assign professionals you trust the most to help you to oversee others in the office who must have, or sometimes, just need, a little extra assistance.
