12-Hr. NJ CE Package (with Ethics course)

Housing discrimination remains a problem, even among real estate licensees who should know better. This was recently demonstrated through a Newsday expose on a three-year study using fair housing testers on Long Island. And just last year, New Jersey investigators issued 100 violations against housing providers (licensees and landlords) who barred prospective tenants from their choice of housing simply because they were using vouchers. 

To combat discrimination, the National Association of REALTORS® has strengthened its fair housing standards and recently came out against hate speech—even on members’ social media sites.

In this course, we’ll revisit the Newsday expose and new NAR guidelines. But first, we’ll review the federal Fair Housing Act and protected classes. The course also gives you the opportuity to determinew whether your own "implicit bias" may be preventing you from providing equal service to all. 

Course highlights include:

• Federal Fair Housing Act: overview and list of federally protected classes
• New Jersey Fair Housing Act and affordable housing programs
• A look at the Newsday Long Island fair housing tester expose
• New Jersey State Law Against Discrimination
• Implicit bias and how to recognize it
• New guidelines from the NAR on nondiscriminatory practice and the prohibition against hate speech, even on private social media sites
• A glimpse into the future of fair housing law

While conducting real estate business, have you encountered a situation in which you weren’t sure what the proper course of action was? What the right thing to do might be? Or maybe you’ve heard your colleagues’ stories and got that uncomfortable, itchy feeling that an action they took wasn’t quite on the up and up.

Let’s look at an uncomfortable truth: real estate agents have a small tarnished image problem. With every transaction being unique, real estate licensees often face ethical gray areas. Some real estate professionals simply don’t understand how to handle complex issues in the most ethical manner, and others bend the rules if they think it’ll keep a transaction on track or a commission in their bank account and not a competitor’s.

Aligned to the requirements of the current NAR cycle, this three-hour course helps licensees deepen their knowledge—and practice—of ethical rules of conduct according to the National Association of REALTORS® Code of Ethics & Standards of Practice. The code isn’t applicable to REALTORS® only, who are duty-bound to uphold the code as a privilege of membership. The code’s guidance serves anyone possessing a real estate license, and licensees who heed the code’s various articles and standards of practice can do the greatest good of all: protecting consumers while also bolstering the reputation of all the industry’s professionals.

Course highlights include:

• Laws vs. morals vs. ethics
• Top articles of the code involved in the most complaints (plus a few more)
• A candid look at the industry’s image problem
• Common ethical dilemmas and using the code to solve them
• Foundation and enforcement of the code
• Competency in real estate practice as a matter of ethics
• Steering clear of procuring cause disputes
• Ethics concerns with technology and social media
• Tips and best practices to keep your reputation polished to a high shine

*This course was designed by us to meet the REALTOR® Code of Ethics Training Requirement. Please confirm that your local association, who administers the Code of Ethics training, will accept this course.

Agency is integral to your real estate practice. You'll want a clear understanding of which duties you owe to clients and customers, and which duties can be performed for others without breaching obligations to your clients. Knowing what to disclose, when to disclose it, what to keep confidential, and all the other detailed requirements built into agency relationships is crucial for a successful, legal real estate practice.

This six-hour course provides New Jersey licensees with an understanding of the agency relationships that can be formed with buyers, sellers, tenants, and landlords, and the parameters for the services that may be offered with each type of relationship. It also helps prepare you to explain agency relationships to consumers and appropriately manage consumer expectations.       

Course highlights:

• Agency-client relationships; the difference between a client and a customer, and how agency relationships are created
• Agency definitions and an agent’s fiduciary duties
• Types of agency relationships
• The importance of agency disclosure
• Agency considerations in the context of property management
• The importance of safeguarding client funds and confidential information
• Buyer agency and of seller agency
• Activities and scenarios to reinforce key concepts

If a buyer who's not paying cash can't obtain financing, the transaction will fail. To provide the best service to consumers,it helps to have a clear understanding of the financing process, from loan application through funding. This course provides you with the must-know financing facts to enable you to better serve your  clients who require financing.

Course highlights:

• Key players in financing
• The loan application package and process  
• Consumer options for loan packages and types
• The government’s role in real estate financing
• Loan terminology
• Activities and scenarios to reinforce key concepts