by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
How to keep out of trouble was the main message that Matey Veissi of Veissi & Associates, Inc., the chairman of the Florida Real Estate Commission, shared with the Northeast Florida Association of Realtors last month at its quarterly meeting held at the Jacksonville Marriott.
Some tips to protect Realtors were to document everything involved in the real estate transaction and keep copies of them.
“Put anything is that is pertinent to a transaction down on paper,” said the Miami broker. “Even phone conversations - write down what you discussed, fax it to the person you were speaking to and keep the fax receipt. Also, anything you do with the Division of Real Estate, don’t just put it in the mail; either send it return receipt requested or fax it and keep the fax receipt.”
She suggested even if you go online to change your status, print out the screen and keep it.
If you’re dealing with another Realtor, Veissi suggested going online and checking to make sure they are licensed.
“We have a tremendous push on unlicensed activity,” said Veissi. “Five dollars from every license renewal fee goes into a fund which we are using to do public service announcements. Besides that fund, we now have a Tiger Team set, which is composed in interagency disciplines including the Department of Banking and Finance, which licenses the mortgage brokers.”
Veissi said they have a real problem in Miami of mortgage brokers thinking their license entitles them to sell real estate and collect a commission, which is not the case.
“The Department of Banking and Finance has gotten involved along with the Division of Real Estate and various state attorneys from around the state to try and combat the unlicensed activity because there is quite a bit of it,” she said.
Veissi said Jacksonville is only ahead by one other city in having the most complaints filed for unlicensed activity.
Another thing that is being done, - currently, only in Miami, - is that investigators and police are getting together and doing license checks in real estate offices for unlicensed people acting as agents or agents with expired licenses.
“They are talking about doing throughout the state,” she said. “So, if they come in your office and they want to see the licenses, make sure they are all available.”
Another thing FREC is working on that won’t be available until about 2006 is electronic filing of fingerprints.
“If you have someone who is applying for a real estate license, electronic filing of fingerprints will give instant results of anything in their background that they might have ‘forgotten’ and not told us,” said Veissi.
Veissi said another tactic they are thinking of adding is putting Realtor photos on the licenses.
She said they are also looking at privatizing certain aspects of the Division of Real Estate to allow them to hire more investigators.
“If we privatize it, we will get more and utilize our money more efficiently,” said Veissi.