36-Hr. GA Sales CE Package

Georgia’s licensing law exists to protect the public from incompetent, dishonest licensees, establish minimum standards for the licensing of brokers and salespersons (including licensee education and qualifications), establish and uphold high standards within the profession, and ensure that the profession allows healthy and fair competition for its licensees.

This three-hour course covers these topics under Title 43, Chapter 40, of Georgia’s Statutes and Codes, and the rules and regulations of the Georgia Real Estate Commission, specifically under 520-1.

Course highlights include:

• License status as it relates to prohibited conduct
• Requirements when transferring a license from one firm to another
• Trust/escrow account management requirements
• Unfair trade practices and violations, including advertising
• Brokerage relationships and their agreements
• Management responsibilities of real estate firms
• Rules and regulations for advertising
• Proper handling of real estate transactions
• Licensees acting as principals
• Activities and scenarios to provide real-world context for course content

Proper document management provides proof that a licensee did what was required, when it was required. It serves to protect the consumer and it reduces the licensee's risk of litigation.

Get ready to become more comfortable with selecting and using transactional documents. 

Course highlights include:

• Common documents used in real estate transactions
• Common contract clauses, addenda, and contingencies
• Avoiding the unauthorized practice of law
• Multiple offer management
• Document signatures, notarizations, and identification
• Transaction management methods and best practices
• Document management and retention methods and best practices
• Technology and security for document management
• Legalities of electronic communication
• Activities and scenarios to reinforce key concepts

Real estate professionals wear many hats: expert communicator, attentive listener, trustworthy confidant, obedient servant, loyal advocate, and knowledgeable educator, to name just a few. To juggle these roles effectively—and within the lines of the law—licensees must remain informed. Real estate professionals are in a position to provide an invaluable level of consumer protection as they support consumers through their real estate transactions.

This course explores licensees' role as advocate and educator, and how they can protect consumers and their business from the threats of antitrust and fair housing violations and predatory lending. We'll start by looking at what federal protections are in place to combat these unfair practices. We'll also provide the steps you can proactively take to protect the consumers you work with day in and day out and the business you've worked so hard to create.

Course highlights include:

• Federal antitrust laws and violations
• Avoiding antitrust violations and protecting consumers from them
• Antitrust complaint process and penalties
• Federal fair housing laws and violations
• Redlining, blockbusting, and steering
• Buyer love letters
• Fair housing complaint process and penalties
• Predatory lending
• Truth in Lending Act
• Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act
• Protecting consumers from predatory lending
• Reporting predatory lending

Financing is integral to real estate transactions, and the more you know about how buyers qualify, the better you'll be able to help both buyers and sellers in your practice. 

Course highlights include:

• Roles and regulations of FNMA, GNMA, FHLMC, FHA, and VA
• Affordability Worksheet, to assist clients in calculating their maximum affordable purchase price
• Homebuyer Do's and Don'ts 
• Calculating LTV, front-end and back-end ratios, and monthly mortgage payments
• Details and qualification requirements for several popular financing options

Whether you're representing a seller who's listing a high-efficiency home or working with a buyer to find one, it's important to be able to recognize a home's green features and the value they bring to the property. This means understanding the benefit of big-ticket green items such as solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal heating and cooling systems, solar water heaters, or even energy-efficient windows, as well as knowing the value in quick-and-easy updates like low-flow faucets, LED lighting, and smart thermostats. It also means knowing the difference between HERS and HES and SEER and LEED. Of course, greening up a home isn't cheap. Letting your clients know about available federal and state programs and incentives is another way you can ensure your clients are getting the best service around.

Course highlights include:

• An overview of the green home movement
• Green terminology, certifications, and ratings
• A review of energy-efficient upgrades, including solar panels, wind turbines, geothermal heating and cooling systems, solar water heaters, and more
• Tips for assisting green homebuyers and sellers
• A review of the FHA's Energy Efficient Mortgage and the 203(k) Rehabilitation Mortgage programs
• Qualifications for the DOE's Weatherization Assistance Program
• Interactive activities and scenarios to seal in the new information and frame it in everyday context

Attacks on real estate professionals have made headlines at an alarmingly more frequent rate in recent years. After an incident where a licensee is harmed, everyone vows to do better, and the topic of safety is pushed to the front of training schedules. Then complacency sets in.

Criminals count on complacency.

This course reviews studies and statistics of safety issues in the real estate industry, and best practices for personal safety.       

Course highlights include:

• Crime statistics and studies that challenge preconceived notions
• Risk factors and vulnerabilities that unique to real estate professionals
• Case studies to illustrate how criminals target their victims
• How to develop a personal warning system and trust your instincts when something feels “off”
• Activities and scenarios to provide real-world context for course content

Whether for a buyer or seller, the comparative market analysis, properly done, can mean several thousands extra dollars in their pockets, and can determine whether a deal can be struck at all. But because it’s such a well-worn tool, it’s tempting for a licensee to get complacent with the CMA, and “phone it in.”

Don’t be that licensee!

This course covers the how-tos of a professionally researched  comparative market analysis.          

Course Highlights:

• The three-step approach to market analyses: the market, the property, the numbers
• Sources for subject property data and market data
• Using expired and active listings to inform pricing strategy
• How to prioritize criteria when selecting comparables
• How to adjust and homogenize selected comparables 
• How to weight selected comparables when selecting a list price range

The inspection period is a big hurdle to jump over on the way to closing. The inspector’s job is to call out defects. The buyer agent’s job is to negotiate repairs. The seller agent’s job is to mitigate damage. It can sometimes be hard to hold a deal together.

Protecting your buyer as a buyer’s agent means understanding the importance of the home inspection contingency and its deadlines, and identifying the need for specialized inspections.

Protecting your seller as the listing agent means helping the seller understand disclosure obligations, prepare for the inspection, and respond to a buyer’s reasonable repair requests.

Course highlights:

• The importance of the inspection contingency
• The licensee’s role in the inspection process
• Licensee and seller disclosure obligations
• Red flags related to common structural, plumbing, and electrical issues
• Specialized inspection types addressing radon, asbestos, sewer lines, septic tanks, mold, lead, and wells
• Interactive activities and scenarios

For many real estate professionals, property management is a natural extension of their expertise. Whether you’re thinking about taking on your first property or looking to grow your property management business, this is a niche business requiring specialized skills and knowledge.

Explore the role of the property manager, common tenant issues, and federal laws.

Course highlights include:

• Property management contracts
• Property types and evaluating factors
• Tips for building a successful working relationship with property owners
• Landlord and tenant obligations
• Tips for screening and retaining tenants
• Informal rental agreements and the risks involved
• How to deal with delinquent tenants
• Fair housing guidelines and exemptions

Note: This is an introduction and overview of property management.

The Fundamentals of Commercial Real Estate covers the need-to-know information on a broad range of commercial topics.

If you're an experienced residential licensee, a few of the fundamentals of commercial real estate will be familiar to you—the importance of location, for example. In other regards, commercial differs sharply from residential real estate. Executives, investors, and business owners in commercial real estate focus squarely on the bottom line.

This course will provide a foundation for the more complex aspects of commercial real estate as you gain more experience in the industry.

Course highlights include:

• Key terms and concepts of commercial real estate
• How to identify and meet the needs of commercial real estate clients
• How commercial and residential sales differ
• Valuation methods for real estate and businesses
• Tips on gathering the demographic and location-related details that clients need to make well-informed decisions

Thanks in part to movements such as #MeToo and Time’s Up, sexual harassment and discrimination have moved to the forefront of the national conversation. Responsible agents not only reject sexually predatory behavior but also actively dismantle toxic workplace environments to ensure a safe place for all. It’s up to agents to reject behaviors or ideologies that could damage neighbors, clients, and each other.

In this course, we’ll take a closer look at how sexual harassment is defined and the impact such behavior can have on your clients, your brokerage, and your reputation. Additionally, we’ll discuss actions you can take to ensure that your office is inclusive and welcoming to all, and that your clients’ best interests are always protected. This includes tips for putting together a comprehensive office policy that thoroughly addresses sexual harassment and discrimination.

Course highlights:

• How sexual harassment is defined by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR)
• Protections offered through Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and the federal Fair Housing Act
• Ramifications of sexual harassment within a brokerage, including how it affects clients and customers
• Federal Sexual Harassment Housing Initiative
• Federal and state laws protecting sexual orientation and gender identity in housing
• Landmark legal cases relating to sexual harassment and gender discrimination
• Tips for putting together a comprehensive office policy that addresses sexual harassment and the complaint process
• Activities and scenarios to reinforce key concepts