This three-hour course, Advertising, Agency, and Accountability – It’s Your Kuleana!, is Part A of the Hawaii Real Estate Commission’s required six-hour core curriculum for the 2025–2026 licensing period. In addition to reviewing recent legislation, the course addresses essential compliance topics tied to advertising, agency relationships, and professional responsibility. Licensees will explore current rules and challenges in marketing real estate, including emerging technologies such as AI and social media, and review their fiduciary duties and ethical obligations under state law.

The purpose of this course is to provide licensees with a practical understanding of how to apply Hawaii’s real estate laws and rules in day-to-day practice, helping them stay compliant, informed, and accountable.

Course highlights include:

• 2025 real estate-related legislation passed by the Hawaii State Legislature
• Hawaii Administrative Rules (HAR 16-99-11) and advertising compliance
• Fiduciary duties and agency responsibilities in real estate transactions
• Unlicensed assistants and legal limits of support roles
• Ethical considerations and codes of conduct in Hawaii real estate practice
• Risks and responsibilities when using AI and social media in advertising

Must a property manager accept a tenant's emotional support animal, and under what conditions? What proof can a property manager or landlord require of a tenant who claims a need for an emotional support animal? What about homeowners associations—must accommodation be made in these communities?

This course explores the issues and options for landlords and property managers surrounding assistance animals, helping real estate professionals who represent them to ensure that individuals with disabilities have equal access to housing in compliance with the law.

Course highlights include:

• The evolving fair housing law
• How the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act intersect--and don't
• Types of assistance animals
• How to handle reasonable requests for accommodation
• Case studies and legal trends 
• Examples and scenarios to help apply course content to real life

Note: This course does not meet NAR Fair Housing requirements.

A veteran broker once said, "No one ever failed in this business because of the paperwork." It's true: Real estate is a relationship-based business. However, to protect consumers and yourself, knowing how to manage the paperwork--whether it's cotton bond and ink or bits and bytes--is integral to your role. Maintaining detailed and organized records, even for transactions that don't close, not only satisfies regulatory requirements, it also protects your license. It proves you did what you were supposed to do when you were supposed to do it.  

We can't do anything about paper cuts, but if you're ready to become more comfortable selecting and using documents to ensure on-time, accurate, and litigation-free real estate transactions, let's do this.

Course highlights include:

• Typical transaction documents
• Standard clauses, addenda, and contingencies
• How to practice within the scope of your license (but avoid unauthorized practice of law)
• How to field and manage multiple offers
• Managing signatures, notarizations, and identification
• Best practices in transaction management 
• Best practices in document retention
• Keeping documents secure, both hard copy and digital
• Wire fraud prevention

Lead hazards aren’t just a concern for homeowners—they’re also a big deal for real estate professionals. If you're listing a home built before 1978 or guiding buyers through disclosures, understanding the risks of lead exposure isn’t just helpful—it’s essential. Federal laws require specific disclosures and safety measures and skipping them can lead to hefty fines and legal trouble.

This course helps you recognize where lead hazards lurk, stay on top of your legal responsibilities, and follow safe practices help protect you, your clients, and your transactions. But beyond compliance, having a strong grasp of lead safety makes you a trusted advisor. When clients see that you take their health and safety seriously, it strengthens your reputation and sets you apart as a knowledgeable, reliable real estate professional. Ultimately, keeping people safe, reducing risk, and staying compliant aren’t just obligations—they’re smart business moves supporting long-term success.

Course highlights include:

• Common sources of lead in residential properties
• Health risks of lead exposure
• Community-based approaches to lead hazard prevention
• Review of federal lead disclosure laws
• Compliance with lead disclosure laws
• Consequences of non-compliance with disclosure requirements
• Mitigating lead hazards
• Lead-safe work practices for renovations and repairs
• EPA’s Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program
• Preventing lead hazards long-term

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