Broker Bulletin What’s Happening at the Association
80,719
New Listings in New Jersey Year-to-Date
117
Educational Sessions on the 2024 Realtors® Triple Play Schedule
38%
of brokerage firms had experience working with commercial building repurposing according to the 2024 Realtors® & Sustainability Commercial Report.
What’s Happening in the Industry Realtors® Triple Play is set for Dec. 9-12 in Atlantic City. Encourage your agents to attend these courses to further understand industry practice changes: Communicating Your Value to Buyer Clients, Lawsuits, Commission & Realtors®, Oh My!, and Litigation Update: Recent Cases Impacting Real Estate. Bring your brokerage into the digital age with digital business cards from member perks partner Mobilo. Share your contact information with just a tap and receive 15% off any custom card material with NJ Realtors® Member Perks Program. Click here to learn more. We’ve teamed up with Clean Ocean Action to host a beach clean-up at Island Beach State Park on Oct. 19 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. Bring gloves and a bucket, and help keep our Jersey shoreline clean. Click here to sign up. Convey industry changes online to potential clients and agents with shareable social media posts about the Real Estate Consumer Protection Enhancement Act. Post a full law breakdown, the ins and outs of brokerage services agreements, and introduce designated agency.
OCTOBER 2024
LEGISLATIVE UPDATES
Acting Governor Signs New Legislation Outlawing Discrimination in Real Estate Appraisals Last month, Acting Governor Tahesha Way signed Bill A2280/S1311, sponsored by Asw. Yvonne Lopez, Asw. Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, Asw. Tennille R. McCoy, Sen. Nellie Pou, and Sen. Teresa Ruiz, into law. The legislation prohibits discriminatory practices in real estate appraisals and aims to take a step toward eliminating the racial wealth gap in New Jersey by confirming it is illegal for real estate appraisers to take into account a person’s demographics when determining the value of their property. These personal characteristics include race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, marital status, disability, familial
status, or national origin of the current or future owners or occupants of the property in question, or nearby. The Appraisal Qualification Board will enforce the law and provide an additional way for property owners to report and seek remedies for home appraisal discrimination. The new law also requires real estate appraisers to complete a fair housing and appraisal bias education course, offered by the Appraisal Qualification Board, to learn about bias and how to avoid bias in the appraisal process. Click here to read the governor’s office release.
New FAQs Released on the Real Estate Consumer Protection Enhancement Act Q: Who is required to complete the Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement under the Real Estate Consumer Protection Enhancement Act? The Real Estate Consumer Protection Enhancement Act, which went into effect on Aug. 1, 2024, requires all sellers of all residential real property, including banks, estate administrators and other entities, to disclose on the Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement, any known condition of the property to the best of their knowledge. While certain disclosures (ex. Flood Risks) must be disclosed beyond actual knowledge, most of the Property Condition Disclosure Statement relies upon a seller’s actual knowledge. If a seller does not have actual knowledge to answer the question, the seller may select “unknown” if the option is available. In the context of commercial transactions, sellers of commercial real estate are not required to complete the entire Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement but are required to make the necessary “Flood Risk” disclosures on the Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement beyond actual knowledge. Please note the Seller’s Property Condition Disclosure Statement must be completed (in its entirety for any residential sales and partially for solely commercial sales) and signed by the seller and provided to the buyer prior to the buyer becoming obligated under any contract to purchase the real estate. If the real property consists of multiple units, systems and/or features, sellers are required to provide complete answers for such units.
Q. Which pre-closing disclosure forms must include the conspicuous statement about the negotiability of commissions? To comply with the National Association of Realtors® proposed settlement agreement, beginning on Aug. 17, 2024, licensees working with sellers and buyers must disclose in conspicuous language that broker commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable. In addition to including this disclosure in brokerage services agreements (i.e. listing agreements and written buyer agreements), the conspicuous statement must also be included on all pre-closing disclosure forms pertaining to broker representation services (or, if the form is government-specified, be accompanied by a document containing the conspicuous statement). Examples of pre-closing disclosure forms, which must contain the conspicuous statement include, but are not limited to, the Consumer Information Statement, Informed Consent to Disclosed Dual Agency, and the Informed Consent to Designated Agency. New Jersey Realtors® updated its preclosing disclosure forms to comply with this requirement and created an addendum to accompany any such pre-closing disclosure forms, which do not have the conspicuous statement included. Visit njrealtor.com/zipform to download the updated forms. For more FAQs, visit njrealtor.com/cpea