Blog

LREC is Moving Into the Digital Age

The continuing evolution and use of technology in our real estate industry has produced dramatic changes in how consumers get their information when considering listing or selling property and how our Louisiana licensees interact with all stakeholders in real estate transactions. Social media has replaced traditional print and other media as the predominant means of consumers and real estate practitioners communicating and getting their “news.”

Regulatory bodies across the country have been playing catch up in this digital age and your LREC is no exception. However, LREC is now on the digital move with current and future mobile-friendly upgrades to help us better serve all of our stakeholders! Some of these efforts include:

• A comprehensive social media plan for LREC to communicate important alerts and news you can use was recently launched. Join us on Facebook to stay in touch!

• A brand new LREC website is now live! This mobile-friendly tool includes a unique “My LREC” portal which will enable you to search license and fee history and education records with ease.

• LREC has partnered with Statereporting.com to streamline and improve vendor course approval and class attendance records. With an account, you will be able to access a complete list of all scheduled live CE courses as well as online courses available. Each licensee who creates an account will get monthly email reminders of remaining CE hours they may need for compliance prior to renewal of their license.

• LREC will be moving toward 100% online capability in the coming months! Whether you need to change your license status, change broker sponsorship, become a new licensee, or complete any of the myriad registrations or transactions available to our licensees you will be able to complete and pay any required fee right from your phone or tablet!

Of course, for any consumer or licensee who still wants to submit paper forms and applications, our LREC staff remains ready and willing to assist!

Steven Hebert, Chairman

Auto-forward Your LREC Email

The Commission’s primary way to communicate with you is through your LREC-assigned email account. To make it convenient for you to stay up-to-date with our latest news and information, we have a simple auto-forward function that takes just a minute to set up.

Follow these 5 steps to set up your auto-forward function:

1. Login to your LREC-assigned email account through your MyLREC portal
2. Click on “Options” on the sidebar
3. Click on “Auto Forwarding”
4. Add email(s) to Forward Address dialog box
5. Check the box for “After forward save a copy to local mailbox” – this will keep a copy of the email in your LREC-assigned email inbox
6. Click “Save”

You should always login into your LREC assigned email account periodically and ensure your auto-forwarding email(s) is valid and the option “After forward save a copy to local mailbox” is checked.

Note: Due to various email provider’s security/spam policies always check your spam folder for any LREC emails. Move, Mark and or add all LREC emails to your email safe list.

Audited? Don’t Panic!

Have you received an audit notice? Below are some helpful tips to get you through the process.

1. Read the notice thoroughly

The notice that you received gives instructions on what you must do as a result of being audited. Being audited does not necessarily mean you did something wrong. Our system pulls an audit list based on the date renewed and the date and number of continuing education hours on file. The audit program also looks to make sure the four-hour mandatory course was completed on time.

2. Know your education requirements

Licensees are required to complete 12 hours each year—at least four of which must be the mandatory course. New licensees are subject to the post-licensing education requirement,  which will fulfill a portion of the 12-hour requirement, but you must still complete all mandatory course(s) necessary for your license type.

In 2017 brokers were required to take an additional four-hour mandatory course. Brokers who did not complete the four-hour mandatory, the four-hour broker mandatory, and an additional four hours of elective CE will be included in the audit.

Nobody’s perfect. We all make mistakes. You should check your files to see which courses you completed for the year and what dates are on the education certificates. Make sure the license number on your education certificate matches the number on your license.

3. Verify your certificates using the MyLREC Portal

If you verify that you have the necessary hours with your certificates, check the Commission website using the MyLREC Portal to ensure your records match ours. To do this, visit our website and click “Current Licensees” and select your license type from the sidebar. Once logged in to your MyLREC portal, you will be able to view the information that has been reported to the Commission. If your records don’t match the Commission’s records, you will need to contact the vendor who taught the education course to see why your completed education was not reported.

If all of the hours on your education certificates are reflected in your MyLREC’s “View Education Records” page, make sure the year applied does not show a previous year and that the hours show the correct number and not zero. You may have been required to complete education as part of a previous year’s audit or the hours could have been used as part of a transfer to active status.

If you renewed delinquently and completed your hours prior to renewing, you may need to provide copies of the certificates to our office. Education completed online is reported to the Commission with a completion date of the end of the month. If you completed your online education on January 15, 2018, then renewed January 16, 2018, your education in the MyLREC Portal will show a completion date of January 31, 2018. This may be why you are captured in the audit but are not actually in violation.

4. Don’t panic

There may be a perfectly good reason why you were audited; we just need to get it figured out. If that reason is because you didn’t complete the required number of hours in a timely manner, don’t panic. Gather and review all your records so you have a clear understanding of what you have and what you are missing. Then, make sure you respond to the audit notice. Failure to respond to a Commission request could lead to more serious charges and possible revocation of your license.