In an August 6, 2013 article, The Real Deal conclusively proclaimed that real estate brokers, associate brokers, and salespersons no longer have to place the term "licensed" in front of their license type.  Quoting Alfred Fazio of Capuder, Fazio, Giacoia, LLP, the article reasoned that "[i]t seemed particularly redundant to require agents to use 'licensed' before real estate salesperson, real estate associate broker, or real estate broker.  In a similar example, it would be as if requiring attorneys to advertise themselves as 'licensed.'"

Not so fast my friend.  While The Real Deal's advice is sound for a large percentage of situations where a salesperson or broker would describe their license type, brokers can't do away with the requirement altogether.  A Department of State Opinion Letter can interpret statutes or regulations, and the Department of State can issue and alter regulations; however, an Opinion Letter cannot override the express language of a statute instituted by the legislature.

RPL § 441-a(3) requires real estate brokers to "conspicuously post on the outside of the building in which [their place of business] is conducted a sign of sufficient size to be readable from the sidewalk indicating the name and the business of the applicant as a licensed real estate broker, unless said office shall be located in an office, apartment or hotel building, in which event the name and words 'licensed real estate broker' shall be posted in the space provided for posting of names and occupants of the building, other than the mail box."

Where does that leave us?  The Opinion Letter relieves brokers, associate brokers, and salespersons from the duty of including the term "licensed" in their advertising and other descriptions of their license type, but it cannot eliminate the explicit requirements of RPL § 441-a(3).  Real estate brokers, associate brokers, and salespersons can rejoice in the news that their business cards and for-sale signs can be one word shorter, but the industry can't throw away with the term "licensed" completely.  If you're a broker, you still need to have the full title "Licensed Real Estate Broker" displayed on the outside of your place of business.

When the President speaks on housing, its a must to know the facts. The Fact Sheet from the President's speech on August 5, 2013 lays out the following key goals:

The Real Deal reported yesterday on proposed legislation to reform the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA) in a manner that would have you believe that the Bill was destined to be law. This is a common theme with news media when they exaggerate the impact of a story to gain readership. However, The Real Deal is typically better than this and they should know better as their readership counts on them to lead the brokerage profession in New York City and beyond.

While the article does contain a great topic that should be discussed, whether there should be alien landholder disabilities in the US, The Real Deal should make clear what many know, that Bills rarely pass. In fact, accordingly to govtrack.us, the Bill has only a "2% chance of being enacted". So, discuss the topic, but know its not the law.

Remember, in real estate the rule is No Case, No Statute, No Talk - know the law as it governs your every move.

With respect to alien landholdings, its great that the Bill seeks to reduce restrictions on foreign investment, but remember those restrictions were created for some really good reasons in the first place. To illustrate, would you like a foreign national to own our fresh water supply; how about our trees or nuclear arsenal? What about taxes, should a foreigner be required to pay taxes and how can the Government make one accountable. To discuss these thoughts and more, stay tuned for Lieb School's real estate continuing education course, Foreign Buyers, which is coming soon.

Tune in today and tomorrow 8/2 and 8/3 at 5:30pm WPPB Peconic Public Broadcasting 88.3- Check out Real Life hosted by John Christopher from Brown Harris Stevens. John will be interviewing Andrew Lieb concerning a multitude of issues facing Hamptonites in the real estate market from commercial valuation to simply the new regulations requiring a bank to verify ability to repay a loan.

In our recent push for real estate professionals to know what is out there in smart technology for the house, we direct your attention to a door lock that uses bluetooth "to let you unlock your door by touching it".

Check out a great article on NFC-powered door locks and open a door into the future.

2nd Mortgage Modifications - Supplemental Directive 13-05

Treasury just issued Supplemental Directive 13-05, which addresses the scenario of "when a borrower’s first lien is modified under HAMP and the servicer of the corresponding second lien is a 2MP participant, the 2MP servicer must offer to modify or extinguish the borrower’s second lien according to a defined protocol".

Specifically, this Directive addresses the following topics:

• Matching Second Liens to First Lien GSE Standard Modifications
• Dodd-Frank Certification Requirement for 2MP
• Incorporating HFA Payments into the NPV Result for HAMP Tier 2
• Handbook Mapping Clean-Up

So, if you or your client is attempting to modify a second mortgage, read this directive as its the roadmap to success.

ConsumerReports.org has an article called "Dryers get better at letting you know lint is blocking the vent", which discusses a technology that can prevent fires.

According to the article, lint is a "cause of an average of 4,400 reported dryer fires a year".

Technology that saves lives is here - check it out.

Wednesday July 31st at 4:30pm in Rockville Centre

Divorce Deals: Selling the Marital Residence

At last evening's continuing education course, Conflicts of Interest, I promised that I would post the Agency Disclosure Forms for Buyer and Seller in addition to Landlord and Tenant.

Remember - you can NEVER over disclose!

Brought to you by DuPont, the future of housing is coming in countertops that charge.

As housing becomes more integrated into the internet of things, traditional materials will give way to those with higher functionality. In fact, companies such as Cisco see the internet of everything as the future of their business and worth billions in revenues.

So, before you replace that next countertop, think about its potential functionality beyond serving as a table top.