As we said earlier, the California Department of Real Estate is a real estate regulatory body that is headed by the Real Estate Commissioner.

According to information on the DRE’s website, there has been a significant increase in the number of Californians who have obtained and continue to obtain licenses as real estate brokers and salespersons. Since early 2006, the state of California has had no fewer than 500,000 active real estate licensees, which they have controlled and maintained through the DRE. With this continued growth, the Department of Real Estate has also constantly evolved in order to meet the dramatically increased workload. The DRE utilizes, among other tools, its ARELLO award-winning website (http://www.dre.ca.gov/) to disseminate recent changes in regulations and laws, and otherwise inform its consumers, licensees, and subdividers. In addition, the DRE supplies the procedural and other information a licensee candidate should know via the Internet, through its popular E-licensing system. (Go to http://www.dre.ca.gov/, and then click on “eLicensing” to find out more.) This system not only provides information to licensees and examinees, but also allows these persons to perform certain transactions online, including the following:

1. Check test results;
2. Obtain the current testing schedule;
3. Renew salesperson and broker licenses; 
4. Change salesperson’s employing broker;
5. File mailing address changes; 
6. Request continuing education extension/exemption.

The DRE website is the best source for the most accurate and current information from the DRE. Considering the breadth and depth of the ever-changing real estate controls, combined with the staggering population growth in California, thereby increasing the need for housing in the State, the DRE must constantly remain on top of the real estate laws and regulations in California. In addition to meeting and exceeding these demands, the DRE is well known for being a progressive organization, and in fact, sets an example that is often adopted or followed by other states.

On the following screen, we’ll take a look at one example of the DRE’s regulations regarding a real estate broker’s use of the Internet in business. On the next screen, we’ll look at the implications of this single regulation on other states’ regulatory bodies.