Wanted: Informed real estate agents

As the housing market heats back up in fast-growing Beaufort County and around the state, an effort is underway to beef up standards for real estate agents.

A bill that would double the number of training hours agents must undergo to stay licensed was approved unanimously by the state Senate earlier this month and is currently making its way through the House of Representatives.

Currently, agents must take eight hours of training every two years. The proposal would bump those hours to 16.

The measure has the support of both the S.C. Realtors Association and the S.C. Real Estate Commission, which regulates the industry.

“The primary benefit (of extra training and education) would be to consumers,” association CEO Nick Kremydas said. “I believe they are owed the experience of working with a real estate professional who is properly educated and trained.”

During the housing boom last decade, thousands of new agents started selling homes in the state, Kremydas said. And during that time, “the biggest complaint (from consumers and experienced agents) was having to clean up behind inexperienced agents,” he added.

Rod Atkinson, administrator of the state commission, agreed.

“Many times when we get complaints (from home buyers), it's an education issue with the seller — it’s people who may not understand the requirements.”

Extra training, bill advocate say, will help minimize these complaints as the real estate market ramps back up. Its effect would be felt most in the state’s hottest real estate markets, which include the Hilton Head Island and Bluffton metro area, which ranked as the nation’s 12th fastest growing metro area, according to newly released U.S. Census Bureau data.

More stringent education standards would also allow South Carolina brokers to operate in surrounding states.

Because the state has some of “the lowest standards for realtor education in the country,” agents often are not “free conduct transactions across state lines,” Kremydas said.

In Beaufort County, the market has already been heating up for several years.

Edward Dukes, who operates Lowcountry Real Estate in Beaufort, said “the coast in particular has experienced” an uptick in property sales.

And when sales are up, more people flock to the industry in an attempt to cash in.

“There is no question that there are more new faces,” Dukes said.

Beefing up education standards is something that “all the full-time Realtors that I know believe in that,” he said.

“It’s healthy for the industry. It keeps the bar high,” Dukes said.

The hot real estate market isn’t limited to areas north of the Broad River.

Bluffton Mayor Lisa Sulka, who sells real estate by trade, said business is booming in the Bluffton and Hilton Head Island areas.

People interested in getting in on the action should understand that “it's not as easy as it looks,” she said.

“There are so many misconceptions and mistakes (inexperienced agents) can make,” she said. “That can get you in huge trouble financially and legally.”

Extra training can help keep new and seasoned agents out of trouble, and “I’m for that,” she said.

This story was originally published March 25, 2016 at 1:54 PM with the headline "Wanted: Informed real estate agents."