1/22/2013

Liberalizing the Continuing Professional Education (CPE)


THE FOUR TYPES OF EDUCATION
QUESTION: Rltr. John, how do we rationalize the CPE?
ANSWER: These four types of real estate education are different from each other, (1) CHED Curriculum for BS Real Estate Management, (2) Continuing Professional Education aka CPE, (3) Salesperson Seminar, and (4) Comprehensive Real Estate Seminar and Review in preparation for licensure exam aka CRESR. So, please don't interchange them. The moment you interchange them, you will get confused in policy-making.

The CHED curriculum for BS Real Estate Management should still be developed in close coordination between CHED, PRC, and IPORESP. So in this article, I am only referring to CPE, I am not discussing the CHED Curriculum for BS REM.

CRESR will stay and service providers will still need to be accredited by PRC.

LIBERALIZING THE CPE

One of our Legislative Agenda is to liberalize post-licensing CPE. We want that (1) there is no need for PRC Accreditation for CPE Providers, and (2) CPE will no longer be a requirement in license renewal.

Our principle behind it is that CPE cannot be PRC regulated because PRC can never have sufficient number of staff to monitor all CPE events being attended by over 20,000 licensed real estate service practitioners. If there is no monitoring, it will be an opportunity for fraud. If the CPE is mandatory, then all RESPs will be forced to take it only in PRC-accredited service providers. Because it is too extensive to monitor, the CPE providers will just get seminar fees and issue seminar certificates without the student attending the lectures. The students can get a certificate but will not learn anything. I hate FRAUD. I would never tolerate what's going on to go any further. Fraud must stop.

Knowledge advancement is critical to survive or win a perfectly competitive real estate service market. Each one of us must be given the liberty to choose what to learn and where to learn it from.

Each one of us, as Real Estate Service Practitioners (RESP), allocate a little of our money for advance education to gain more knowledge to gain competitive edge. We don't like a situation wherein we are limited only to attending CPE in the cronies of PRC who have CPE Accreditation certificates. What we want is to have liberty on what topic and where we are getting the learning that we want.

Example, if I want to penetrate the France market, then I will take French Language Lesson, there is no CPE Provider that teaches French language lesson, so I must be given a liberty to take it anywhere.

Second example, as a supervisor of several brokers, I want to take lessons on Management, Supervision, and Leadership. I want to take it in the best school, probably Harvard, Oxford, or anywhere international. Most likely, no CPE Provider who is accredited by PRC is an expert on this field, and I want to spend my budget for CPE to take it somewhere else.

Third example, for my CPE, I want to take an Aircraft Pilot Training Course because I want to develop an expertise in areal real estate photography and teach it. It would be awkward to tell my instructors in the flight school get PRC accreditation so that I can get CPE credits.

It is irrational and impossible that all education providers in the whole world will get PRC accreditation. That is why we want CPE liberalized.

If we will take lessons only from PRC Accredited CPE Provider, it will just be a waste of money because they are repetitively teaching Comprehensive Real Estate Seminar and Review (CRESR) lessons. We are done with CRESR, we don't want to be forced to take it all over and over again.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Another thing, in a regulated regime, the CPE Provider is required to submit lesson syllabus substance to PRC. We would like to put a stop on this. For me, if I have unique new ideas to teach and I want my intellectual property protected, I would not submit the syllabus to PRC, why would I? However, with regards to syllabus of BS REM curriculum and CRESR, these will still have to be submitted to PRC for approval.

LICENSE TO TEACH

How about the provision that requires PRC Real Estate Professional License to teach? Well, I believe the CPE teachers should not be required. But the teachers of BS REM major subject, teachers of CRESR, and teacher of Salesperson Seminar must be a PRC licensed RE Practitioner in the applicable field.

HARMONIZATION AND MODERNIZATION

Finally, if you look at the PRC Modernization Act of 2000, the CPE is already repealed as requirement for renewal of license in ALL other professions. It is irrational if only the real estate will have CPE.

STRENGTHENING CRESR REGULATION

Nevertheless, if they really want to feed the local seminar providers, the CRESR is the thing that they have to regulate, not the CPE. There should be separate CRESR in preparation for Appraisers and Assessors Licensure, separate CRESR in preparation for Project Developer Licensure Exam, and separate CRESR in preparation for Broker Licensure Exam. They can have PRC Accreditation for CRESR, but NEVER NEVER NEVER regulate the CPE. PRC should be hands off on CPE.

Still, we maintain that starting June 2012, a person needs to be a graduate of a 4 years BS Real Estate Management before he/she can attend any kind of CRESR, and of course before he/she can take the licensure exam. I don't have to elaborate that CRESR should be optional, not mandatory, only for those who want an edge before taking the licensure exam, that is why it is called a "REVIEW". All licensure exam REVIEW CENTERS must be regulated by PRC -- I have no problem with that. Nevertheless, I repeat, never regulate the CPE.

SALESPERSON SEMINAR BELONG TO THE BROKERS

QUESTION: Rltr. John, how about Salesperson Seminar? Should it be regulated?
ANSWER: The RA 9646 IRR can regulate the hours of Salesperson Seminar so that it will be rationalized. Sixteen (16 hours) Salesperson Seminar is sufficient. The Broker is accountable for the obvious mistakes of his/her own Salesperson. To prevent Brokers making excuses that their salesperson commits a mistake because of lack of training, the own Broker of the Salesperson should be the one to provide the Salesperson Seminar (for a fee). Training the subordinate Salesperson is part of the job of a managing/supervising Broker. Recommended reading is Here's a Good Deal for Salespersons.


If there is anything else important that I forgot to include in this article, or if you experienced a real estate transaction that is anomalous, scam, fraudulent scheme that you want me to document and expose for others to be warned, or if you want to donate to the war chest of real estate consumer rights advocacy, please feel free to email me at JohnPetalcorin@Gmail.Com. If you want to comment about this article, there is a provision for this purpose that you can find below.
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