The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Numbers equivalent to more than 6 per cent of the Bahamas Real Estate Association’s (BREA) total membership have registered for its licensing course since the organisation dropped the rule that barred part-time realtors from operating in New Providence, Tribune Business was told yesterday.

BREA president Franon Wilson confirmed that more persons have now registered for the licensing course than in the past five years.

Back in July, BREA informed its 600 members that persons in New Providence seeking a real estate broker’s license no longer have to be employed in the business full-time, as the Association had  updated its policy to reflect a recent Supreme Court judgment.

Since its inception 50 years ago, BREA had held to the position that a realtor in Nassau had to be employed full-time in real estate to obtain a salesman or broker’s license. It has been involved in litigation on that point since 2006, with the Supreme Court having found that whether an individual is full-time or part-time should not be a consideration when granting a license.

“Today we are going to see the highest amount of people taking that course since five-six years ago,” Mr Wilson told Tribune Business.

“Five years ago the world economy would have been in better times. I think it shows there are a lot of people who believe in the real estate industry in the Bahamas and just needed an opportunity.

“The amount of people who have registered will equal more than 6 per cent of our overall membership. The only thing that has really changed in the past five or six years is that ruling. I can’t say that is the real reason we have seen so many people register ,but that’s the only thing that has really changed,” Mr Wilson told this newspaper.

“It’s a one-week course, an entry level course, and if people are successful and become registered as salesmen, if they wish to continue to do courses in real estate they can become a broker.”

Opening the door to part-time realtors has received a mixed responses from realtors in New Providence. While some have lauded it as a good move, others have condemned it saying that it would cheapen the industry and that it would be impossible to serve clients properly on a part-time basis.