ADRE REVIEWS ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF 2014 – LOOKS FORWARD TO “Partnering with Arizona” 2015

By Judy Lowe, Commissioner

With a new year ahead, the Arizona Department of Real Estate (ADRE) reviewed the many accomplishments of the last five years and successfully implemented changes. We would like to share the “ADRE CY2014 Accomplishments” that were reported to Governor Doug Ducey.

EDUCATION

• Oversaw the delivery of approximately 700 education classes monthly;
• Approved a monthly average of 90+ applications for schools, instructors, and courses (’14 total = 1200+);
• Two education staff maintained an average of no more than 16 “pending” applications at each month end;
• Implemented Education Stakeholder Group recommendation for new Host/Remote continuing education delivery   guidelines;
• Pre licensing Education Stakeholders provided input on Pearson VUE (testing vendor) proposed changes to National portion of real estate exam; and
• Education Advisory Committee’s 14 members held 4 public meetings at ADRE.

LICENSING

• Processed 6,000+ new real estate license applications;
• Updated online forms to allow for a fillable format;
• In collaboration with the Technology Division, implemented the Online Original License application, which allows a new license applicant to be licensed within 24 hours of passing the real estate licensing exam (65% usage);
• Implemented capability for all ADRE services to accommodate online payment;
• Implemented electronic process of notifying licensee and their Designated Broker of a license expiration, thus reducing  “unlicensed real estate activity” by licensee;
• Addressed compliance issues with 62 Self-Employed Brokers who had PC/PLLC license designation; and
• Addressed compliance issues with the misuse of the nickname license option.

DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

• ADRE’s only Development Services staff issued 500+ Public Reports;
• ADRE’s only Development Services staff employee averaged less than 20 “pending” applications at each month end;
• Met with government stakeholder groups to collaborate on processes for newly enacted legislation and creating greater efficiencies; and
• Conducted 130+ development inspections.

AUDITING and INVESTIGATIONS

• Investigators and Auditors continued to work together as a TEAM to increase Auditing activities throughout the state;
• Auditors conducted and/or completed 600+ audits, with 365+ being onsite audits;
• Three investigators closed 700+ Investigations, with an average completion timeframe of 43 days;
• Subdivision Investigator closed 34 investigations; and
• The majority of 2014 Subdivision complaints/investigations concerned timeshare owners.

ENFORCEMENT & COMPLIANCE

• Disciplinary Actions taken against 256 proven violators; and
• Collaborated with the Arizona Attorney General’s (AG) office to decrease the number of cases referred to the AG for further disciplinary proceedings.

OPERATIONS

• Published and distributed the 2014 Law Book;
• Oversaw the documentation of every Division process, publishing internally the electronic, as well as the notebook copy;
• Published internally a “Customer Service Script” to be used by any staff handling ADRE customer service communications…ensuring consistent messaging;
• Commenced the digital document storage project of all newly created documents, as well as the scan, index and shred of all file room documents (under the authority of AZ Records Management) (40% complete);
• Interacted on all AZ Legislative Activity that would/could impact Arizona real estate; and
• Scheduled a monthly average of eight Commissioner Community presentations.

As you can see, 2014 was a very busy year at the Arizona Department of Real Estate. The ADRE prides itself on constantly improving on the Mission of serving the Real Estate Industry, and partnering with the Real Estate industry in protecting the Arizona public. The ADRE is excited as we look forward to the great changes for CY2015, “ADRE PARTNERING WITH ARIZONA!”