Rebny

[showtime]

How important is joining REBNY as a new real estate agent in NYC? Can you do business and get away with not joining? How strict are these guys in terms of requiring all agents at each firm to join?

[aslan]

Well, it's not really an option if you're going to be associating at most New York City brokerage firms. Since most NYC real estate brokerage houses are REBNY Member Firms, they will be required to enforce REBNY membership for all of their agents. Even though their enforcement isn't as harsh as say that of the Long Island MLS, they do at least an annual audit on March 1st to make sure that every associated agent has paid their personal REBNY membership dues.

The dues for a licensed real estate salesperson are currently $400 a year, it used to be less, I believe around $250 but there was a surcharge this this year for upgrades to the RLS. Dues for associate brokers and principal brokers are obviously more.

Moral of the story is yes you must join. Otherwise REBNY will force your sponsoring broker to disassociate you.

[showtime]

Thank you for this! Yes I've pretty much heard the same. You don't seem to have a choice, though my broker says I have 3 months to join REBNY from my date of association. It seems like even though the March 1st audit date is coming up, if I just joined I'll be given some leeway. Also, it seems like I can pay this directly by credit card on the REBNY website. I've confirmed as well that this membership stays with me even if I decide to switch firms.

[aslan]

Keep in mind there are substantial tangible benefits to joining REBNY as a new agent or broker as well. The most obvious is the ability to co-broke on your exclusive listings, and to automatically receive a co-broke if you bring a buyer to another REBNY member's listing.

Without this ability to co-broke, there would be no reason for agents to exist, and sellers might as well all list their home FSBO (For Sale By Owner).

[margaret]

I’m an agent at a REBNY firm in Manhattan. Just got mail from them after joining. Do I need to attend this ethics course?

[aslan]

Hi Margaret, yes you do. If you've joined your sponsoring broker's firm more than a few months ago, I'd be surprised if you haven't already been required to attend. It's definitely mandatory and I think you need to do the ethics course within a set time period before you get kicked out. Though again I think REBNY may not audit this as robustly as say HGAR which is very strict.