My Process To Get My North Carolina Real Estate Instructor's License

     Today's date is September 26, 2016.  My North Carolina real estate instructor's license will expire on December 31, 2016. 

     In North Carolina, when you get your initial real estate instructor license, it expires in six months.  A new real estate instructor is required by rule number 58C -.0604 to submit an hour long video to the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission for evaluation.  The staff evaluates that unedited video to be certain that the new instructor complies with the criteria described in rule 58C-.0604 which are:

1.  The ability to communicate through speech, including the ability to speak clearly at an appropriate rate of speed and with appropriate voice inflection, grammar, and vocabulary in a manner that enhances learning.

2.  The ability to present an effective visual image to a class, including appropriate appearance and physical mannerisms. 

3.  The ability to present instruction in an accurate, logical, orderly, and understandable manner that enhances learning, to utilize illustrative examples as appropriate, and to respond to questions from students.

4.  The ability to utilize varied instructional techniques in addition to lecture, such as class discussion,  role playing, or other techniques in a manner that enhances learning. 

5.  The ability to utilize instructional aids, such as an overhead projector.  in a manner that enhances learning. 

6.  The ability to maintain an appropriate learning environment and effective control of a class.

7.  The ability to interact with adult students in a manner that encourages students to learn, that demonstrates an understanding of student backgrounds , that avoids offending the sensibilities of students, and that avoids personal criticism of any other person, agency or organization. 

     I received my initial real estate instructor license  on May 1, 2016.  I submitted my first video to the staff at the North Carolina Real Estate Commission's staff on May 23.  On July 12th, I received an unsatisfactory evaluation from the staff at the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.  They said I was inarticulate.  They said I had poor grammar.  They said I had offended one of my lady students when I used her earrings as an example of an appurtenant.  I have used that example for over thirty years.  The staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission said that I did not turn the power point slides on and off at the appropriate time. They said I distracted the students by putting my
glasses on when reading and taking them off after.  They said  I should have put them down on the table and not keep them in my hand.

     On July 14, 2016, I turned in a second video to the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission. .  On August 12th, I received another "unsatisfactory" evaluation from the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.  This evaluation tells me that I am not worthy of a North Carolina real estate instructor license because I did not move around the classroom enough as I taught.  They said I dropped the g in words like learin and teachin.  They told me in this evaluation that, with practice, I could develop confidence.  They said, in my unsatisfactory evaluation, that I should explain to students what the law used to be before 2012.  WHY?  Why should I confuse my students telling them what the law was four years ago?  The staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission told me that my visual and kinesthetic learners are not being served well by my current teaching style.  Seventy five per cent of my first class passed the North Carolina real estate exam within ten days of leaving my class.  Maybe I am doing something right.  I have more positive Google reviews on my website than any real estate school in North Carolina.  www.firstrealestateschool.com  Maybe I am doing something right.

     The staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission has received over two hundred emails telling them that I am an extra ordinary instructor .  That occurred because on August 12th, I posted on my Facebook page that I had been rejected by the staff.  I posted Bruce Moyer's email address (bruce@ncrec.gov ) .  Bruce received so many emails from my old students that he sent me an email and asked me to make it stop.  Some of these students were my student fifteen years ago.  They thought enough of me to take the time to send an email to Bruce. I am humbled and I really appreciate their efforts.

     Has this flood of unsolicited endorsements  have  any effect on my results?   That happened on August 12th.  It has made no difference to the staff at the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.  Bruce informed me that it doesn't matter what the students think.  It matters what the staff of the NCREC thinks.  On September 15, I received an email from Bruce informing me that the third video was unsatisfactory.

     On September, 10, 2016 I recorded a fourth video.  I hired an expert to train me to teach the class to please the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission's staff.  I strived to teach exactly  exactly the way the North Carolina Real Estate Commission described it in their brochure," Most Common Problems with Instructor Video Recordings". 

     I used various teaching techniques other than lecture method.  I taught the students how to do the Amortization Shuffle, a dance to help them to remember to Multiply, Divide, Subtract, Subtract.  I have been doing that in my real estate classes since 1999. 

     I walked up and down the aisle .  In the opinion of the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, moving about the classroom is a more effective teaching style  than staying in front of the classroom. I put color pictures in my power point slides. 

     In previous unsatisfactory video evaluations, I was admonished by the staff of the NCREC for not showing relevance for some of the subject matter.  In video four, I gave the students stories and explanations about why they need to know how to amortize a mortgage one payment at a time  and compute yield of mortgages when discount points are paid.  I realize how critical this relevance is to adult learners.

     Bruce did have some good news for me in my third rejection email.  He told me that he was extending my temporary instructor's license until December 31, 2016.  That enables me to teach one more night class .  Bruce told me that he is confident that I can meet the minimum requirements for a North Carolina real estate instructor's license with effort and practice.  I am too. 

     In my opinion and in the opinion of the eleven students in class and my expert's opinion, this fourth video would be satisfactory to anyone that is assessing the quality of a teacher.  I wonder how long it will take the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission to evaluate it and respond to me. 

     That fourth video has been submitted to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission's staff.  I can hardly express how it feels to learn that after thirty years of teaching pre license real estate classes to thousands of students in Florida that I have been teaching so poorly that I am not worthy to hold a North Carolina real estate instructor's license. 

     I have believed for thirty years that I was not only a adequate instructor but an extraordinary instructor.  I believed all those letters that students have sent to me.  I believed all those Google reviews that students left on my website.  I believed that when students sent their friends and relatives to my classes, it was because I was doing a excellent job teaching .

     After thirty years of teaching pre license classes in Florida, the staff of the NCREC has made it abundantly clear to me that I am not worthy to hold a instructor license in North Carolina.  Apparently I have been in need of lesson in humility.  My application process to the NCREC for an instructor license is about as humbling as I can stand.  It is humbling.  It is humiliating.

     Ten minutes ago, I was sitting outside my classroom during lunch.  A stranger walked up and introduced herself and told me that her friend would be in my next class.  She told me that she was so happy that I had opened First Real Estate School in Hendersonville.  She told me that she had not attended my class but she has heard great things about me from another friend that had been in my previous class.  There was a time when a conversation such as that would have caused my head to swell a little bit. www.firstrealestateschool.com  

     When I recall that an hour long video from her friend's class has been rejected by the staff of the NCREC, I wonder why the student's perception is so different.  The student recommends her friend and tells her friend that I am great. The staff of the NCREC rejects me as inadequate to hold a license. It is humbling.  It is confusing.  It is humiliating. 

     I have a persistent personality. I will persist until I succeed.  I do not understand why the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission would want to make this process so difficult. 

     On September 22, at the suggestion of Bruce Moyer in my third rejection email, I have enrolled in a one day workshop put on by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission's staff in Raleigh.  The tuition is $85.  The driving time is four hours from Tryon, where I live, to Raleigh.  The hotel room is $125.  I am looking forward to attending this seminar where the staff will show me exactly how they want classes taught.

     I have already scheduled my last night class for 2016.  I have scheduled my last day class for 2016.  Just as I finished scheduling these classes, my phone rang.  It was one of my students from five years ago in Florida.  She had moved to Charlotte.  She had enrolled in a local real estate class in Charlotte.  She had failed that class.  She asked me if I had a week end class in Hendersonville that she could attend.  She thanked me profusely for being an excellent instructor five years ago.  She had attended my seven days in a row class in Orlando.  She left my class and went and passed the Florida real estate exam .  Yes, I am talking about the Florida real estate exam that has a 57% pass rate.  http://ronclimer.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-florida-real-estate-exam-pass-fail.html   She also thanked me for my North Carolina real estate math videos.  She told me that they were a big help. Many of my math videos have been viewed by over 40,000 students that are working on passing the real estate exam.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SO8Nq_eny0w   Here is a link to one of those videos.  In the opinion of the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, the instructor in this video is not skilled enough to hold a North Carolina real estate instructor license.  That instructor is not a good instructor in the opinion of the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.  Fifty nine thousand  students that need help passing their real estate exam disagree with that opinion.

     


  


     

     Teaching real estate pre license classes is a passion for me.  That is why I do it well.  I do not know why the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission is giving me such a hard time.  It is certainly not because I am a poor instructor.  If you doubt that, go to www.climerrealestateschool.com and read the first 250 Google reviews.  Most of them mention that I am an excellent instructor. If you doubt that go to one of the 100 videos that I have posted on You Tube. Decide for yourself, knowing that your opinion does not matter.   Many of these videos have been viewed over by over 40,000 real estate students that need help.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMdJ-2iHepM  Here is an example.  Only the opinion of the staff of the NCREC matters. The opinion of the students that sat in my class for 75 hours and learned how to pass the North Carolina real estate exam is irrelevant. 

     I wonder if the staff of the North Carolina Real Estate Commission evaluates all real estate instructor applicants as harshly as they have evaluated me.  If they do, it is not enhancing the quality of the instructors in North Carolina.  It is certainly limiting the quantity of the instructors in North Carolina.  Pray for my approval.

     Today is November 14th. It has been exactly 60 days since I mailed in my fourth video submission.  I AM APPROVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!