Real Estate License in DR

There is no license or regulations for selling real estate here in the DR. There are many good and many "bad" agents so be careful who you associate with.

Bob K

I had my licence with the instituto nacional de formacion inmobiliaria in Santo Domingo. Their address

Ave. R?mulo Betancourt #1318, Edif. Chah?n, Suite 203, Bella Vista, Santo Domingo, Rep. Dom.
Tel?fono : 809-533-8277 ? E-mail: informacion@institutoinfi.com

I hope that could help you.

As Bob K pointed out, the DR does not require and does not have any form of real estate licensing. A number of places offer a "diploma", but that's it.

Bottom line, anyone and everyone can sell real estate in the DR. The downside, this brings lots of sharks into the market, so yoo better know who your dealing with.

Currently there is no law requiring Real Estate Agents to be licensed, and there are many foreigners that advertise their USA licenses, as if this means anything here.

Many people are just referrers and not agents.

The emerging Dominican Republic Real Estate market, called for regulating and licensing of real estate agents in the country- there a new law currently in congress that will be in place within the next year.

Working to achieve this is the ?Asociaci?n de Empresas Inmobiliarias? Asociaci?n de Empresas Inmobiliarias - Rep?blica Dominicana ?a collective membership that identifies a real estate professionals who subscribes to their Code of Ethics.

The AEI is based out of Santo Domingo but they have recently organized their Bavaro-Punta Cana Chapter.

-PCL

I received my DR real estate licence in a box of cereal.

But without fresh cold milk to compliment the award I decided to make a living another way.

MSPC06 said:

Does anyone know how to obtain a real estate license to sell properties in the DR? Do you need to have one or where can I apply for one?

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There are currently no licensing laws active for real estate agents, agencies or brokers in the Dominican Republic. So the good news is that you can sell real estate tomorrow! The bad news is that so can everyone else, honest and dishonest, so be very careful who you associate yourself with.

Also, there is no such thing as a "Listing Agreement" similar to th US. When you are presented a piece of property to sell the seller may or may not have it listed with others at the same or different pricing.

It is not unheard of for a seller to change their mind at the closing table and demand more money for a property.

It is also no unheard of for a client to circumvent an agent (or agency) to go directly to the seller thus by-passing the need for the seller to pay a commission, resulting in a lower selling price for the buyer.

If you decide to come down to sell real estate you should have cast iron ba**s and not be easily offended when someone screws you out of a nice commission. It is a ruthless business here.

...and forget your financing experience as it is nowhere close to what you're probably used to in The US or whatever country you come from.

How does a 20% / year mortgage loan sounds to you?

AEI and Real Estate License

puntacanalife-com said:

Currently there is no law requiring Real Estate Agents to be licensed, and there are many foreigners that advertise their USA licenses, as if this means anything here.

Many people are just referrers and not agents.

The emerging Dominican Republic Real Estate market, called for regulating and licensing of real estate agents in the country- there a new law currently in congress that will be in place within the next year.

Working to achieve this is the ?Asociaci?n de Empresas Inmobiliarias? Asociaci?n de Empresas Inmobiliarias - Rep?blica Dominicana ?a collective membership that identifies a real estate professionals who subscribes to their Code of Ethics.

The AEI is based out of Santo Domingo but they have recently organized their Bavaro-Punta Cana Chapter.

-PCL

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You are right some people advertise their US license. It means nothing in my opinion. It is even misleading I think.

They have talked for a long time about introducing a system similar to the US with a Broker and Agent license. The institution AEI Associacion Empresas Inmbilliarias that you are refering to are lobbying for it. But still nothing. The latest I heard was that they are trying too see how it is done in other LatAm contries like Colombia. I think they should try and work with the DGII as by law you have to issue a comprobante fiscal when you collect a commision and if you pay a commision to an agent who is not Tax Registred then you have to issue a Comprobante para provedores informales and retain 10% for the DGII. Because in my opinion the important part is the commisions and treating the commision and other funds responsible and with transparency. By law here it actually has to be collected by a company or an individual who is tax registred. If the AEI contributed to the industry enforcing this they would make a large step even without a license system. In Florida the single most common license infraction leading to cancelation or revocation of the license occurs while mishandling other peoples funds. Not fraud or lack of education or something like that. The exam to become an agent is not very hard in Florida. They loose their license because they mismanage the funds like the commision. They comingle funds mixing commision funds with their own funds. Or the agents collect the commison without it going via the broker. It has to go via the broker. So what I am saying is that before they even talk about introducing a license system the AEI should make sure current laws are respected like collection commisions issuing a legitimate invoice a "Comprobante Fiscal" with an Invoice number from the DGII (Internal Revenue). Also the AEI has a code of ethics that is perfectly well written. They could try and enforce the Code. There is an Arbitary Court but there has not been a single case. If they did enforce the code and if there where cases it might just become law without having to go through the process of congress etc. That is in some European countries that is possible when an industry makes its own Codes. Maybe not possible here.

basically its just a shop window to see whats available - no license or experience needed and already answered

errr yep....there are plenty with no experience

Maybe they should start with just having a broker license system. A suggestion could be that a person would have to document at least 10 years of experience in real estate with at least 5 of that being in the Dominican Republic. The proof of experience from DR would be documented transactions that you have participated in. The broker should operate his/her business via a Dominican S.R.L. company. Another requierement could be a University Degree from a foreign or a Dominican University. Fluency in Spanish and some knowledge of English. Just some ideas. But hard to imagine anything happening in that area for a long time here in the DR.

Brokers/Agents

miloskorac said:

You mean, only foreigners can work in DR as brokers? After 15 years of experience?

No I meant of the 10 years of experience at least 5 should be in the DR.


What about young Brokers, the ones who are just started?

I meant it as a requierement for a brokers license. Not agents. They would have to start out working for a broker.


What about Freelance brokers?

That is what we all are now. Some are organized as a company some are not. Nothing wrong with it as there is no regulation.


Brokers with University? Harvard perheps?

No I meant any University or other higher level education. Ok this was maybe a bad suggestion.

We are in Spanish speaking country.

A lot of people who work with real estate here dont know Spanish very well. Maybe the suggestion with English was a bad idea. But there is a lot of foreigners buying and renting here. Again I was referring to a brokers license not an agents license.

Boyter, read again what you wrote, and make better suggestions.

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I think some of my ideas where ok.

The AEI some years back had a draft proprosal for a law regulating Agents and Brokers. It was called "Proyecto de ley para la creacion del colegio de corredores y agentes inmobiliarios que regula el corretaje inmobiliario en la Republica Dominicana". They made a clear distinction between an "Agente Inmobiliario" being an agent and a "Corrredor Inmobiliario" being a Broker. It said an agent always had to do business via a broker; "siempre acutuando u ofreciendo sus servicios a traves de un Corredor Inmobiliario". Underlining that the agent can not act independent from a broker. The proposal demanded that the Broker has a broker insurance and has at least three years of experience before as an agent working with a broker. Also it appears to be a requierement that the broker is organized as a company as the broker has to be registred at the "Registro Mercantil". I think recently the AEI has been working with a modified proposal. I have no news of how it is progressing. Maybe the website of AEI has some info on it. I printed out above mentioned proyecto de ley some years back from their website.

Agents

miloskorac said:

Yes he (she) can. Si se puede.
From my point of view, agent can work independent from other agent, unless is wearing pampers, No. 56, and can not change it himself (sheself).
Or, for very fat agents, that can not tie the shoes, as for the stomack.

Agent just need a good lawyer for closing.

Makler Milos

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I dont disagree with you. As there are no laws regulating it. I was reffering to a suggestion from the AEI.

miloskorac said:

We still do not use MLS (and I can not see the possible way to make it happened in DR), and we should not implement any US practice at all. First, US is bad example for business, second this is Dominican Republic.

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One could argue that the US is in fact a great model for business practices - BUT I will certainly argue that the multipile listing service is a GREAT idea for real estate sales - it serves both the buyer and the seller.

The only people who benefit from the mish mash system that is in place here - the pocket listings where you have to go to EVERY agent in town and ALL the houses with the For Sale by owner signs- is the AGENT (or Broker).

The model in the States is that an Agent has a contract with either the seller or buyer (and sometimes both but that must be disclosed). But a seller can see EVERY property that is for sale in any area. Go to realtor.com and you can find all the properties for sale in any town, USA.

Here the agents DO NOT share listings-- and will have listings all over the place - some in Naco - and a couple in Bavaro or Juan Dolio. They only list what they have - from knowing the seller/builder. Most do not even specialize in an area.

I think that shopping for real estate is hell here and the introduction of the MLS system would HELP the DR tremendously.

License

So I came to the US to study my brains out to become a Realtor and all the while I could've sold RE in the DR without so much as picking up a book!!!:ermm:

So not fair.....:squareeye

tropical said:

So I came to the US to study my brains out to become a Realtor and all the while I could've sold RE in the DR without so much as picking up a book!!!:ermm:

So not fair.....:squareeye

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Gimme a break miamol, a 5th grader can pass that test with about 8 hours of prep:surprised.

tropical said:

So I came to the US to study my brains out to become a Realtor and all the while I could've sold RE in the DR without so much as picking up a book!!!:ermm:

So not fair.....:squareeye


Gimme a break miamol, a 5th grader can pass that test with about 8 hours of prep:surprised.

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And you will never get to heaven selling real estate in the D.R.

:bunny: