Since it’s official that the real estate brokers exam will be on March 27, 2011, I know a lot of you out there are looking for accredited service providers that offer the required one hundred twenty (120) credit units of real estate subjects and training. Here’s a compilation of service providers that I have stumbled upon.

I’m really sorry this was delayed and I found some seminars have already started. Sorry about that. Anyway, if anyone finds a seminar that is not on the list below, please do leave a comment so I can add it as well. Thanks!

Update as of December 11, 2010 – I just heard that The PRBRES will release the guidelines for the seminars/review by next week and the CRESAR may soon be referred to as REBSAR or REBSAT. I’ll post the guidelines once these become available.

List of 120-Hour Comprehensive Real Estate Seminar & Review (CRESR or CRESAR) providers

1. REBAP 120-Hour Comprehensive Real Estate Seminar & Review (CRESR)

Thank you to CRB May Ann Fajardo, 2010 President of REBAP-Makati, for informing me about this by leaving a comment in my post about the RESA Law IRR.

WHAT: 120-Hour Comprehensive Real Estate Seminar & Review (CRES-R)

FOR: March 27, 2010 Real Estate Service Broker Licensure Exams

QUALIFIED: Please see attached file bearing Sec 12. A, B & C of Final IRR of  RESA 9646 (see downloadable attachments below)

VENUE: TIARA ORIENTAL HOTEL - 7248 Malugay cor Talisay Streets, San Antonio Village, Makati City

REVIEW DATES:

• Classroom ( Jan 8 & 9, 15 & 16, 22 & 23, 29 & 30)
• Electives (Jan 7, 14, 21 & 28, Feb 4, 5, 6 & 7)

TIME: 9am to 6pm

TOPICS: as prescribed by Sec 13 (c) of the Final IRR of RESA9646

FEE: Php 20,000.00

TERMS:

• Reservation for a sure slot:  Php 2,000.00
• 1st day: Total payment should be 50% (Php 10,000.00)
• 50% balance deadline: on or before January 22 only

OTHERS:

1. Limited participants of 125 only; 1st come-1st served basis will strictly be followed.
2. Fee is inclusive of meals, materials & Certificate.

CONTACT PERSON: MAY ANN S. FAJARDO of REBAP-Makati

• Mobile Landline: (02) 5856397
• Cellphone : 0917-8120412

Attachments:

• Announcement.pdf
• CRESR Application Form.pdf
• Sec 13 (c) of Final IRR of RESA 9646
• Sec 14. A, B & C of Final IRR of RESA 9646

2. DACAREPI (Davao City Association of Real Estate Practitioners) Seminar

Thanks to Hannibal Dimalanta for sending this to me.

We will be conducting real estate Seminar. A 15 days Real estate seminar which is a Pre-Requisite of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC)

1. Registration and Accreditation as Real Estate salesman, who has earned at least seventy two(72) units of college subjects. (120 seminar credit hours or 15 days)

2. Registration with PRC of Real Estate Broker, with DTI-issued license (24 credit hours or 2 Day)

3. Licensure Examination by PRC of aspiring real Estate Broker who are college Graduates. (120 credit hours or 15 day)

Pursuant to Implementing RULES and REGULATION (IRR) of the REAL ESTATE SERVICE ACT (RESA) 9646 of 2009.

WHERE: OROderm Hotel Magallanes St. Davao City

WHEN: December 18, 2010 up to January 30, 2011

Contact for more info: 0921.269.9045

3. Urban Institute of Real Estate 120-credit-unit training seminar for prospective examinees in the board examination for real estate brokers.

Thank you Eden for sending this!

*Please take note that Urban Institute’s CRESAR is still subject to approval and final accreditation of the Professional Regulation Commission. I talked to Engineer Enrico Cruz about this and he said he decided to go ahead and announce the seminar while waiting for the accreditation because it might be too late if he waited for it, which I believe makes sense. Just call him up if you have any questions or concerns using the numbers below.

REALTY BROKER’S LICENSURE EXAM

In preparation for another licensure examination for those aspiring to be licensed real estate brokers, subject to the approval and final accreditation of the Professional Regulation Commission, through PRB-RES. PRC’s Real Estate Board, the Professional Regulatory Board for Real Estate Service (PRB-RES), and in compliance with all the rules of the Real Estate Service Act (RESA), URBAN Institute of Real Estate will conduct the required 120-credit-unit training seminar for prospective examinees in the board examination for real estate brokers set in March 27, 2011.

The schedules are:

Makati Section will be at AIM Conference Center, Legaspi Village from January 8 to February 28, 2011, Saturdays, Sundays and one regular day (mostly Mondays), 8:30 to 11:30 AM, then 12:30 to 2:30 PM.

In Quezon City it will be at Maximo Function Room, Max’s Restaurant, Gateway Mall, Cubao, January 4 to February 24, 2011, Tuesdays, Wednesdays & Thursdays, 8:30 to 11:30 AM then 12:30 to 2:30 PM.

The course will cover the following topics: Fundamentals of Property Ownership; Code of Ethics and Responsibilities; Legal Requirements for Real Estate Service Practice; Real Estate Brokerage Practice; Subdivision Development; Condominium Concept and other types of real estate holdings; Real Estate Finance and Economics; Basic Principles of Ecology; Urban and Rural Land Use; Planning, Development and Zoning; Legal Aspect of Sale, Mortgage and Lease; Documentation and Registration; Real Property Laws; Real Estate Taxation and other subjects that may be later prescribed.

Engr. Enrico Cruz, 1st and 8th placer in the real estate appraisers and brokers board examination respectively will directly manage and supervise the conduct of this seminars. Engr Cruz and son Prof. Atty. Rex Enrico V. Cruz III, and other real estate experts will compose the team of lecturers on the subjects officially prescribed by the Professional Regulation Commission.

For other details or advance registration, Urban Institute may be reached at 509-7402 or 796-8019 or CP# 0915-457-3596 or 0939-137-9242 or 0932-988-1162 or by email at urbanet.ph@gmail.com. You may also visit http://urban-institute.blogspot.com/

4. Cesar E. Santos Academy

This was contributed by Argel of http://bit.ly/argelinspires, Thank you Argel!

From Grace of Cesar E. Santos Academy:

Review schedule will start on January 7, 8, 9, 14, 15 & 16, 2010, 8am-7pm.

Total of 60hrs.Seminar fee is 9,000.00.

Since there’s still no released guidelines from PRC, we only set 60hrs, but if they require us 120hrs, additional dates are Feb. 18, 19, 20, 25, & 27 so that we can meet their requirements. Additional 9,000.00 for the seminar fee.

You may reserve your seat thru depositing P2,000.00 on our BDO account.

Details below:

Account Name: Cesar E. Santos Real Estate Academy, Inc.

S/A No. 6510023112

BDO-Marikina-Bayan bayanan branch

Kindly copy furnish us thru fax at 941-7929

Thanks.

=====

Argel

http://bit.ly/argelinspires

CRESR’s that have already started

I have also listed down some providers whose CRESAR’s have already started along with their respective contact persons. They might have a future batch/schedule so it might be worth calling them up as well to inquire.

1. PAREB-MARIKINA VALLEY REALTORS BOARD, INC.

I got this from Stefany Uy’s blog. Thanks Stefany!

Contact Person:

WENG NAVARRO
PAREB-MARIKINA VALLEY REALTORS BOARD, INC.
secretariat

7131022/ 0929-7472010/09156366218

(Details of the ongoing CRESR of PAREB-MVRB can be found here: http://stefanieuy.blogspot.com/2010/11/not-taking-brokers-exam-next-year.html)

2. Pasay Makati Realtors Board (PMRB)

I got this from Real Estate Seminar and Review, a site full of useful information for those who want to become a licensed real estate broker in the Philippines.

PMRB’s contact numbers:

• 893-0585 or 893-0569 (Please look for Tere)

(Details for past CRESAR’s of PMRB can be found here: http://www.realestateseminarandreview.com/archives/pmrb-cresar-december-2010/).

If you know of any other CRESAR’s that are not listed here, please leave a comment so I can add. Thanks!

Happy learning and good luck!

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo
Real Estate Investor
Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines facebook page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.

PS. Don’t be the last to know, subscribe to e-mail alerts and get notified of new listings of bank foreclosed properties, public auction schedules, and real estate investing tips. Mailbox getting full? Subscribe through my RSS Feed instead!

120-unit Comprehensive Real Estate Seminar and Review (CRESAR) providers is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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I received information from a very reliable source that the much anticipated real estate brokers exam and real estate appraisers exam which are to be under the PRC have been postponed. The real estate brokers exam schedule was apparently set for December 5, 2010, while the real estate appraisers exam follows on the next day, December 6, 2010. Please refer to a message below for more details.

Dear Rebap Team,

I just got confirmation from PRBRES Chairman EG Ong, that the Brokers and Appraisers Exams to be held on December 5 & 6 respectively, is hereby POSTPONED.

The new date of said examinations will be on FEBRUARY 5 & 6, 2011.

Pls inform your chapter members and committees concerned.

In the meantime, we wait for future announcements and guidelines from the board.

ONE with you,

EMILY QUEVEDO-DUTERTE
Certified Real Estate Broker
REBL No. 8836

NATIONAL PRESIDENT
Real Estate Brokers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (REBAP. Inc.)

Source: http://rebapmarikina.com

Although this message was posted in the official website of the Real Estate Brokers Association of the Philippines – Marikina River City Inc. (REBAP-MRCI) chapter, where I am a regular member, I also received a copy of the same message through e-mail as a member of REBAP. As I said, this came from a very reliable source, as it comes from CRB Emily Quevedo-Duterte, who is the National President of the Real Estate Brokers Association of the Philippines, Inc. (REBAP. Inc.).

Why was the real estate brokers exam postponed?

In 2009, the real estate brokers licensure exam scheduled for October 2009 was postponed when the RESA was signed into law. This time around, I can only assume that the brokers exam was postponed to give more time for those in charge of the exams (PRC in this case) to prepare, and also for those who plan to conduct Certified Real Estate Seminar and Review or CRESR’s to prepare and be able to fulfill the one hundred twenty (120) credit units of real estate subjects and training, which is one of the requirements for those who want to take the exams. I suppose this also helps give them ample time to become duly accredited service providers, and to actually have enough time to conduct the seminars.

Does 120 credit units translate to 120 hours?

During a recent regular meeting of REBAP-MRCI that I attended, a fellow member raised the concern that the 120 credit units might not necessarily translate to 120 hours. Actually, that was the first time that I thought about it that way, and his concern made sense. I remember back in college, 21 units is already considered as a full load for a whole semester. What if the 120 credit units of real estate subjects were treated the same? Imagine how many semesters in college it would take to finish 120 credit units? I just hope that those concerned can shed more light into this and help clarify the issue.

If in case it does translate to 120 hours, it would still require many months to complete such seminar. If a 24 unit CRESR normally took six weeks (at a rate of 1 meeting consisting of 4 hours per week) to complete prior to the RESA law, imagine how long it would take to finish 120 hours. Aside from the long amount of time it would take, imagine the cost for such seminars. Most people say that a 120 hour seminar would cost about Php20,000 pesos, and you still have to pass the exam to make sure your money does not go to waste.

More time for aspiring licensed real estate brokers

I suppose those who plan to take the real estate brokers exam would welcome this development as this would give them more time to attend the seminars prior to the exam, there would be more accredited service providers, and hopefully the competition would bring down their seminar fees, and lastly, aspiring brokers will have more time to review and actually pass the exam. I’m just glad I was able to take and pass the November 2007 Real Estate Brokers exam.

A reminder for real estate investors

If you are planning to take the real estate brokers exam because you plan to invest in real estate and think that being licensed is required, think again. In my opinion, being a licensed real estate broker is not required if you want to invest in real estate. As an investor, you are the owner, and you don’t need to be licensed to sell your own property. Let me quote Section 28-A of the RESA Law IRR:

“SEC. 28. Exemptions from the Acts Constituting the Practice of Real Estate Service

The provisions of this R.A. No. 9646 and the IRR shall not apply to the following:

(A) Any person, natural or judicial, who shall directly perform by himself/herself the acts mentioned in Section 3 hereof with reference to his/her or its own property, except real estate developers who are regulated by and registered with the Housing ang Land Use Regulatory Board (HLURB) pursuant to law and other resolutions/regulations such as but not limited to Presidential Decree (PD) 957, as amended,and Batas Pambansa Blg. 220 and their Implementing Rules and Regulations;

xxx”

Need I say more?!

To our success and financial freedom!

Jay Castillo

Real Estate Investor

Real Estate Broker License #: 20056
Blog: http://www.foreclosurephilippines.com
Follow me in Twitter:http://twitter.com/jay_castillo
Find us in Facebook:Foreclosure Philippines facebook page

Text by Jay Castillo and Cherry Castillo. Copyright © 2010 All rights reserved.

PS. Don’t be the last to know, subscribe to e-mail alerts and get notified of new listings of bank foreclosed properties, public auction schedules, and real estate investing tips. Inbox getting full? Subscribe through my RSS Feed instead!

Real estate brokers exam postponed… again?! is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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This is the second part in my series on the reflections of a real estate investor(that would be me!) after Typhoon Ondoy’s wrath. If you missed the first part, you may want to read it before reading this. You can find part one here – Reflections of a Real Estate Investor: Ondoy’s aftermath

Next I try to share what I’ve learned and become aware of as a licensed real estate broker, homeowner, and as a real estate investor in Provident Village, Marikina City, Philippines. Here goes…

This banner was placed on a wall at the entrance of Provident Village, Marikina City

Yes, I know we can!

Last Monday, I went back to Provident Village to see the situation and to check if we can already go back to our house to try to salvage what can be salvaged and assess the extent of the damage. As I turned right to the entrance of Provident Village, I saw the banner above and  tears rolled down my face immediately. No, they were not tears of despair but rather tears of hope. The banner reads “Bangon Marikina, kaya natin ito (Get up Marikina, we can do this!)”. I say yes, I know we  can!

I was also pleasantly surprised that there were a lot of bulldozers and trucks that were being used for the clearing up operations. Last Monday, the front of our house was still full of mud and debris which made it not passable to small cars like my Hyundai Getz but I can see that our entire street will be cleared before the end of this week.

Suggestions from Mayor MCF

After a quick visit to Provident Village, I then proceeded to the Marikina City Hall to attend a meeting between Mayor Marides C. Fernando (also known as MCF to her constituents in Marikina City) and the Real Estate Brokers Association of the Philippines – Marikina River City Inc. (REBAP-MRCI) chapter which I was a member of.

REBAP-MRCI President Malou Llado(left) speaks as MCF(center) and other REBAP-MRCI members listen

Meeting adjourned. I’m the guy at the back but in the middle of the picture, with glasses.

As real estate brokers (and also as a real estate investor in my case), members of REBAP-MRCI wanted to know how we could help the Marikina City Government after the City of Marikina was badly hit by Typhoon Ondoy. We were also interested in finding out what plans the Marikina City Government had for Marikina after the devastation. Obviously, the floods will have a big impact on property prices and demand for such, which in turn would affect the livelihood of real estate brokers that focus on the City of Marikina. I’ll try to summarize what I learned from the meeting below:

1. MCF suggested that houses in those areas that experienced very high floods should seriously consider using their first floors exclusively for garage or parking purposes and houses should at least have a second floor. A roof deck is highly recommended. It would be more like a house built on stilts.  I personally have thought of the same in case we do decide to push through with plans to have a major renovation done on our house. More on this later.
2. During the conversation, one member of REBAP-MRCI asked if there were any plans to put up more water pumping stations in Marikina. MCF answered with another question, “Where would the flood waters be pumped to?” I guess the real problem is that the flood waters are not really from Marikina itself but rather from the surrounding areas. That’s the problem with being a valley.
3. With regard to reports that some homeowners are selling their houses at ridiculously low prices and yet still have no interested buyers, MCF advised us that maybe we can find opportunities there. Of  course as licensed brokers we may help those that want to sell and also help find houses for sale for real estate investors.
4. Another suggestion from MCF was to use low lying areas exclusively for non-residential purposes which are okay to get submerged by flood waters.

Our meeting got cut short because of an unplanned but very welcome healing mass with healing priest Father Suarez which was just about to start at the Marikina City Hall. The meeting was adjourned and  we just attended  the mass. This was just what we all needed, healing!

Father Suarez during the healing mass at the Marikina City hall

Lessons learned and observations of a homeowner in Provident Village

1. Always have your house insured with coverage for Acts of God. Though a lot of people have said that what had happened was actually an act of man(ex. the alleged releasing of water from dams, climate change, etc.), it would not hurt to have Acts of God coverage. The higher premiums would have been well worth it. Unfortunately, our house only had fire insurance. I’m quite certain insurance premiums would sky rocket after the floods and I also won’t be surprised if insurance companies would start refusing to give such coverage to areas hit by the floods.

2. Houses should be built like houses on stilts. In this configuration, the ground floor would be just a wide open space that can serve as parking or a basketball court, etc.  At the very minimum, houses should have a second floor that has an exit that won’t be hampered by flood waters (more on this below). There were a lot of reports of people being trapped at their second floors and they only got out by destroying the ceiling and the roof.

3. Functionality of doors and windows and their locks should not be affected by flood waters. One thing in common I found with most houses that got submerged by the floods was the doors and windows(including fire escapes) could not easily be opened. Either the door mechanisms/padlocks got jammed or the wood of the door itself expanded and got stuck with the door jamb. I’m not sure if there are water resistant door mechanisms and locks out there but I guess keeping them well lubricated would help. As for doors, I guess using high quality wood would help prevent the “pamamaga(expanding)”. Obviously, if the rising water had force and pressure, this would also hamper opening them.

4. Have rubber boats, air-beds, life-jackets, life-savers or inner tubes, or any acceptable “floatation” device handy. These would at least give you a fighting chance in case you needed to move to higher ground. When my son and Emily, his nanny, eventually had to transfer from roof-to-roof to reach the 3-story apartment building a house away, they used an air-bed from one of our neighbors. I’m so thankful for the courage and quick thinking of Emily, and Edgar, one of our neighbors. It turns out Edgar was a ship captain and was prepared for such situations. Thank God!

5. Have some sort of alerting mechanism in place that would warn against floods, etc. Here in the office, I implemented an automated monitoring system on critical servers which automatically sends SMS alerts which I receive on my cellphone in case conditions that can lead to problems occur. For example, if the free space on the system drive of our e-mail server goes below a threshold we have set, all concerned I.T. staff including myself will receive an alert through a text message. I just wish that someone can come up with a similar system that would alert the City Government just in case an unusually high amount of rain fall occurs or if flood waters or water released from dams  are detected from surrounding areas that would eventually end up in Marikina City.  The City government can then alert residents or even evacuate them. Maybe I should forward this idea to PAGASA, they already have equipment that measure rainfall right?

6. The flood receded very fast so the problem is really with the source of the floods. Would you believe that the flood that reached levels as high as the ceilings of the second floor of houses in Provident Village receded by the next day? Yes, it receded that fast. In fairness to the efforts of the Marikina Government, I believe that the drainage systems are functioning as they should, but it just so happened that the flood waters, wherever it came from, was just too much. What if there was a way to at least control the source of the floods? Another  challenge, how can the drainage systems be cleaned of the mud (that will eventually harden) left behind by the flood waters?

7. Just sell the house and live in a flood free area! I know a lot of you have this in mind just like me. This would be the ultimate solution for me and my family unless someone finds a permanent solution that would result in a flood free Provident Village. I just wish selling the house would be easy. We could then move to another place in Marikina that was not affected by the floods. In case I decide to, I would have to wait for the village to be cleared of all the mud and debris before I can sell the house. Let’s wait and see…

Points to ponder from the point of view of a real estate investor

1. Do I renovate the house and construct a second floor and a roof deck or do I repair the house at its present configuration (our house is just a bungalow)? The obvious things I should consider would be the cost involved and if these can be recovered if I have our house rented out or sold down the road. For the same cost of constructing a second floor plus roofdeck, I could already have a new house constructed somewhere else that is flood free, which I can definitely sell for a profit or rent with positive cashflow in the future.

2. Do I sell the house now (after doing some repairs to make it ready for occupancy) or wait for property prices to stabilize after a few years? As mentioned above, property prices in Marikina have surely been affected by the recent floods. Demand is also very low while supply is very high as I’m sure a lot of homeowners already have their Provident Village houses for sale while there are very few people interested in buying properties in areas affected by the floods(except maybe for investors). If I decide not sell the house now, I should be able able to find tenants to at least cover part of the monthly amortizations for our house.

3. As an investor, I really should avoid flood prone areas! I’m just lucky that all of my investment properties were not affected by the floods and only my primary residence was hit. Just the same, I should also treat my home as an investment as I have mentioned in my recent post:  Why not treat your first home as a real estate investment?. As early as now, the implications I see are getting a negative cashflow if I do decide to have our house rented out, the difficulty of finding tenants/buyers for a bungalow in the middle of  Provident Village, the time it would take for the clearing up operations to finish(I estimate this to finish around Christmas time), and more importantly, the safety of those who would be living in our house.

What do you think?

To be continued…

*Photos of MCF and Father Suarez are courtesy of Cora Uy of REBAP-MRCI: http://www.rebapmarikina.com

**I would also like to thank all REBAP-MRCI and REBAP-QC members for the relief goods given to fellow REBAP members affected by the floods, including me and my family.

Lessons learned by a real estate broker, homeowner, and investor from Provident Village is a post from: Foreclosure Investing Philippines

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