Last chance in Feb. for aspiring brokers without REM degree
PRC schedules last exam for aspiring brokers without real estate management degrees
FOR the last time, applicants who are not real estate management degree holders can take the broker’s exam the Professional Regulatory Commission (PRC) will administer on Feb. 28, 2016.
Samuel Lao, president of the Cebu Real Estate Board (Cereb), revealed this last Saturday, when he also announced the organization’s real estate seminar to prepare the last set of examinees who are not graduates of Bachelor of Science in Real Estate Management (BS REM).
The real estate seminar will run on the Saturdays and Sundays of November 2015 to January 2016 in Ecotech Center in Sudlon, Lahug in Cebu City. Cereb is expecting around a hundred participants.
Based on the Real Estate Service Act of the Philippines (Republic Act 9464) and its implementing rules and regulations, the exam in 2016 will be the last exam that would not require a real estate management degree.
PRC will administer the real estate board exam for three licenses, namely: real estate broker, real estate appraiser and real estate consultant.
Room for more students
As the deadline approaches, Lao said there will be a very limited number of students who will be graduating from BS REM in March next year.
In Cebu alone, only the University of San Carlos (USC) is offering BS REM, according to Lao, and only around 10 students will finish the course this March 2016.
“I think there’s a lack of appreciation (for the real estate course) because there is a lack of marketing on the part of the schools,” Lao said. If the program is more widely marketed, the Cereb president believes this would attracted more students.
“BS REM graduates can work for developers who can give them a starting salary of not less than P20,000 per month,” Lao said, noting the robust construction and real estate industry in the country.
Lao himself was a graduate of a medical course, occupational therapy, before he started a career in real estate.
While limiting the real estate practice to BS REM graduates would mean fewer practitioners, Lao said this can also be advantageous in a way since brokers can build stronger networks with fellow brokers.
At present, there are 25,000 real estate brokers in the Philippines, data from Philippine Association of Real Estate Board showed.
In Cebu, Lao estimated that the number can go from 2,000 to 3,000 brokers. Cereb’s membership alone is close to 500.