Agents working in Massachusetts border towns may soon be able to obtain a real estate license in a neighboring state as easily as sending in a check, if plans discussed last week at a regional meeting are carried out.

Among other issues, representatives from Realtor organizations from all six New England states gathered for a New England Realtor Committee meeting in Portsmouth, N.H., March 2 to discuss real estate license reciprocity for the region. Reciprocity would allow license holders in one state to obtain a license in another New England state as long as similar educational requirements have been met. Without reciprocity agreements, an agent would have to complete separate requirements in both states to be licensed in both states.

Many in the local real estate market say it’s an idea whose time has come.

“We look at the New England region as one market area,” said Robert Nash, executive vice president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors. “With large firms getting even larger, it’s becoming more common to practice over state lines. A lot of these firms do a lot of business in the contiguous states. There should be no impediment to doing business in those other states.”

Ideally, Nash said, agents from one state should be able to “walk over to the next state and get their license” provided they have completed adequate education courses. He added that the Realtor associations are only looking to reduce the educational requirements, not the fees associated with obtaining the license itself. “We understand license fees are a natural source of revenue,” he said.

While the idea of license reciprocity is not new, advocates for reciprocity were given a boost earlier this year when the Association of Real Estate License Law Officials issued a memorandum nationwide supporting the concept.

“It is no news flash that real estate markets are expanding beyond traditional borders,” the memorandum stated. “Several states, provinces and territories have already successfully enacted rules and/or legislation that permits agreements to be set up between real estate regulatory jurisdictions … ARELLO would like to encourage you to push for such authority to be given to your local licensing agency so business can proceed while consumers continue to receive adequate protection.”

Fred Meyer, 2000 president of the Massachusetts Association of Realtors, said license reciprocity makes sense in states like those in New England because their relatively small size makes selling real estate across borders more common.

“When you see single states like Montana that are bigger than all of New England, you realize people should be able to do business beyond these borders,” he said. “[The New England states] may have separate political traditions, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get together to meet common goals.”

Craig Cheatham, executive vice president of ARELLO, said, however, that it is mostly the larger Midwestern states – not the smaller Northeastern ones – that have been most receptive to the idea. As an example, he said North Dakota just added its 12th state to the list of jurisdictions with which the Roughrider State has real estate license reciprocity. The 12 states include Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee and Wyoming.

“Reciprocity is something that makes a lot of sense,” Meyer said, adding that MAR supports the initiative.

Nash received positive feedback “across the board” from Massachusetts Realtors about reciprocity, he said, and Realtors located in border towns echoed his support for the idea.

“I’ve considered getting my license in Vermont, but I’ve been so busy here, how can I go through all the extra courses to get two different licenses?” said Donald J. Westall of Alton & Westall Real Estate in Williamstown, a Northern Berkshire County town that borders both Vermont and New York. “If the process was simplified, that would be great.” Westall added that several of his colleagues are currently maintaining licenses in both Massachusetts and Vermont.

In the southwestern corner of the state, Ron Durning of Berkshire Country Properties in South Egremont said he would welcome an easier system for obtaining licenses from neighboring states. Durning is licensed in New York and Connecticut, though some of the associates in his office are not.

“If there was reciprocity, it would be easier for [my associates] to sell homes,” he said. “Right now if someone is interested in a house over in New York, I have to go with them to show the house because I’m the one that’s licensed.”

New York Considered
Nash said he spoke informally with officials from the other New England Realtor associations and has received positive feedback from them concerning reciprocity.

Though last week’s meeting included only the New England states, Nash said officials from Realtor associations in New York have expressed interest in a similar partnership.

Ronald Phipps, president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, said he was in favor of license reciprocity. “Our state shares such a large border with Massachusetts and Connecticut, it only makes sense.”

Having educational seminars count in more than one state, in addition to helping the reciprocity cause, would also remove a large obstacle standing in the way of a possible regional Realtor convention instead of six smaller state conventions. “If the New England convention happened in Hartford, right now the continuing education wouldn’t count for the Massachusetts license because it’s in Connecticut,” Meyer said. “This would be the next step.”

While momentum appears to be in favor of reciprocity, there are several hurdles to clear before it could be approved and become standard practice in New England.

“Some of the laws are different in each of the states,” Westall said. “I’d want to make sure I had adequate training on those laws in order to sell in the most professional manner.”

“I’ve heard some arguments against it,” Durning said. “I heard about cases like in Florida where a guy goes down there for a few weeks every year and uses license reciprocity to sell some homes on the side while he’s down there, and it interferes with the other brokers. But up here I think it would be good for brokers that lived close to the [state] line.”

Phipps said he supports reciprocity as long as the responsibilities and consequences that go along with the license are included. “I’d want to make sure sanctions and enforcement goes across state lines too,” he said. “We need to make sure that everyone involved is legitimately licensed.” He added that continuing education would need to continue to be a top priority.

Meyer said the manner in which continuing education credits are completed would also have to be reviewed and a consensus would have to be reached by the participating states.

“In some other states you can complete courses by listening to cassettes or through interactive TV,” Meyer said. “We may have to work out difference like that. It’s not as easy as it might seem, but we’re convinced the momentum is there and we might get this going.”