J. Williams v. BPOA, State Real Estate Comm.

CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedOctober 14, 2021
Docket1263 C.D. 2020
StatusUnpublished

This text of J. Williams v. BPOA, State Real Estate Comm. (J. Williams v. BPOA, State Real Estate Comm.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
J. Williams v. BPOA, State Real Estate Comm., (Pa. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA

Jasmine Williams, : Petitioner : : v. : : : Bureau of Professional : and Occupational Affairs, : State Real Estate Commission, : No. 1263 C.D. 2020 Respondent : Submitted: September 20, 2021

BEFORE: HONORABLE P. KEVIN BROBSON, President Judge HONORABLE CHRISTINE FIZZANO CANNON, Judge (P) HONORABLE J. ANDREW CROMPTON, Judge

OPINION NOT REPORTED

MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE FIZZANO CANNON FILED: October 14, 2021

Jasmine Williams (Petitioner) petitions for review from the November 18, 2020 Final Adjudication and Order (Final Adjudication) of the Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, State Real Estate Commission (Commission), which suspended Petitioner’s license to practice real estate for a period of one year, imposed a $3,000 civil penalty, and ordered Petitioner to complete a 14-hour continuing education course for new real estate licensees, pursuant to the provisions of the Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act (RELRA).1 Upon review, we affirm.

1 Act of February 19, 1980, P.L. 15, No. 9, as amended, 63 P.S. §§ 455.101-455.902. Petitioner has held a license to practice as a real estate salesperson in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania since July of 2009. See Hearing Examiner’s Proposed Adjudication and Order filed December 17, 2019, Certified Record (C.R.) Item No. 27 (Proposed Adjudication), Findings of Fact (F.F.) 1-3.2 At the time of the events in question in this litigation, Petitioner worked as a full-time real estate agent3 for Elite Realty Group Unl Inc, a real estate brokerage registered with the Commission as “RE/MAX Elite.” See F.F. 5-9. In 2013, a real estate wholesaler4 named James Fate presented to Petitioner a property located at 5909 Lansdowne Avenue, Philadelphia (Property), and inquired whether Petitioner had any buyers for the Property. See F.F. 10. At that time, Petitioner was unfamiliar with the process of real estate wholesaling. See F.F. 11. Petitioner went to examine the Property, which was the abandoned shell of a rowhome, completely filled with furniture and trash, and which Petitioner did not believe to be structurally sound. See F.F. 13-14. The Property was owned by a woman named Paulette Adams (Owner) and had not been listed for sale at the time Petitioner inspected it. See F.F. 15. Petitioner did not enter into a contract with 2 The Commission adopted and incorporated the Findings of Fact from the Proposed Adjudication distributed by the Hearing Examiner on December 17, 2019, Certified Record Item No. 27 (Proposed Adjudication). See Commission’s Final Adjudication and Order dated November 18, 2020 (Final Adjudication) at 1-2. 3 As a full-time real estate agent, Petitioner participated in approximately 40-60 real estate transactions annually. See Proposed Adjudication, Finding of Fact (F.F.) 9. Petitioner’s employment as a real estate agent was her only source of income at all times relevant to this matter. See id. 4 “A real estate wholesaler does not have a real estate license, but solicits home owners [sic] to see if they want to sell their properties, obtains a written assignment of contract or some type of equitable interest from the owner, [and] then acts as a middleman in a transaction to sell the wholesaler’s interest in the property to a new buyer.” F.F. 12.

2 Owner and did not act as her listing agent. See F.F. 16. Instead, Petitioner informed Petitioner’s aunt, Marie Ballard (Aunt), who often engaged in wholesaling, that the Property was available. See F.F. 11 & 17. Meanwhile, Henry M. Kidd (Kidd), a former maintenance worker, real estate dabbler, and family friend of Petitioner and Aunt, heard from a mutual friend of his and Aunt’s that the Property was for sale. See F.F. 18-20. Kidd went to examine the Property and saw no “for sale” sign thereon. See F.F. 21. Upon further investigation, Kidd discovered that the interior of the Property was in a bad condition, with a hole in the roof that allowed rain to enter. See F.F. 22. Despite these defects, Kidd was interested in purchasing the Property. See F.F. 23. Kidd and Petitioner began discussions regarding the purchase of the Property.5 See F.F. 23-25. At their first meeting, Petitioner offered the Property for sale to Kidd for a price of $31,000. See F.F. 26. After Kidd counter-offered $18,000, Petitioner spoke to the Property’s wholesaler, who agreed to the price. See id. Petitioner then informed Kidd that the $18,000 price was acceptable and instructed him to pay with a check made out in her name. See F.F. 27. Kidd met Petitioner in person on January 11, 2013, and January 14, 2013, each time delivering a $5,000 check made out in Petitioner’s name for a total of $10,000. See F.F. 28-30 & 32. At some point, because Petitioner had asked him to pay the full price up front, Kidd also obtained a third check from his bank for the $8,000 outstanding balance of the $18,000 Property purchase price. See F.F. 31. Kidd met Petitioner again at a restaurant on January 15, 2013, to deliver the final check for the outstanding balance of the purchase price. See F.F. 36. Kidd gave

5 The Proposed Adjudication does not state whether Aunt or the mutual friend of Kidd and Aunt originally connected Petitioner and Kidd to begin discussions regarding the sale of the Property. See F.F. 23-24.

3 Petitioner the $8,000 check as well as an additional $900 in cash, which Petitioner demanded without explanation, for a total of $18,900. See F.F. 38. Petitioner never placed any of the funds received from Kidd into an escrow account at RE/MAX.6 See F.F. 38. Instead, Petitioner placed the funds into Aunt’s non-escrow checking account. See F.F. 39. Also at the January 15, 2013 meeting, Petitioner provided Kidd with a statement of Buyer’s Estimated Total Closing Costs (BECC) and a Settlement Statement HUD-1 (HUD-1) that she had personally prepared regarding Kidd’s purchase of the Property. See F.F. 33-35 & 37. The BECC had “RE/MAX Elite” printed in the upper left corner and Petitioner’s RE/MAX email address printed in the upper right corner. See F.F. 40-41. The BECC further set forth a $1,500 commission to be paid by the buyer. See F.F. 40. The HUD-1 identified Petitioner as the settlement agent and Kidd as the buyer. See F.F. at 42-43. The HUD-1 also set forth commissions of $750 to be paid from seller’s funds and $1,500 to be paid by buyer, although the typed $1,500 commission figure had been crossed out and replaced by a handwritten notation indicating a commission of only $1,000. See F.F. at 42. The BECC and the HUD-1 were the first and only documents Petitioner provided Kidd regarding the transaction. See F.F. 37, 45-46 & 49-51. Petitioner never provided Kidd with a consumer notice, a seller’s disclosure statement, or any written buyer agency contract or agreement indicating whether she would be representing him in the purchase of Property. See F.F. 45-46 & 49-51. Kidd never 6 Michael Lisitsa was broker of record for RE/MAX Elite at the time. See F.F. 7 & 53. Neither Lisitsa nor RE/MAX Elite was ever involved in the sale of the Property in any way; they never listed or otherwise offered the Property for sale, never received any files or information regarding the transaction from Petitioner, and never received any deposits of any kind regarding the Property from Petitioner. See F.F. 53.

4 signed or received a deed for the Property, nor was he ever given any keys. See F.F. at 46. Kidd’s only contact in relation to the purchase of the Property was Petitioner, whom he assumed to be a realtor and the seller of the Property. See F.F. 47. Petitioner, however, considered her position to be simply that of a liaison between the Property’s wholesaler and Kidd. See F.F. 49. Accordingly, she did not prepare a written buyer agency contract or agreement between herself and Kidd. See id. In fact, Petitioner did not even keep a file regarding the Property. See F.F. 52.

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