Property Grunt

Monday, March 14, 2005

Real Estate License Check

Recently I was going through Craigslist and noticed the features that Craig has included in the apartment search section of Craigslist. These include how to get your own credit reports, an NYC Department of Consumer Affairs report on Apartment Information Vendors and scams that have been used on craigslist. I would like to present another tool for the consumers which is offered by the State of New York. This is the Liscensee Name Search which is part of the Department of State Division of Licensing Serices. It covers the licenses from real estate agents to appearance enhancers. (I have no idea what that is.) You have the option of searching by name, business and ID Number.

Using this tool you can verify whether the agent you are working with is really a licensed real estate agent and what company they work for. Whether you are dealing with an agent in capacity of rental or sales you are exposing a huge part of your life to this individual. Afterall they will know not only your likes, dislikes and other preferences but they will be exposed to your credit reports and your finances. In the wrong hands that information could be disastorous to your financial health. So at least you will have the peace of mind of knowing who you are dealing with and that they can be held accountable if they are negligent of their duties. And if they are not who they say they are, the Grunt advises you to get the hell out of dodge.

As far as the Grunt knows California has a similar system so it would not surprise me if all states have this online tool or in the process of implementing it.