Written while on assignment to the Department of Licensing's Real Estate Disciplinary office as part of a project to make precedent-setting administrative law decisions more accessible to both the public and the departmental investigators. My task was to read the details of the proceedings and decisions and to interpret them into simple, everyday English.

Penny Tobacco, #88-043
Violations of law cited:

RCW 18.85.230(2)
RCW 18.85.230(4)
RCW 18.85.230(5)
RCW 18.85.230(7)
RCW 18.85.230(10)
RCW 18.85.230(26)

Committed equity skimming through material fraud, dishonest dealing, and bad faith:

The licensee knowingly made false statements and promises and created dishonest documents to gain control of sellers' properties. She purchased dwellings by assuming or promising to assume the obligation to make payments on existing mortgages, deeds of trust or real estate contracts and failed to meet those obligations. Evidence was presented supporting the department's claim that it was never the licensee's intention to purchase 28 of the 30 properties through any form of debt assumption or through acquiring other financial arrangements. She did assume the VA loans on two of the properties, but never attempted to make the payments on them.

Committed conversion of funds received through various means: After gaining control of sellers' properties through quit claim deeds, statutory warranty deeds, earnest money agreements, real estate contracts, or assignment of mobile home retail installment sales contracts, she required sellers' to vacate the property prior to assuming the loan or approaching a lender to purchase the property herself. The defendant would then either sell the property (obtaining earnest money, down payments and installment payments from purchaser) or rent the property (obtaining rent, deposits, cleaning fees), collecting these funds until the property was foreclosed upon and/or recovered by lenders or sellers. None of these funds was ever diverted to addressing the sellers' original debt. She also removed and sold appliances from three of the properties, using the proceeds for her own gain and profit.

Sanction: License revoked for a period of ten years.

Julius C. Swanson, #89-100-2
Violations of law cited:

RCW 18.85.340
RCW 18.85.100
RCW 18.85.230(2)
RCW 18.85.230(5)
RCW 18.85.230(7)

Acting as a broker without properly transferring his license:

During the period of time between December 1988 and May 1989, the defendant's license was on inactive status awaiting official licensure of his new corporation. He continued to function as a real estate broker and entered into a transaction designating the as-yet-unlicensed corporation as the selling broker and him as the vice-president. The agreement also assigned an entitlement of 50% of the sales commission to the corporation.

Misrepresenting the receipt of earnest money:

Upon receipt of the first offer made to them, the owners of the property submitted a counter offer specifying earnest money to be placed in trust and to become non-refundable on a specific date. The defendant neglected to place these funds in trust and he failed to surrender them to the property owners for nearly a year.

Sanction: License suspended for 180 days and a fine of $700.

Randal J. Bel Air, #89-10-017RE
Violations cited:

RCW 18.85.230(2)
RCW 18.85.230(10)
RCW 18.85.120(3)

License application denied on the strength of the applicant's prior conviction of a crime involving dishonest dealing and moral turpitude.

The applicant's "Yes" answer (to the question regarding convictions) on his license application referred to his 1986 conviction in Oregon for the 1982 theft of 26 ounces of cocaine from an evidence safe in the Lane County District Attorney's office. At the time, he held a position of trust as a Eugene police officer and a member of the Lane Interagency Narcotics Team.

The applicant has failed to demonstrate over a sufficient non-custodial period (only three months at the time of application) that his behavior warrants present licensure.

Sanction: License denied for a mandatory minimum 5 year term and thereafter until issued by the director.

Ronald Duane Jarvis, #91-012
Violations cited:

RCW 18.85.230(4)
RCW 18.85.230(5)
RCW 18.85.230(26)
WAC 308-124D-030

The licensee made false statements and concealed material facts upon which the owners relied in their decision-making processes regarding the property in question. His negligent delays in imparting information also demonstrated bad faith and untrustworthiness.

In a property transaction with friends, the licensee undertook the management of their property to assist them in protecting their equity.His agreement was to pay the appraised value on the prpoerty by taking over the payments on the owner's first and second mortgages and by signing a personal note for the balance (less the cost of a new roof if necessary) to become due when he sold or refinanced. Until that time, he was not required to make periodic payments on the note. As their agent, the licensee was under statutory obligation to protect the seller's interests. During the years he managed the property, he procured tenants, effected some repairs, and secured an additional financial encumbrance against his interest in the property. Between 1984 and 1986, he became delinquent on some of the mortgage payments and a foreclosure action began. To avoid it, the licensee arranged to sell the property and this sale concluded the two outstanding mortgages and reverted an additional amount of money to the licensee. He did not inform the owners of the sale of the property nor of his profit in it. His note became due upon this sale, but the licensee made no efforts to satisfy his obligation to the sellers.

Sanction: The broker's license was revoked for five years with the provision that the revocation shall be without prejudice for the licensee to apply for a salesperson's license after two years and after completing Real Estate Law and Real Estate Ethics courses and after committing no further violations in that time.

Jack C. Foster, #91-115
Violations cited:

RCW 18.85.230(4)
RCW 18.85.230(5)
RCW 18.85.230(7)
RCW 18.85.230(26)
WAC 380-124E-012(5)
WAC 380-124E-012(6)

The licensee negotiated an impossible-to-satisfy contract with a purchaser, failed to notify that purchaser when the sale did not progress to closure, and neglected his duty to hold funds paid to him in trust for the property's purchase.

The property in question ws held by the licensee who established a payment schedule with the purchaser that could never address the principle balance. He also misrepresented the boundaries of the property to include frontage and access on a main road vital to the purchaser's business interests in the property. When the sale failed to close because the licensee didn't pay a tax lien on it, he neglected to make the purchaser (now resident) aware of that fact and the purchaser continued to make what he though were monthly installment payments for 24 months. Since all of these funds were tendered to the licensee under a purchase and sales agreement, they should have been held in trust until a closing was achieved.

Sanction: License revoked for two years.

This is only a random sampling of the fifty cases I reviewed and interpreted for the project. I've been given permission by the manager of the Real Estate Disciplinary Office of the Department of Licensing to show them as samples here.