Mississippi Real Estate Proximity Rule Letter

The Mississippi Real Estate Commission (MREC) has long required applicants to live within an hour’s drive, or about 50 miles, of their supervising real estate brokers. This licensure requirement isn’t a formal, published rule. Rather it’s a staff interpretation of another commission rule; one that simply requires a “responsible broker … to exercise supervision.”

Despite today’s technology that allow Americans to work from more places than ever, MREC claims its proximity requirement is needed to make sure licensees are properly supervised. But according to public records, the commission applies its rule unevenly. MREC has rejected applicants who are willing to travel to be supervised or have a supervisor who’s willing to use Zoom to oversee their licensee but has sometimes approved others who clearly don’t meet the requirement.

This erratic implementation of a made-up rule is causing industry-wide confusion, so much so that the Mississippi Association of Realtors has expressed some of the same concerns to MREC as the Institute for Justice (IJ). More importantly, this requirement violates the Mississippi Constitution. That’s why IJ sent a letter to MREC urging them to reconsider their unwritten mandate. With today’s technology real estate brokers have many ways to keep tabs on the salespeople they supervise. MREC’s rule is an unnecessary stumbling block in the path of countless real estate salespeople.