It’s back-to-school time for some New York City brokers, as the Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) begins a new, 10-week continuing education course designed to sharpen working residential brokers’ skills in areas ranging from negotiating tactics to macroeconomics. The course, which will confer the professional designation of “New York Residential Specialist,” will consist of 30 hours of coursework to be taught by top industry practitioners. “Brokers in New York City are in a very unique and sophisticated market, yet the requirements in order to get a real estate license are far below other states,” says Alan Pfeifer, a broker at Halstead Property who was principally involved in creating the program. more By Jason Rhyne