The N.C. Real Estate Commission voted Wednesday to create a committee to look into how customers are notified about bonuses that real-estate agents receive from home sellers.

The panel was responding to an Observer investigation of Realty Place, which received millions of dollars in bonuses from home builders in exchange for finding buyers for their homes.

Company records show -- and former employees affirm -- that Realty Place maintained a close relationship with home builders after vowing to protect clients from those builders. The company funneled buyers into low-priced starter-home developments, many of which are now plagued by foreclosure.

The Real Estate Commission has opened an investigation into Realty Place, the commission's lead investigator said Wednesday. Tom Miller, director of legal services for the commission, declined to comment on the investigation, confirming only that an investigative file had been opened on the company.

The company owners have denied wrongdoing, saying they always placed the interests of customers first. Realty Place's principal owner, John Heinemann, did not return calls for comment Wednesday. An attorney for a former owner, Kris Boschele, declined additional comment.

The commission has the power to revoke licenses for real-estate agents and agencies.

Real-estate agencies are typically paid a commission, a share of the sales price. Some sellers, particularly home builders, also pay agencies a bonus for finding buyers.

State rules don't require agents to notify customers in writing if a seller offers them a bonus. Agents are required only to tell the customer orally, making the rule hard to enforce.

In more than 50 interviews with Realty Place customers, the Observer found no one who was aware of the bonuses.

The Observer also found that Realty Place sometimes failed to ensure that bonus payments appeared on settlement statements. Federal law requires bonus payments to be recorded.

Heinemann has told the Observer that his employees signed contracts with customers that said they might receive bonuses. But he said he did not know that agents were required to tell customers about specific bonuses on particular homes.

Earlier this decade, Realty Place had considered itself one of the most progressive and aggressive agencies in Charlotte. It targeted first-time homebuyers with modest incomes and ragged credit, many of whom had been shunned by other companies. The agency, which once had stores in every Mecklenburg mall except SouthPark, had dwindled by last month to one mall store and one store in University City.

The Observer found that between 1998 and 2005, Realty Place was the subject of at least a dozen detailed complaints to the Real Estate Commission, which enforces state real-estate regulations. The subjects ranged from disclosure of bonuses to the company's advertising practices.

The commission never took serious disciplinary action against Realty Place, instead writing letters of reprimand on several occasions instructing the company to amend its practices. Miller, the agency's lead investigator, has acknowledged that regulators could have done more.

On Wednesday, the nine-member commission voted to explore whether a written disclosure of bonuses should be provided to clients before they make a decision to purchase a home.

"We want every one of our citizens to be fully aware of all the information they need," said Skip Alston of Greensboro, the commission chairman. "This is the largest investment they're making in their lifetime."

Miller told the commission that written disclosure "provides us with a more effective tool to show compliance or failure to comply."

A task force will be made up of representatives across the industry. The commission staff will make recommendations on task force membership at next month's meeting.

Alston said he expects the committee to take 60 to 90 days to make a recommendation. Then the commission could invite public discussion on the issue or vote on whether to send a rules change to the General Assembly.