MARYLAND STATE LAW QUIZ
KEEP
OPEN TO A FULL WINDOW
1. When can a
broker accept a commission from both the buyer and seller in the same
transaction?
a. Always.
b. When there is a dual
agency.
c. With full written disclosure and
written permission from both the buyer and seller.
d. Never.
CORRECT!
2. A
salesperson is representing a buyer under an exclusive buyer agency
contract. After looking at 62 houses,
the buyer decides that they want to purchase one of the salesperson’s
listings. Which of the following is
true?
a. The salesperson could
show his listing to the buyers, because it is OK to sell your own listing.
b. The salesperson could
show his listing, but could not sell it to them.
c. A different salesperson would have
to be designated to work with these buyers.
RIGHT!!
3. All of the
following are people that may do an act of brokerage without a license except:
b. Auctioneer.
c. Employees of property
owners.
d. Sheriff.
FANTASTIC!!!
4. None of the
following are true except:
a. A salesperson may act as
a dual agent.
b. A salesperson may work
as a presumed buyer’s agent for properties that are listed with his company, as
long as it is not
his own listing.
c. A salesperson may represent a
buyer as an intra-company agent, and show properties that are listed with his
company, as
long as it is not his own listing.
RIGHT AGAIN!
5. John Peck
is interested in a house on Pepper Street listed with Pickle Real Estate. He calls his friend Peter Piper, a
salesperson with Old Salt Realty, to show him the house. What would be required of Peter Piper if Pickle’s
Pepper is picked by Peck?
a. Peter Piper must get a
written agency disclosure signed before showing the house.
b. Peter Piper must get a
written agency disclosure signed before writing the offer.
c. Peter Piper could be a
presumed buyer’s agent with a verbal disclosure, since he is writing an offer
on a house listed with another company.
IMPRESSIVE!!
6. An agent is
working with a buyer who has seen a house he loves, but is not for sale. The agent contacts the homeowners and tells
them that they should sell their house because minorities moving into the
neighborhood are bringing down property values, and they could lose a lot of
money if they stay there. The agent is
guilty of:
b. Steering.
c. Redlining.
d. Nothing. This is an acceptable business practice.
OK! (That one shouldn’t have been hard.)
7. An agent
with Steal Me Realty sees a chance to take a listing away from his bitter
enemy, an agent at Too Late Real Estate.
The day the listing expires, the agent at Steal Me calls up the sellers
to tell them why they should list their house with him. The agent has violated the Code of Ethics
rules regarding:
c. Relations to fellow
licensees.
d. The agent has not violated the
Code of Ethics.
GREAT!!! (OK, YOU try
writing 60 completely original real estate questions.)
8. If a broker
loses his or her license, the salespeople at that brokerage:
a. must immediately stop
listing and selling real estate.
b. may transfer to a
different company.
c. would not be able to
work in real estate until the broker’s suspension is over.
e. are summarily executed
at midnight.
AWESOME!
9. The
Maryland Real Estate Commission:
a. will allow any licensee
to join the Commission, but will only require it if the company the licensee is
affiliated with also belongs to the commission.
b. consists of nine
members, five from the public at-large and four from the real estate industry.
FABULOUS!
10. A
salesperson that represents a buyer that is buying a house listed with the same
company is called a(n):
b. Dual agent.
COOL!!
11. Which of the
following must a licensee disclose to a buyer that wants to buy a house?
a. The former owner was
murdered in the house.
b. The house was previously
used to distribute illegal drugs.
c. The landfill next-door was found
to contain hazardous waste.
d. A previous tenant in the
house was infected with AIDS/HIV?
YOU’VE BEEN STUDYING!
12. If a salesperson
cannot fulfill his continuing education requirements prior to the expiration
date of his license, he should:
a. put the license on inactive
status, or face a $100 reinstatement fee when he gets his new license.
b. renew the license, and
make up the continuing education afterwards.
c. use leftover continuing
education credits from his previous license term.
d. retake the Real Estate
Principles course and the state licensing exam.
OTLICHNO! (Russian for
excellent)
13. Which of the
following is true?
a. A listing agent must not
reveal any information the seller asks them not to discuss with a buyer.
b. An agent must deal fairly and
honestly with a party to a transaction that they are NOT representing.
c. An agent has no
obligations to parties that are not being represented.
d. The seller is always
represented in a transaction.
MUY BIEN!
14. None of the
following are true except:
a. If a seller fills out the
Residential Property Condition Disclaimer Statement, the house is being sold
“as is” and the listing agent does not have to disclose anything regarding the
physical condition of the property.
b. A buyer must receive the
Property Condition Disclosure or Disclaimer Statement within three days after a
sales contract
is ratified.
c. If a buyer receives the Property
Condition Disclosure or Disclaimer Statement the day after a sales contract is
ratified, the
contract is voidable until they apply for the loan for the property.
d. If the buyer receives the
Property Condition Disclosure Statement before they sign the contract offer,
they can not get out
of the sales contract based on anything disclosed in the document.
PRETTY GOOD IN ENGLISH TOO!
15. Once you pass
the state licensing exam:
a. You must affiliate with a broker
before you can get a license.
b. You can start selling
immediately.
c. You would get your license
first, and then find a company to work with.
d. You never have to visit
this website again.
YOU FINISHED ANOTHER ONE!
P.S. Sorry about the Peter Piper question.
General Quiz Math Topic Du Jour This was GREAT! Let’s do it again. Low-Cost Website Design
Click here for Maryland Law “Extra Help”
EXPLANATIONS
1.
Who
is paying the money is a completely separate issue from who is being
represented. Being PAID by both parties
does NOT create a dual agency. Dual agency
is created when both parties are being represented, whether the commission or
fee is being paid by the buyer, seller or both. A broker can only be paid by both with full written disclosure
and written permission of both parties.
2.
A
salesperson cannot even show his or her own listing to a buyer that they are
REPRESENTING. They would have to find
another salesperson to work with the buyer on THAT TRANSACTION. Also, a licensee could still sell their own
listing to a buyer customer, where the buyer has NOT yet signed a buyer agency
contract.
3.
There
is no such thing as an attorney-at-will.
The list of people who can do an act of brokerage DOES include
attorney-at-law, attorney-in-fact and someone appointed by will.
4.
Salespeople
are no longer dual agents in Maryland.
In a transaction where both the buyer and seller are being REPRESENTED
by the same company, the broker or company would be the dual agent. The salespeople would be Intra-Company
Agents (ICAs), and could still fully represent the buyer or seller. The license law requires different
salespeople if both parties are being represented. A licensee can NOT show properties listed with his own company as
a presumed buyer’s agent.
5.
OK,
if you’re stuck on the wording, Peck is buying the house on Pepper Street. Since Peter Piper works for a DIFFERENT Real
Estate Company, he can SHOW the house as a presumed buyer’s agent without
getting the agency disclosure signed.
An agent can NOT write up an offer, or help someone negotiate as a
presumed buyer’s agent, whether the house is listed with the same or different
company, therefore, Peter Piper must get a written agency disclosure signed
before writing the offer. And, just in
case you didn’t know, the law doesn’t change, just because you are working with
a friend.
6.
Blockbusting
is using scare tactics, based on a protected group of individuals (race,
religion, handicap, etc.), to get a homeowner to sell or list their house for
sale, and is illegal.
7.
Calling
expired listings is an acceptable business practice.
8.
A salesperson
does an act of brokerage in the name of the broker, so if the broker can’t do
an act of brokerage, the salesperson can’t do it in their name. The salesperson could, however, transfer to
another company and work there.
9.
The
Maryland Real Estate Commission consists of nine members, FIVE of which are
licensed in the real estate industry, and FOUR are from the consumers or public
at large. All of the members are
appointed by the governor. Licensees
may join the BOARD, which is the trade association.
10. An Intra-Company Agent (ICA) can
fully represent their buyer or seller in a transaction where both the buyer and
seller are represented by the same company. There must be a different
salesperson working with each party.
The broker or company is a dual agent.
Salespeople are no longer dual agents (not legally anyway).
11. A licensee selling a house must
disclose any material fact that they know or SHOULD know about the
property. Material facts would include
anything physically wrong with a property, any structural problem, any
environmental problem on the property or in the vicinity of the property, liens
or pending liens, and legal items such as taxes or zoning concerns. Material facts would NOT include murder,
suicide, natural death, felony, AIDS or HIV, the type of people that live in a
neighborhood or crime in a neighborhood.
12. A licensee must complete ALL of
their continuing education BEFORE renewing their license. If they cannot, they should put their
license on inactive status until they can complete the requirement. If the license expires, they will have to
pay a $100 fee to reinstate it. If the
license is expired for more than four years, then they would have to take the
state exam again. A licensee cannot
carry continuing education credits from one term to the next.
13. An agent is obligated to deal
fairly and honestly with ALL parties, even if a party is NOT being
represented. An agent may NOT keep
material facts about a property confidential, even if the seller asks the agent
to do that. A seller is not always
represented. It is possible for a buyer
that is being represented to get help from the agent in buying a house that is
not listed with a real estate company.
14. This is a double negative. “NONE are true...EXCEPT” means ‘Which one is
true?’ Even if the seller fills out the
Disclaimer statement, the agent is still obligated to disclose material facts
that they know or should know about a residential property. The buyer must receive the Disclosure or
Disclaimer Statement BEFORE they submit an offer. If they don’t receive it until after the contract is ratified,
they have 5 days to rescind the contract.
If 3 days go by and they still haven’t received the form, or if they
don’t receive it at all, the contract is voidable by the buyer until they apply
for a loan. This is still true, even if
the seller does not use a real estate agent.
15. You cannot start selling until you
get your license. You cannot get your
license until you affiliate with a broker.
And you’re ALWAYS welcome to visit this website!
ã2000, 2001 Douglas R. Barry