Arizona Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions

An Arizona salesperson receives an earnest money check from a buyer. The salesperson must:

• a.Hold it until after closing to avoid bank fees
• b.Cash it and give the seller the funds directly
• c.Deposit it into a personal checking account for safekeeping
• d.Promptly deliver it to the employing broker for handling per the contract✓

A salesperson must promptly turn earnest money over to the employing broker, who deposits it into the broker's trust (escrow) account or handles it as the contract directs. Commingling client funds with personal accounts is a serious violation, and the salesperson may not personally decide to cash or hold the funds.

Within what time must an Arizona designated broker initial and date a purchase contract to evidence review?

• a.Within five business days after execution
• b.Within three banking days after execution
• c.Within ten business days after execution✓
• d.Before any earnest money reaches escrow

The designated broker reviews each listing agreement, purchase or nonresidential lease agreement within ten business days after execution, placing initials and the date on the same page as the parties' signatures; the broker may authorize an employed associate broker in writing to do it. A business day excludes Saturdays, Sundays and Arizona legal holidays. Three banking days is the property-management deposit deadline, not the review deadline. Cite: A.R.S. § 32-2151.01(G), (K).

How long must an Arizona employing broker keep the records of a completed real estate transaction?

• a.Three years after the transaction ends
• b.Five years after the transaction terminates✓
• c.Two years after the close of escrow
• d.Seven years after the close of escrow

Transaction records and employment records must be kept at least five years after the date the transaction or employment terminated, in the employing broker's principal or licensed branch office, or at an in-state off-site storage location whose street address the broker reported to the Department in advance. Cite: A.R.S. § 32-2151.01(A).

An offer on an Arizona listing is rejected and no contract ever results. How long must the broker keep it?

• a.It need not be retained after it is rejected
• b.At least five years as a matter of record
• c.Until the listing agreement term expires
• d.At least one year as a matter of record✓

The broker retains an original or a copy of any document evidencing a rejected offer for at least one year. The five-year figure applies to a different situation in the same subsection: where the negotiations did end in a binding contract, the prior rejected offers must be kept five years. Cite: A.R.S. § 32-2151.01(I).

An Arizona salesperson receives a buyer's earnest money check at an open house. What does the statute require of the salesperson?

• a.Promptly place it in the care of the designated broker✓
• b.Deposit it in the employing broker's trust account personally
• c.Hold it until the seller has accepted the offer
• d.Deliver it to a neutral escrow within three banking days

All licensees shall promptly place all cash, checks or other items of value received as payment in a real estate transaction in the care of the designated broker. The salesperson has no authority to make the deposit: withdrawal authority on a trust fund account is limited to licensees under that broker's license, and it is the broker who then places the money in escrow or a trust fund account. Cite: A.R.S. § 32-2151.01(B), (D); A.R.S. § 32-2151(A).

Who may a broker authorize to withdraw money from the broker's real estate trust fund account?

• a.Any bona fide employee of the brokerage firm
• b.The escrow officer named in the purchase contract
• c.Only a licensee under that broker's license✓
• d.Any person the broker designates in writing

A broker shall not grant any person authority to withdraw monies from the broker's trust fund account unless that person is a licensee under that broker's license. The one exception is property management: a designated broker may authorize a licensee or an unlicensed natural person in the broker's direct employ to sign on a property management trust account, which does not lessen the broker's responsibility for the money. Cite: A.R.S. § 32-2151.01(B); A.R.S. § 32-2174(C).

An Arizona property management firm receives rent that is not subject to dispute or contingency. When must the money be deposited?

• a.Within one banking day of actual receipt
• b.Within three banking days of receipt✓
• c.Within five business days after receipt
• d.By the end of the calendar month of receipt

Within three banking days after receiving monies not subject to dispute or contingency, the property management firm deposits them in either the owner's direct account or the firm's trust account for the owner's benefit. Note the unit is banking days, not business days. Cite: A.R.S. § 32-2174(D).

Which of these is expressly listed as a violation of Arizona's broker trust fund account requirements?

• a.Keeping $4,000 of the broker's own money in the account
• b.Paying an owner's disbursement from the trust account
• c.Failing to keep a separate ledger for each property✓
• d.Accepting a promissory note as earnest money

The statute lists failing to maintain separate ledgers for each property among the acts that constitute a violation, alongside failing to remove earned interest at least once every twelve months and failing to complete the monthly three-way reconciliation. Keeping not more than $5,000 of personal money to hold the account open or avoid a minimum-balance charge is expressly not commingling, and a promissory note is a permitted form of earnest money so long as its type is stated. Cite: A.R.S. § 32-2151(B)(3), (C)(1), (C)(2), (C)(4); A.R.S. § 32-2151.01(C).