Alabama Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

An Alabama broker's unlicensed office assistant answers the phone, orders signs and lockboxes, and types advertising copy. Which additional task would require that assistant to hold a license?

• a.Ordering a lockbox and a yard sign for a new listing
• b.Mailing a signed copy of a contract out to the parties
• c.Physically showing a listed property to a prospective buyer✓
• d.Typing the licensee's advertising copy for a newspaper ad

Section 34-27-2(b)(6) exempts from licensing "persons performing general clerical or administrative duties for a broker so long as the person does not physically show listed property," and Rule 790-X-1-.04 spells out the same line from the other side: no clerical or office employee "shall physically show listed property, solicit or accept listings, negotiate sales or leases, hold himself out as engaged in the real estate business or perform any other act for which a license is required unless properly licensed." Walking a buyer through the house is the one item on this list that crosses that line, and it ends the exemption for everything the assistant does. Ordering a lockbox and a sign, mailing signed copies to the parties, and typing advertising copy are the ordinary clerical and administrative support the exemption was written to allow, because none of them puts the assistant in front of a consumer performing an act for which Section 34-27-30 requires a license. Qualifying brokers are the ones held to this: Rule 790-X-3-.15(2) makes allowing an unlicensed person to engage in activities requiring a license a failure of broker supervision.

An Alabama qualifying broker enters a co-brokerage agreement with a principal broker licensed in another state. Under Section 34-27-3 as amended in 2025, how much Alabama business may that out-of-state broker do under co-brokerage agreements in one calendar year?

• a.Three transactions✓
• b.One transaction
• c.Ten transactions
• d.Any number of transactions

Act 2025-380 added a hard ceiling that did not exist before: "A co-brokerage agreement is limited to three transactions per calendar year, per licensed out-of-state principal broker. A transaction may include multiple properties if the properties are part of the same portfolio." A companion limit in the same section forbids the out-of-state principal broker to use co-brokerage agreements for Alabama transactions "totaling more than fifty million dollars ($50,000,000) in any calendar year," so there are two ceilings running at once and neither is unlimited. One transaction understates the allowance and would make the portfolio sentence meaningless. Ten is not a figure the section uses. The Alabama qualifying broker carries the paperwork and the risk: the agreement must be in writing and specify each parcel covered, a copy must be filed with the commission not more than 10 days after all parties sign, the Alabama broker must supervise the showing of Alabama property and any subsequent negotiations, the Alabama broker's name must appear in all advertising of the property, and any earnest money must be held in escrow by the Alabama qualifying broker unless both buyer and seller agree in writing to relieve him of it.

An applicant who holds no real estate license in another state applies for an Alabama broker license. Along with the application, what must the applicant prove?

• a.An active salesperson license in any state for 24 of the preceding 36 months, plus a 60-clock-hour course✓
• b.An active salesperson license in Alabama for 12 of the preceding 24 months, plus a 30-clock-hour course
• c.An active salesperson license in any state for 60 of the preceding 72 months, plus 15 hours of continuing education
• d.An active salesperson license in Alabama for six of the preceding 12 months, plus a college degree in real estate

Section 34-27-32 sets out what a broker applicant files: "(1) Proof that he or she has had an active real estate salesperson license in any state for at least 24 months of the 36-month period immediately preceding the date of application. (2) Proof that he or she is a high school graduate or the equivalent. (3) Proof that he or she has completed a course in real estate approved by the commission, which shall be a minimum of 60 clock hours." Both the experience and the education must be there, which is what makes the broker license a tier above the salesperson license. Twelve of 24 months paired with the 30-hour course confuses the broker gate with the post-license course a new salesperson takes to convert a temporary license. Five years of licensure with continuing education instead of the broker course fails the education half no matter how many years are stacked up, and 15 hours is the renewal requirement rather than a qualification. A college degree, whatever else it is worth, is not the commission-approved course the statute names. One wording difference is worth knowing: the Pearson VUE handbook describes the requirement as "an active real estate license in any state," while the statute says an active real estate salesperson license. Handbook #093300 also gives broker applicants six months after completing the course to pass the examination.

Alabama's license period ends September 30. An Alabama broker files the renewal form and fees on September 12 of that final year. What happens?

• a.The license is placed on inactive status on October 1 and must be reactivated
• b.The license renews on payment of the renewal fee plus a $150 penalty✓
• c.The license renews on payment of the ordinary renewal fee, with no penalty owed
• d.The license lapses on October 1 and the broker must qualify as a new applicant

Section 34-27-35(g) sets two different dates and a price for the gap between them. The renewal form and fees "shall be filed on or before August 31 of the final year of each license period in order for the respective license to be renewed on a timely basis," and if they are filed "during the period from September 1 through September 30 of the final year of a license period, the one hundred fifty dollar ($150) penalty set out below shall be paid in addition to the renewal fees." September 12 is inside that window, so the license renews and the penalty is owed. It is not penalty-free, because August 31 rather than September 30 is the on-time date. It does not go inactive, because that consequence attaches only to "failure to meet this September 30 deadline," which "shall result in the license being placed on inactive status on the following October 1." And it has not lapsed: every license expires at midnight on September 30 of the final year, an expired license may still be renewed during the 12-month period that follows, and only a licensee who misses that further year "has a lapsed license, and shall be subject to all requirements applicable to persons who have never been licensed."

An Alabama associate broker is renewing an active license. How must the 15 clock hours of continuing education be composed?

• a.Three hours Risk Management, three hours Fair Housing, nine hours electives
• b.Three hours Broker course, twelve hours electives, no Risk Management
• c.Three hours Risk Management, twelve hours electives, no Broker course
• d.Three hours Risk Management, three hours Broker course, nine hours electives✓

Rule 790-X-1-.11(2) is the broker-specific version of the requirement: "Effective October 1, 2022, to meet continuing education requirements, associate brokers and qualifying brokers shall complete fifteen (15) clock hours each license period as set out below: (a) Three (3) clock hours in the Commission-approved Risk Management course. (b) Three (3) clock hours in the Commission-approved Broker course. (c) Nine (9) clock hours in Commission-approved courses." Salespersons under paragraph (1) take the same three hours of Risk Management and then twelve elective hours, so the Broker course is precisely what separates the two, and an option that drops it describes the salesperson requirement. Dropping Risk Management instead inverts the rule, since that block is mandatory for every licensee. There is no mandatory Fair Housing block in the composition, although fair housing is listed in Rule 790-X-1-.11(3) as acceptable elective subject matter. Section 34-27-35(j)(1) supplies the statutory floor of "not less than 15 clock hours" per two-year renewal and adds that hours in excess of 15 are not cumulated or credited toward later renewals.

Alabama issues a new salesperson a temporary license. A qualifying broker supervising that licensee needs to know that the temporary license:

• a.May be renewed once for a second one-year term on payment of a fee
• b.Goes inactive at six months unless the 30-hour post-license course is done✓
• c.Becomes the original license automatically one year after issuance
• d.Stays on active status for the full year while the course is completed

Section 34-27-33(c) runs a one-year clock with a cliff in the middle of it. A temporary license "shall be valid only for a period of one year following the first day of the month after its issuance," and the holder "must complete the course within six months of issuance of his or her temporary license and have his or her original license issued, otherwise his or her temporary license certificate shall automatically be placed on inactive status by the commission." The remaining six months are for catching up: "During the remaining six months his or her temporary license is valid, the holder of a temporary license may complete the course and have his or her original license issued." Rule 790-X-2-.03(3) says the same thing in licensing terms — the temporary license "may be on active status only during the six months following its issuance" — so it does not stay active for the full year. Nothing about the conversion is automatic; it takes the 30-hour post-license course, an application and the fee. And the statute forecloses a second term outright: "A temporary license is not subject to renewal procedures in this chapter and may not be renewed." Miss the full year and it lapses. One reward for finishing on time: under Section 34-27-33(c)(4) the holder of an original license who completed the post-license course is not subject to continuing education for that license's first renewal.