Arizona Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

What must a metes and bounds description always do?

• a.Follow the section lines of a township
• b.Reference a recorded subdivision plat
• c.Return to its own point of beginning✓
• d.State the total acreage of the parcel

A metes and bounds description traces the boundary by courses and distances from a fixed point of beginning and must close by returning to that same point, or the parcel it describes is not enclosed. Monuments, bearings and distances supply the detail. A lot and block description is the one that refers to a recorded plat, acreage is a computed result rather than a requirement, and section lines belong to the rectangular survey system.

Under the rectangular survey system, how many acres are in a standard section?

• a.320 acres
• b.160 acres
• c.640 acres✓
• d.1,280 acres

A standard section is one mile square and contains 640 acres, and a township of thirty-six sections is six miles square and therefore contains thirty-six square miles. Arizona lands are surveyed from the Gila and Salt River Base Line and Meridian, so an Arizona legal description carries township and range references measured from that initial point. A quarter section is 160 acres and a half section is 320.

Under Article X, Section 3 of the Arizona Constitution, how may state trust land be sold or leased?

• a.Only through a licensed broker retained by the state
• b.Only to an adjoining landowner who applies to lease it
• c.Only to the highest and best bidder at a public auction✓
• d.Only by private negotiation with the State Land Department

Article X, Section 3 provides that state trust lands 'shall not be sold or leased, in whole or in part, except to the highest and best bidder at a public auction to be held at the county seat of the county wherein the lands to be affected, or the major portion thereof, shall lie,' after notice by advertisement published once each week for not less than ten successive weeks. The same section makes any mortgage or other encumbrance of those lands invalid.

What price floor does Article X, Section 4 of the Arizona Constitution place on a sale of state trust land?

• a.Not less than the average price of comparable private land
• b.Not less than the appraised true value of the land✓
• c.Not less than the amount owed on any existing lease
• d.Not less than the county assessor's full cash value

Article X, Section 4 requires that all lands, leaseholds, timber and other products of land 'before being offered, shall be appraised at their true value,' and that no sale or other disposal be made 'for a consideration less than the value so ascertained, nor in any case less than the minimum price hereinafter fixed.' It also provides that legal title does not pass until the consideration has been paid. The assessor's valuation is a tax figure and plays no part.