Delaware Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A Delaware salesperson's advertisement for a listed property shows her own name and mobile number. The advertising rules also require it to carry:

• a.The registered brokerage name and office phone, more prominent than her name✓
• b.Her license number and the date it was issued, in the same size as her name
• c.The seller's name and the county where the deed is recorded, set in bold type
• d.The MLS number and the cooperating brokerage's name, adjacent to her name

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 8.6.5.3 requires the complete brokerage organization name registered with the Commission and the registered office phone number, and says “the advertisement shall prominently display the Brokerage Organization name and phone number in greater size and visibility than the Licensee's name.” Relative prominence is the operative idea, so a rule that put anything in the same size as her name would miss it, and Delaware does not require a license number or issue date in advertising at all. The seller's name and the recording county are not advertising disclosures; the seller's identity is ordinary transaction information, not a consumer protection. An MLS number is a cooperation convenience with no rule behind it, though § 8.6.5.4 does require team advertising to show the supervising broker's brokerage name adjacent to the team name and larger than it.

A Delaware broker's license is revoked. What becomes of the licenses of the salespersons affiliated with that broker?

• a.They are unaffected, because discipline attaches only to the broker at fault
• b.They are automatically revoked along with the broker's own license
• c.They convert to inactive status for the remainder of the license period
• d.They are automatically suspended pending a change of employing broker✓

24 Del. C. § 2917 provides that revoking a broker's license “shall automatically suspend every real estate service provider's license granted to any individual by virtue of employment either directly or indirectly by the broker whose license has been revoked, pending a change of employing broker or brokerage organization and the issuance of a new license.” Suspension is the deliberate middle ground: the affiliated licensees cannot practice while they have no supervising broker, but they have done nothing to warrant losing their own credential, so automatic revocation would punish them for someone else's conduct and leaving them unaffected would leave them practicing unsupervised. Inactive status is a voluntary election a licensee requests under § 2921(b), not something imposed. The replacement license is issued without charge if it is granted in the same licensure period.

Under the Commission's rules, a Delaware licensee must obtain the Seller's Disclosure of Real Property Condition Report from a residential seller:

• a.Before the buyer's inspection contingency expires
• b.At settlement, along with the deed and the transfer forms
• c.Before the licensee accepts a written listing agreement✓
• d.Within ten days after the listing agreement is signed

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 10.7.1 says licensees “shall obtain a Condition Report from the seller of residential property prior to accepting a written listing agreement and shall make the Condition Report available to any buyer,” and the same subsection requires the most recent report to reach the buyer before the buyer enters into an agreement of sale, with the report made part of that agreement. The deadline sits at the front of the engagement because the report is meant to inform the buyer's offer, so any date measured from the signing of the listing, from an inspection contingency, or from settlement arrives after the decision it exists to inform. There is a separate Commission-approved New Construction form under § 10.7.2 for residential property that has not yet been issued a certificate of occupancy.

A residential seller qualifies for an exemption from Delaware's Condition Report. The licensee must then obtain from that seller:

• a.The Exempt Property Certification, before a written listing agreement✓
• b.Nothing further, since an exempt seller has no disclosure paperwork at all
• c.A written waiver signed by the buyer when the offer is presented
• d.A Commission-issued exemption letter, before the property is advertised

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 10.7.3 provides that where the seller meets one of the exemptions, “licensees shall obtain a certification in lieu of the Condition Report and Radon Disclosure prior to accepting a written listing agreement and shall make the certification readily available to any prospective buyer.” The exemption substitutes one document for another rather than removing paperwork, which is why a seller who simply hands over nothing has not complied. The buyer has nothing to waive here, because the duty runs from the seller to the licensee before the buyer is even in the picture. And the certification comes from the seller, not from the Commission, so there is no letter to apply for; like the Condition Report it must be given to the buyer before the agreement of sale and made part of it.

Along with the seller's most recent Radon Disclosure, a Delaware licensee must give the buyer:

• a.A signed statement that the seller has never tested the house for radon
• b.A copy of the federal booklet on lead-based paint hazards in housing
• c.A copy of the booklet “Radon Rights, Risks and Remedy for the Home Buyer”✓
• d.A copy of the property's most recent radon test result from DNREC

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 10.8.1 requires the licensee to provide the seller's most recent Radon Disclosure “along with a copy of ‘Radon Rights, Risks and Remedy for the Home Buyer’ to a buyer before the buyer enters into an agreement of sale,” and to make the disclosure part of that agreement. The companion booklet is an education piece, so it is owed whatever the house's testing history is; DNREC does not hold a per-property test file to be copied, and a seller who has never tested simply says so on the disclosure rather than on a separate signed statement. The lead-based paint booklet is a real obligation but a federal one, arising from the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act for target housing built before 1978, and it neither substitutes for nor satisfies the Delaware radon rule.

A buyer asks a Delaware licensee, in writing, whether a former occupant of the house had HIV or AIDS. The licensee must:

• a.Refer the buyer to the Division of Public Health for a written answer
• b.Decline to disclose, because the statute forbids disclosure even on request✓
• c.Answer truthfully to the best of the licensee's knowledge, as with any request
• d.Ask the seller, then pass along whatever answer the seller gives in writing

24 Del. C. § 2927(d) is unusually blunt: the owner, landlord or licensee “shall not make any disclosure concerning those psychological impacts of HIV, AIDS, or any other disease which has been determined by medical evidence to be highly unlikely to be transmitted through the occupancy of a dwelling place even if a customer or client specifically asks about such psychological impacts.” That express carve-out is what defeats the truthful-answer option, which is otherwise the rule under § 2927(c) for other psychological impacts such as a homicide or suicide on the property, where a specific written request does trigger a truthful answer. Passing the seller's answer along is the same prohibited disclosure wearing a middleman, and steering the buyer to a health agency invites the same information by another route. § 2927(a) confirms that psychological impact is not a material fact requiring disclosure in the first place.

Delaware's rules on copies of listing agreements, agreements of sale and leases require the licensee to deliver:

• a.A fully executed copy only, within thirty days of the settlement date
• b.A copy at signing, with no further duty once the contract is complete
• c.A fully executed copy only, and only to the party the licensee represents
• d.A copy at signing, and a fully executed copy once all parties have signed✓

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 8.4.1 requires that every party “be furnished with a copy when the party signs or initials it and a fully executed copy of such agreement or agreements after all parties have signed it,” and makes delivery of the executed copy the licensee's responsibility within a reasonable time. Two deliveries are the point: the first proves what the party actually signed, the second proves the deal that resulted, so a rule offering only one of them leaves a gap. Nor is the duty owed only to the licensee's own client, since the subsection reaches every party to the agreement. There is no thirty-day clock, and copies may be furnished in paper or electronic format.

All parties sign a Delaware agreement of sale on a Friday. The broker must deposit the earnest money into the escrow account within:

• a.48 hours, excluding weekends and federal holidays
• b.72 hours, excluding weekends and federal holidays✓
• c.ten business days, excluding federal holidays
• d.24 hours, counting weekends and federal holidays

24 Del. C. § 2923(d) requires the licensee to pay over the money promptly and provides that “the broker shall deposit the moneys into the broker's escrow account within 72 hours of the signing of the written agreement by all parties, or by the dates defined therein, excluding weekends and federal holidays.” Both halves matter and the wrong answers each break one of them: the exclusion of weekends and holidays is what makes a Friday signing workable, so a period that counts them misstates the clock, and 48 hours or ten business days misstate its length. The trigger is the signing of the agreement by all parties rather than the moment the deposit changes hands, and § 2923(c) requires the deposit to be accepted in the brokerage organization's name unless the parties have agreed on a different third-party escrow agent.

A Delaware licensee wants to pay $500 to an unlicensed neighbor who sent her a buyer. Under the Commission's rules she:

• a.May not, because commission income cannot be a finder's fee to a non-licensee✓
• b.May, provided the payment is disclosed in writing to both parties at settlement
• c.May, provided the neighbor signs an acknowledgment describing the referral
• d.May not, unless the payment comes out of her own personal funds instead

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 8.8.1 says licensees “cannot use commissions or income received from commissions as rebates or compensation paid to or given to non-licensed persons, partnerships or corporations as inducements to do or secure business, or as a finder's fee,” unless paid under a written cooperation or affiliation agreement the chapter permits. Because the bar is on the payment itself, disclosing it or documenting it after the fact does not cure it, and relabelling the source as personal funds does not either — commission income does not stop being commission income once it reaches the licensee's own account. What Delaware does allow is different: § 8.8.2 permits a rebate, discount or other thing of value given directly to the purchaser or seller of the real estate, and § 8.8.3 then requires timely written disclosure to the principal of any rebate that may be made to the other party.

Delaware licensees may assist buyers and sellers in preparing offers and counteroffers, on one condition:

• a.A Delaware attorney reviews each form before the parties are asked to sign it
• b.The licensee's broker countersigns the offer as the preparer of the document
• c.The parties waive in writing any claim arising out of the drafting of the form
• d.The forms used advise the parties they may seek legal advice before signing✓

24 Del. C. § 2936(e)(6) lists among the actions an agent may take without breaching any duty: assisting buyers and sellers in preparing offers and counteroffers, “providing that the forms used advise the parties that they may seek legal advice prior to signing.” The notice is what keeps form-filling on the licensee's side of the line between real estate practice and the practice of law, which is why the answer is a line of text on the form rather than a lawyer, a countersignature or a waiver. Requiring attorney review of every offer would make the permission useless, a broker's countersignature addresses supervision rather than the legal-advice boundary, and a waiver of claims is the opposite of a consumer protection. § 2936(b)(4) adds the related duty to advise parties to obtain expert advice on material matters beyond the licensee's expertise.

Chapter 29 lets a Delaware licensee prepare a competitive market analysis in most situations but not:

• a.For an owner who is deciding what price to list a property for sale at
• b.For a landlord who is deciding what rent to ask for a vacant unit
• c.For the mortgagee, on a property under a signed agreement of sale✓
• d.For a potential buyer who is deciding what price to offer for a property

24 Del. C. § 2931 permits the competitive market analysis as part of real estate services but adds that “a licensee shall not perform a competitive market analysis for the mortgagee on a property that is the subject of a signed agreement of sale.” That is the moment a CMA would be doing an appraiser's job, valuing collateral for a lender's credit decision, and § 2931(1) confines the permitted purposes to an existing or potential seller or owner listing a property and an existing or potential buyer or tenant purchasing or leasing one — which is exactly what the other three options describe. A CMA is not an appraisal, and § 2931(2) requires the analysis to carry, in at least 12-point bold face immediately after the estimated market price, a disclosure saying so and directing anyone who needs a value for a mortgage, divorce, estate or bankruptcy purpose to a licensed or certified appraiser.

Delaware's consumer information statement must be delivered no later than the earlier of the first scheduled appointment, the first showing, or making an offer. It must be signed:

• a.Before an agreement of sale, listing or other brokerage agreement is signed✓
• b.Within three business days after the licensee's first substantive contact
• c.At the same moment it is delivered, or the delivery does not count at all
• d.Before the licensee answers any question at all about a listed property

24 Del. C. § 2938(b) sets delivery at the earlier of those three moments and then adds separately that “the CIS must be signed by the customer or client prior to signing an agreement of sale, listing agreement or any other brokerage agreement, unless otherwise exempt.” Delivery and signature are therefore two different deadlines, which is why an answer that collapses them into one moment is wrong: the statement can be handed over at a showing and signed later, and § 2938(g) makes that gap explicit for residential rentals, where the tenant need not sign until applying or signing a lease. No three-day period appears in the section. Answering factual questions about a property is not the trigger either — § 2938(c) says the CIS need only be available at an open house unless the consumer asks for more than factual information or shows interest in making an offer.

Under Chapter 29 a Delaware licensee's duty of confidentiality to a customer begins:

• a.When the customer signs the consumer information statement
• b.When the customer signs a written brokerage agreement
• c.Upon the first contact between licensee and customer✓
• d.Upon the first scheduled appointment between them

24 Del. C. § 2934(a) and § 2938(d) both provide that “the duties of confidentiality as required by § 2936(c) of this title begin upon first contact between a licensee and the customer,” and only then list the later triggers — the first scheduled appointment, the first showing, making an offer, or otherwise working for the client — for the other statutory duties. Confidentiality is pulled forward on purpose, because a consumer volunteers motive and price flexibility in the first conversation, long before any paperwork exists; hanging it on the CIS or a brokerage agreement would leave that first conversation unprotected. § 2936(c) then names what is protected, including that a buyer would pay more or a seller take less, the parties' personal motivating factors, and material confidential information about the parties or the property. Under § 2934(b) confidentiality survives the end of the relationship.

Two of a Delaware licensee's clients want to bid on the same listed house. Under the permitted-actions provision the licensee may:

• a.Present both offers only if the seller consents to the arrangement
• b.Present offers on the same property for more than one of them✓
• c.Present only the first client's offer and withdraw from the second
• d.Present both offers only once each client waives confidentiality

24 Del. C. § 2936(e)(4) lists “present offers on the same property for more than 1 customer or client” among the things an agent may do “without breaching any obligation, duty, or responsibility to a customer or client.” The same subsection permits listing competing properties, showing one client's property to another, and showing alternatives not owned by the broker's other clients, so competing interests inside one brokerage are contemplated rather than treated as a conflict to be cured. Because no breach occurs, nothing needs curing: withdrawing from the second client, extracting a confidentiality waiver, or asking the seller's permission all treat a permitted action as a forbidden one. The duty that does persist is confidentiality under § 2936(c) — neither buyer's price ceiling may be leaked to the other — and § 2936(f) confirms there is no imputation of knowledge between licensees in the organization.

A Delaware licensee has not been hired as a common law agent by any written brokerage agreement. That licensee functions as:

• a.A common law agent, with fiduciary duties implied from the relationship
• b.A transaction broker, owing no duties to either side of the transaction
• c.A subagent of the listing broker, owing fiduciary duties to the seller
• d.A statutory agent, as an independent contractor rather than a fiduciary✓

24 Del. C. § 2936(a) states that “unless specifically hired as a common law agent by a written brokerage agreement, a licensee is a statutory agent and not a common law agent for any party,” and § 2902(a)(25) defines that statutory agent as functioning “as an independent contractor and not as a fiduciary.” Common law agency is the opt-in, not the default, so it cannot be implied from conduct. Transaction broker is a status other states use and Delaware does not — § 2930(c) says a Delaware licensee who works as one in another jurisdiction is not treated as having that status here — and it misdescribes the duties in any event, since § 2936(b) loads the statutory agent with obligations from reasonable skill and care to disclosing adverse material facts actually known. Subagency is not the default either, and § 2936(e)(10) bars common law subagents from other firms in one-to-four family residential transactions.

A Delaware licensee is working for both the buyer and the seller of a single-family home. Under Chapter 29 that licensee is:

• a.A common law dual agent owing fiduciary duties equally to both parties
• b.Presumed to be a statutory dual agent unless a signed CIS says otherwise✓
• c.A dual agent only once both parties have given informed consent in writing
• d.Barred from continuing, because Delaware prohibits dual agency outright

Delaware does not run dual agency on a consent model. 24 Del. C. § 2933(c)(1)c provides that for one-to-four family residences “a licensee working for both buyer and seller is presumed to be a statutory agent representing both parties as a dual agent,” and § 2933(c)(3) allows that presumption to be rebutted only “by the consumer signing a consumer information statement establishing a different agency relationship.” The status therefore arrives by operation of law and is undone by a document, not created by permission, which is why an informed-consent answer inverts the mechanism; informed consent appears in this chapter at § 2936(c), attached to confidentiality, not as a gate on dual agency. Dual agency is not prohibited outright, and it cannot be the common law kind here: § 2933(a) expressly abrogates the common law of agency for statutory agents, and § 2932(c)(4) bars common law agency in one-to-four family residential work unless the broker's policy is single agency and never dual.

A Delaware licensee completes every term of the Voluntary Treatment Option for chemically dependent or impaired professionals. That licensee's record of participation:

• a.Does not reflect discipline and is not open to public inspection✓
• b.Is published in the Commission's public minutes for the meeting
• c.Reflects a letter of reprimand that stays on the license for two years
• d.Is forwarded to every jurisdiction in which the licensee holds a license

24 DE Admin. Code 2900 § 15.6.7 provides that “the regulated professional's records of participation in the Voluntary Treatment Option will not reflect disciplinary action and shall not be considered public records open to public inspection,” while reserving the Commission's right to consider those records in setting a sanction in a later matter where impairment is again at issue. Confidentiality is the inducement that makes the option work, so publishing the participation, converting it into a reprimand, or reporting it to other jurisdictions would each defeat the design. The option is not a license surrender either: § 15.4 lets the professional continue to practice, subject to any limits deemed necessary to protect the public, provided the agreed treatment plan is followed. Failing to cooperate or to progress disqualifies the professional and triggers an immediate investigation under § 15.5.