Iowa Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which body licenses and regulates real estate brokers in Iowa?

• a.The county assessor's office
• b.The Iowa Real Estate Commission✓
• c.The Iowa Association of Realtors
• d.The Iowa Attorney General's real estate division

Real estate licensing in Iowa is administered by the Iowa Real Estate Commission, created within the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing under Iowa Code section 543B.8(1), with its rules at IAC 481 Chapters 2001 through 2022 (renumbered from the former 193E, which is now reserved); the Commission is what issues, renews, and disciplines broker and salesperson licenses. The county assessor's office values property for tax purposes and has no role in qualifying the people who sell it. The Iowa Association of Realtors is a private membership group whose standards bind only its voluntary members, and a trade association cannot grant or revoke the credential the statute creates. The Attorney General's office is the state's legal and enforcement arm rather than the occupational licensing body, so a real estate division there is not where a broker's license comes from.

To qualify for an Iowa broker license under Iowa Code section 543B.15(7), an applicant must have:

• a.Been an actively licensed salesperson for 24 months and completed 60 contact hours of education✓
• b.Been admitted to practice law in Iowa and completed 24 contact hours of broker education
• c.Been an actively licensed salesperson for 60 months and completed 24 contact hours of education
• d.Completed 60 contact hours of education and held any Iowa professional license for 24 months

Section 543B.15(7) sets two conditions: the person must "complete at least sixty contact hours of commission approved real estate education within twenty-four months prior to taking the broker examination," in addition to the salesperson prelicense course, and must "have been a licensed real estate salesperson actively engaged in real estate for a period of at least twenty-four months preceding the date of application," or have had substantially equal experience as a former broker or salesperson or as a manager of real estate. Reversing the two numbers describes no Iowa rule. Holding some other Iowa professional license is not the experience the statute counts, because the experience has to be active real estate practice. Admission to the Iowa bar exempts a lawyer from needing a license to act incident to the practice of law under section 543B.7(3), but it does not shorten the education or experience a broker applicant must show. Rule 481-2003.1(2) lets active salesperson experience from another jurisdiction count if that license has not been expired more than three years.