Idaho Brokerage Management (Broker Only)
Area VII is 20% of the broker exam and appears on no salesperson exam. Study material derived from a salesperson course covers none of it.
Broker supervision
Idaho Code 54-2038 makes the designated broker responsible for the brokerage's compliance and for the acts of its licensees and associated unlicensed persons within the course and scope of their employment or agency, wherever the business is conducted. The broker must supervise and control all office locations and all associated persons; review and approve all real estate agreements, including listing, selling, purchasing and representation agreements; remain reasonably available during business hours to manage and supervise and to keep regular contact with associates; and remain reasonably available to the public to resolve complaints. A broker unable to manage and supervise may be licensed only as a limited broker, with no associates.
Requirements to maintain a brokerage license
Each brokerage entity must be licensed and must have a properly licensed individual designated broker at all times (54-2016, 54-2039). That individual must have completed a commission-approved business conduct and office operations course within the three years immediately prior to the designation, and must hold a defined legal position in the entity: an officer of a corporation, a general partner of a partnership, or a member or manager of a limited liability company. If the designated broker's license lapses or the individual leaves, the entity has ten business days to designate another qualified individual before its license terminates and all associated licenses go inactive. No change of designated broker is effective until the Commission receives and approves written notice.
Brokerage operations: branches, records and the responsible broker
A branch office must be separately licensed only where trust funds or original transaction files are kept there; where it is licensed, the branch manager must be an associate broker who has completed the business conduct course within three years and who may manage only one branch. The broker who lists and sells is the responsible broker; in a cooperative sale it is the broker who holds the entrusted funds or transfers them to the closing agency. The responsible broker must ensure the correctness and delivery of detailed closing statements to both buyer and seller even where a title company closes, prove delivery by signature or certified mail, and keep the transaction file for the retention period in 54-2049.
Audit, discipline and the recovery fund
The Commission may conduct periodic inspections, surveys and audits of any designated broker's transaction records and trust accounts, and may order a complete CPA audit at the broker's expense where an irregularity cannot be resolved (54-2058(2)). A broker who terminates an associate for a disciplinary violation must notify the Commission in writing within ten business days, with the facts (54-2056(3)); 54-2079 states the duty again for violations of 54-2060 through 54-2062. The real estate recovery fund holds a balance of not more than $20,000 and pays a claimant holding an unsatisfied judgment for fraud, misrepresentation or deceit up to $10,000 per licensee per calendar year, after which that licensee's license is automatically suspended until the fund is repaid with interest.
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State-specific details
State exam facts
- State regulator
- Idaho Real Estate Commission
- Exam vendor
- Pearson VUE
- Prelicensing education
- 180 classroom hours (90 salesperson + 90 broker)
- Passing score
- 75 scaled score (0-100 scale, not a percentage)
- Scored questions
- 130
- Time limit
- 240 minutes
Who regulates real estate brokers in Idaho?
The Idaho Real Estate Commission licenses brokers and salespersons. Idaho Code 54-2005 creates the Commission inside the Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses, with five governor-appointed members, and 54-2007 charges it with enforcing the license law and making the rules. The Commission contracts with Pearson VUE to deliver the exams.
What education and experience do I need before the Idaho broker exam?
Idaho Code 54-2022 requires 90 classroom hours of prelicense education for a salesperson and a minimum of 90 additional classroom hours for a broker or associate broker, 180 in all. Idaho Code 54-2012(2)(a) then requires two years of full-time active experience as a licensed salesperson within the five years immediately preceding application. A designated broker must also complete a Commission-approved business conduct and office operations (BCOO) course within the three years before being designated.
How is the Idaho broker exam structured?
130 scored items: an 80-item national/general portion in 150 minutes and a 50-item Idaho state portion in 90 minutes, four hours in total, plus 5-10 unidentified pretest items in each portion. The Idaho state portion for brokers is weighted 4% Commission duties, 4% licensing, 30% license law and rules, 20% agency, 10% calculations and closing costs, 12% Idaho principles and practices, and 20% brokerage management - the last of which is broker-only and does not appear on the salesperson exam at all.
What score do I need to pass, and can I retake just one portion?
Idaho reports a scaled score on a 0-100 scale, which the candidate handbook says must not be read as the percentage of questions answered correctly. The passing point is 75 for the broker examination and 70 for the salesperson examination. A candidate who passes one portion and fails the other retakes only the failed portion, provided it is passed within one year of the date of the passed portion.
Sources: https://dopl.idaho.gov/rec/, https://www.pearsonvue.com/us/en/id/realestate.html, https://www.pearsonvue.com/content/dam/VUE/vue/en/documents/publications/091300.pdf, https://www.pearsonvue.com/content/dam/VUE/vue/en/documents/publications/091306.pdf, https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idstat/Title54/T54CH20/
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