Massachusetts Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A Massachusetts law effective in August 2024 restricts home inspection waivers. What does it forbid a seller or the seller's agent from doing?

• a.Letting a buyer shorten the inspection period to fewer than seven days
• b.Accepting any offer from a buyer who has already had the house inspected
• c.Selling a house at auction without first obtaining a full home inspection
• d.Conditioning acceptance of an offer on the buyer giving up the right to inspect✓

M.G.L. c.143 s.101, added by St.2024 c.150 s.45 effective August 6, 2024, directs the executive office of housing and livable communities to make regulations ensuring that no seller of a residential structure or condominium unit, or an agent of the seller, conditions acceptance of an offer on the buyer's agreement to waive or restrict the right to have the property inspected, or accepts an offer from a buyer who signals in advance an intent to waive. The section says nothing about how short an inspection period may be. It does not touch a buyer who has already inspected, which is the ordinary case. And auctions run by a licensed auctioneer are one of its express exceptions, alongside sales to close family members.

A Massachusetts seller offers to let the broker keep everything above six hundred thousand dollars. What is that?

• a.An open listing, allowed provided the seller signs a written agreement
• b.An exclusive agency listing, allowed if the surplus is disclosed at closing
• c.A facilitator agreement, allowed because no agency relationship is created
• d.A net listing, which the license law names as a ground for discipline✓

M.G.L. c.112 s.87AAA(l) lets the Board discipline a licensee who has accepted from a prospective seller a net listing, described there as an agreement to sell real estate for a stated price authorizing the broker to keep as commission any money received above that price. The arrangement puts the broker's interest against the seller's on every dollar of the sale price, which is why it is prohibited rather than merely disclosed. Open listings and exclusive agency listings are lawful forms and are defined by who else may earn a commission, not by how the broker is paid, so relabeling the arrangement does not rescue it. A facilitator under s.87AAA3/4(f) represents neither party and is a form of service, not a compensation scheme.