Mississippi Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

A new environmental ordinance leaves a landowner with no economically viable use of a parcel, although the government takes no title to it. The owner's strongest constitutional claim is:

• a.The ordinance is void because zoning cannot restrict use
• b.A regulatory taking entitling the owner to payment✓
• c.Escheat has occurred and the state now owns the parcel
• d.Spot zoning, since only this parcel lost its value

Regulation that goes so far it denies an owner all economically viable use is treated as a regulatory taking, and just compensation is owed even though the government never took title. Arguing that zoning simply cannot restrict use fails, because regulating land is a valid exercise of the police power and owners have no right to the most profitable use. Escheat moves property to the state only when an owner dies with no will and no heirs, which has nothing to do with an ordinance. Spot zoning describes singling out one parcel for a different classification, not a general environmental rule applied to a class of land.

Reviewing a title report, a broker finds an old recorded covenant, written decades ago, that bars resale of the lot to members of a specified race. Its legal effect today is:

• a.It binds the buyer because it was recorded before purchase
• b.It is void, so a court will never enforce it or enjoin it✓
• c.It stays valid until the homeowners association removes it
• d.It is enforceable by the association but not by an owner

A private restriction that discriminates on a protected basis is void and unenforceable under the federal Fair Housing Act and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, so no court will order compliance or enjoin a violation, and the association has no power the courts would back. Recording rescues nothing, because an illegal restriction gains no force from sitting in the public record. No association vote is required to strip it of effect, although many states let an owner have the language formally struck. Valid CC&Rs, by contrast, are enforced privately by injunction brought by an owner or the association. A broker must never repeat or give effect to such language.

A grantor signs and notarizes a deed naming a nephew as grantee, locks it in a safe deposit box, and tells no one. The grantor later dies. What is the deed's effect?

• a.Title passed when the grantor signed the deed
• b.Title passed because the deed was acknowledged
• c.No title passed, because delivery never occurred✓
• d.Title passes when the estate later records it

A deed operates only when the grantor delivers it with the present intent to pass title and the grantee accepts, and both must happen while the grantor is alive. Signing accomplishes nothing while the instrument stays under the grantor's control in a box no one knows about. Acknowledgment before a notary serves recording, not validity, so notarizing it changes nothing here. An estate representative cannot supply the delivery the grantor failed to make, and recording an undelivered deed does not revive it. The nephew takes only through the will or the intestacy statute, which is why closings hand over the executed deed rather than merely signing it.

A deed is signed by a competent grantor and handed to a grantee who accepts it, but the grantor's signature was never notarized. As between those two parties, the deed is:

• a.Void, since notarizing is a validity requirement
• b.Valid, though it cannot be recorded as it stands✓
• c.Valid only if the grantee later pays a recording fee
• d.Voidable at the option of the grantor's creditors

Acknowledgment is a recording requirement, not an element of a valid deed. Delivered and accepted, the deed transfers title between grantor and grantee even with no notary, but the recorder will reject it, leaving the grantee exposed to later purchasers and lienholders who record first. Calling it void confuses the two ideas: validity turns on a competent grantor, an identifiable grantee, words of conveyance, an adequate legal description, the grantor's signature, and delivery and acceptance. Paying a fee cannot cure a missing acknowledgment, because the recorder cannot accept the instrument at all. Creditors of the grantor gain no power to undo a completed conveyance.

In a deed, which clause opens with the words 'to have and to hold' and defines the extent of the estate the grantee is receiving?

• a.The granting clause containing the words of conveyance
• b.The habendum clause, following the granting clause✓
• c.The acknowledgment taken before a notary public officer
• d.The legal description identifying the land conveyed

The habendum clause follows the granting clause, begins with the traditional phrase 'to have and to hold,' and spells out the estate conveyed, for example a fee simple absolute or a life estate. The granting clause holds the words of conveyance that actually transfer the interest and names the grantee. The acknowledgment is the notary's certificate that the signature is genuine, which the recorder requires but the transfer does not. The legal description identifies the land by metes and bounds, lot and block, or government survey, and it fixes what is conveyed rather than how much of an estate. Reading both clauses tells a broker exactly what the buyer is getting.

A relocation company that has owned a home for three months conveys it, warranting title only against defects that arose during its own ownership. The deed it delivers is a:

• a.Bargain and sale deed implying ownership without covenants
• b.General warranty deed covering the entire chain of title
• c.Quitclaim deed conveying only the interest actually held
• d.Special (limited) warranty deed covering the grantor's period✓

Warranting only against defects created or suffered while the grantor held title describes the special or limited warranty deed, the customary instrument for corporate, relocation, and fiduciary sellers who cannot vouch for what earlier owners did. A general warranty deed reaches back through the whole history of the property and offers the broadest protection, which is more than this seller is giving. A quitclaim carries no warranties at all and passes only whatever interest the signer happens to hold. A bargain and sale deed implies that the grantor owns the property but adds few or no covenants. A buyer taking narrower covenants should lean on an owner's title policy.

A title search shows that a seller's former spouse may still hold a possible interest in the property. What is the usual instrument used to release that interest and clear the record?

• a.A quitclaim deed from the former spouse✓
• b.A general warranty deed from the former spouse
• c.A trustee's deed issued after a foreclosure
• d.A correction deed fixing the legal description

A quitclaim releases whatever interest the signer may hold, with no warranties attached, which makes it the standard tool for removing a cloud such as a possible marital interest, a stale easement claim, or a name discrepancy. Demanding a general warranty deed asks the former spouse to guarantee title he or she may never have owned, and it is normally refused. A trustee's deed is what the trustee under a deed of trust issues to the purchaser at a foreclosure sale. A correction deed reforms a mistake in an earlier deed between the same parties and cannot release an outsider's claim.

A court-appointed personal representative sells a decedent's home during probate, and the buyer's broker asks what instrument will convey title. The answer is:

• a.A trustee's deed given after a nonjudicial foreclosure
• b.A sheriff's deed issued following a judicial sale
• c.A general warranty deed with full title covenants
• d.An executor's or personal representative's deed✓

Estate property is conveyed by an executor's deed when a will names the executor, or by a personal representative's or administrator's deed when the court makes the appointment; these deeds recite the court authority and give only limited covenants. A trustee's deed comes from the trustee under a deed of trust after a nonjudicial foreclosure sale. A sheriff's deed, called a referee's deed in some states, follows a judicial sale ordered by a court. A general warranty deed is not used, because a fiduciary will not personally guarantee title against the acts of the decedent or of owners further back in the chain.

After closing under a general warranty deed, a buyer discovers a recorded utility easement that the deed never disclosed. Which covenant did the grantor breach?

• a.Quiet enjoyment, a promise against eviction by better title
• b.Seisin, a promise that the grantor owns the estate conveyed
• c.Against encumbrances, a promise of no undisclosed burdens✓
• d.Further assurance, a promise to sign curative papers

The covenant against encumbrances promises that no liens, easements, or similar burdens exist beyond those the deed discloses, so a recorded easement left unmentioned breaches it at the moment of delivery. Seisin promises the grantor actually owns the estate being conveyed, which is not the trouble when ownership is sound but burdened. Quiet enjoyment shields the grantee from later eviction by someone holding superior title, and an easement holder's use is not an eviction. Further assurance obliges the grantor to sign additional documents needed to perfect title. A general warranty deed carries all of these along with the right to convey and warranty forever.

A neighbor has openly farmed and fenced a strip of an absentee owner's land, excluding others and never asking permission. To take title by adverse possession the neighbor must prove:

• a.Payment of the owner's property taxes for every year
• b.Open, notorious, continuous, hostile, and exclusive possession✓
• c.A written agreement signed by the record title owner
• d.A recorded deed describing the disputed strip of land

Adverse possession requires possession that is open and notorious, continuous, hostile in the sense of being without permission, and exclusive, held for the statutory period set by state law. Some states add payment of taxes or color of title, but those elements are not universal, so a broker should never assume them from another state's rule. A written agreement from the record owner would destroy the claim outright, since permission defeats hostility. Recording a deed creates no possession and cannot manufacture the required years of use. Adverse possession is one form of involuntary alienation, alongside descent, escheat, foreclosure, eminent domain, and accretion.

An owner dies leaving no will, and after a diligent search no heirs can be located. A broker asked to list the property should understand that title:

• a.Passes by devise to the beneficiaries named in a will
• b.Descends to the decedent's nearest surviving creditors
• c.Vests permanently in the administrator the court appoints
• d.Escheats to the state, an involuntary transfer of title✓

Escheat is the state's claim to property when an owner dies intestate and no heirs can be found, and it is a classic involuntary transfer rather than a voluntary one by deed or will. Devise is a gift of real property by will, so it cannot operate where there is no will and no named beneficiary. Descent carries property to heirs under the intestacy statute, but creditors are paid as claimants out of the estate and never inherit the land itself. An administrator has authority to manage and convey estate property during probate, not to own it permanently. Each state sets its own escheat procedure and waiting period.

A search reveals an old mortgage of record that was paid off but never released, and the lender no longer exists. Which step clears that cloud so title is marketable?

• a.Ordering an abstract of title with an attorney's opinion
• b.Buying an owner's title policy that insures over it
• c.Filing a quiet title action asking a court to clear it✓
• d.Recording a correction deed signed by the current seller

A quiet title action asks a court to determine ownership and extinguish a stale or unreleasable claim, which is the practical cure when the mortgagee has vanished and no release can be obtained. An abstract of title with an attorney's opinion summarizes and evaluates the recorded chain; it reports the cloud rather than removing it, and it offers no indemnity. An owner's policy may insure over a known risk, but insurance pays for loss and leaves the defect on the record for the next buyer to confront. A correction deed fixes a drafting error between the original parties and cannot release a third party's lien.

A seller deeds a parcel to one buyer and later deeds the same parcel to a second buyer, who records first. Which framework decides who owns the land?

• a.A federal recording statute applied in all fifty states
• b.The state's recording act, race, notice, or race-notice✓
• c.The order in which the two deeds were signed and dated
• d.The county recorder's discretion over competing claims

Priority between competing grantees is governed by the recording act of the state where the land lies, and the schemes differ: a pure race state protects whoever records first, a notice state protects a later purchaser who took without notice of the earlier deed, and a race-notice state protects one who took without notice and recorded first. No federal statute governs land recording. Signing dates do not decide the contest, which is precisely why a public recording system exists. Recorders act ministerially and have no power to resolve claims. Because the gap between closing and recording is the danger zone, a broker should press for prompt recording.

A buyer pays for a lender's title policy at closing and asks the broker whether it also protects the buyer's equity in the home. The correct answer is that the policy:

• a.Protects both parties equally up to the full purchase price
• b.Protects the buyer once the mortgage has been fully repaid
• c.Protects the buyer against defects arising after closing
• d.Protects only the lender, declining with the balance✓

A lender's, or mortgagee's, policy insures only the lender's security interest, and its coverage shrinks as the principal is paid down, ending altogether when the loan is satisfied. It never covers the buyer's equity, which is why a separate owner's policy is offered at closing for a one-time premium and lasts as long as the insured holds an interest. Repaying the mortgage does not convert the lender's coverage into the buyer's; it extinguishes it. And no title policy insures defects that first arise after its date. Brokers should explain this plainly before a buyer waives owner's coverage to save money.

Six months after closing, a contractor the buyer hired records a mechanic's lien against the home. The buyer files a claim under the owner's title policy. The insurer will most likely:

• a.Deny, because the defect arose after the policy was issued✓
• b.Pay, because owner's policies cover all future liens
• c.Pay, because the standard exceptions were removed
• d.Deny, because only a lender may file a title claim

Title insurance looks backward: it covers defects that already existed when the policy was issued but were not discovered or excepted, not events that happen later. A lien for work the buyer ordered after closing is a new problem the buyer must resolve directly. Buying extended coverage removes standard exceptions and broadens what is insured as of the policy date, but it does not push coverage forward in time. Owners plainly may claim under their own policies; the lender's policy is the one limited to the lender. Extended coverage typically depends on a current survey, which reveals encroachments and boundary issues a records search alone cannot.

A buyer tours a house and finds an occupant who is not the seller living there under an unrecorded lease. What kind of notice does that occupancy give the buyer?

• a.Actual notice, given by the seller's written disclosure
• b.Constructive notice, given by the public record
• c.No notice at all, since the lease was not recorded
• d.Inquiry notice, requiring the buyer to ask about it✓

Someone in possession who is not the seller puts a buyer on inquiry notice: the buyer is charged with whatever a reasonable investigation of that occupancy would have turned up, including an unrecorded lease or an option to purchase. Actual notice is what a party genuinely knows, typically from a disclosure or a conversation, and no one has told this buyer anything. Constructive notice comes from the public record, which by definition cannot reveal an unrecorded lease. Treating an unrecorded interest as invisible is the classic error, because possession is itself notice. A broker should always ask who occupies a property and on what terms.

At a Mississippi Real Estate Commission disciplinary hearing, the charges against a licensee must be established by:

• a.a preponderance of the evidence
• b.clear and convincing evidence✓
• c.proof beyond a reasonable doubt
• d.substantial evidence in the record

Miss. Code Section 73-35-23 says it twice — once for hearings before the Commission in subsection (1) and again for hearings before an administrative hearing officer in subsection (7): "The clear and convincing standard of proof shall be used to examine factors during all hearings." SB 2423 (2025 Regular Session), ch. 365, effective July 1, 2025, put it there, replacing "preponderance of the evidence." That makes the preponderance answer the one a study guide printed before mid-2025 would give, and it is now wrong. Proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the criminal standard and has never applied to a Mississippi license hearing. Substantial evidence is the deferential test a circuit court uses when it reviews the Commission's decision on appeal under Section 73-35-25, not the burden the Commission carries at the hearing itself.

A Mississippi licensee is charged with a license-law violation. Before the hearing the licensee is entitled to:

• a.fifteen days' notice and the option of a hearing officer✓
• b.thirty days' notice and a hearing before a circuit judge
• c.ten days' notice and a hearing before Commission staff
• d.sixty days' notice and a jury in the licensee's county

Section 73-35-23(1) requires that the licensee be given fifteen (15) days' notice of the hearing on the charges filed, together with notice of the option of appearing before the Commission or before an administrative hearing officer under subsection (7), and a copy of the complaint. The hearing officers are staff attorneys designated by the Attorney General who must not hold an MREC license, and their hearings sit in the City of Jackson. Commission staff do not preside — the whole point of the administrative-hearing option the Legislature required by July 1, 2022 is a decision-maker outside the Commission. A circuit judge and the thirty-day clock belong to the appeal: Section 73-35-25 sends an aggrieved licensee to circuit court within thirty days of service of notice of the Commission's action, where the case is heard without a jury.

Under Mississippi's complaint-resolution deadlines, a complaint must be dismissed or moved to a formal complaint within:

• a.30 days, with final disposition within six months
• b.60 days, with final disposition within 180 days
• c.120 days, with final disposition within one year✓
• d.180 days, with final disposition within two years

Section 73-35-23(9), added by SB 2423 (2025 Regular Session), ch. 365, runs two clocks from the date written notice of the commencement of an investigation is given to the licensee and the licensee's responsible broker. The first: dismissal or issuance of a formal complaint within one hundred twenty (120) days. The second: final dismissal, a final ruling on any formal complaint, or entry of an agreed dispositional order within one (1) year. The one-year limit bends only for scheduling — an administrative hearing may be set up to sixty days beyond it where hearing officers are not reasonably available — and the subsection says in terms that the limit shall not deprive a licensee of the administrative-hearing option. The 30-, 60- and 180-day figures appear nowhere in the chapter.

Which action against a licensee is within the Mississippi Real Estate Commission's own authority?

• a.Sentencing the licensee to ninety days in county jail
• b.Ordering the licensee to pay the complainant damages
• c.Attaching the commission the licensee's firm is holding
• d.Issuing subpoenas for witnesses and for documents✓

Section 73-35-23(3) empowers the Commission to issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses and the production of books and papers, and its process extends to all parts of the state; subsection (4) has a court enforce a subpoena a witness ignores, the same way it would in a civil case. What the Commission cannot do is act as a court. The fines and jail terms in Section 73-35-31 — $500 to $1,000 and up to ninety days for an individual's first violation — follow a criminal conviction obtained in court. Damages are likewise a court remedy: Section 73-35-31(2) lets an aggrieved person sue for up to four times the compensation a violator received, but in a court of competent jurisdiction. Nothing in the chapter gives the Commission a lien on a licensee's commission. Its own remedies are refusal, suspension and revocation under Section 73-35-21, plus injunctive proceedings under Section 73-35-23(2).

An applicant for a Mississippi resident broker's license must be at least 21 and domiciled in the state, and must also have:

• a.held an active salesperson's license 12 months and 120 hours✓
• b.held an active salesperson's license 24 months and 90 hours
• c.held any Mississippi real estate license and 180 course hours
• d.held an active broker-salesperson's license and 60 course hours

Section 73-35-7 sets the resident broker path: age twenty-one (21) or over with legal domicile in Mississippi, twelve (12) months as an active real estate salesperson before applying for the broker's examination, one hundred twenty (120) hours of real estate courses, the broker's examination, and clearance through the Section 73-35-10 background investigation. The statute also carries an alternative the wrong answers miss: an applicant who has not held an active salesperson's license for at least thirty-six (36) months must complete one hundred fifty (150) classroom hours in courses that count toward a degree at a college or university approved by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Sixty (60) hours is the salesperson figure, not the broker's, and the 24-month and 180-hour numbers appear nowhere in the section. A separate quirk: Section 73-35-7 also makes a new broker sign a form under penalty of perjury that he will hire no salespersons for thirty-six months unless he qualified on the longer 36-month track.

Mississippi's continuing-education requirement for a licensee renewing an active license is:

• a.8 clock hours every year, with no carry-over permitted
• b.16 clock hours per two-year renewal, up to 6 carried over✓
• c.12 clock hours per two-year renewal, no carry-over allowed
• d.20 clock hours per two-year renewal, up to 10 carried over

Section 73-35-18(1) requires not less than sixteen (16) clock hours of approved course work for each two-year license renewal, and the Commission may dictate the subject matter of up to eight of those sixteen. Excess hours generally cannot be banked, with one exception the statute spells out: approved hours earned in the final three (3) months of the renewal period, if in excess of the sixteen, may be carried into the next period, and no more than six (6) may be carried this way. Subsection (2) exempts a licensee who has held a Mississippi broker's or salesperson's license for at least twenty-five (25) years and is older than sixty-five (65) — both conditions, not either. Inactive licensees are not required to take continuing education while inactive, but before returning to active status they must cumulatively make up what they missed.

Mississippi's errors-and-omissions insurance requirement applies to:

• a.every Mississippi licensee, including those on inactive status
• b.active individual brokers, broker-salespersons and salespersons✓
• c.responsible brokers and licensed brokerage firms and companies
• d.any licensee who handles escrow or trust money for a client

Section 73-35-16(2) names the persons who must submit proof of insurance: any active individual broker, active broker-salesperson or active salesperson. Coverage is optional for a partnership or a corporation, and subsection (3) says in terms that individuals whose licenses are on inactive status are not required to carry it. The requirement therefore turns on active status, not on rank in the firm and not on whether the licensee touches trust money. Coverage may be bought through the Commission's approved group carrier or independently. Subsection (5) fixes the group policy minimums: a per-claim limit of not less than $100,000, an annual aggregate of not less than $100,000, limits applying per licensee per claim, and maximum deductibles of $2,500 per claim for damages and $1,000 per claim for defense costs. MREC Rule 9.2 supplies the consequence — an active licensee who neither pays the premium nor proves independent coverage within thirty days after the due date goes on inactive status automatically.

Which person may perform a licensed real estate act in Mississippi without holding a license?

• a.Someone paid a commission to find a buyer for one house
• b.A property manager collecting rents for several owners
• c.A timeshare seller employed by a resort's marketing arm
• d.An attorney at law performing duties as an attorney✓

Section 73-35-3(9)(a) places attorneys at law, in the performance of primary or incidental duties as such attorneys, outside the chapter entirely. The same subsection exempts the holder of a duly executed power of attorney authorizing the sale, purchase, leasing or exchange of real estate; a receiver, trustee, administrator, executor or guardian acting under court order or under a deed of trust or will; public officers performing their duties; and anyone dealing exclusively in oil and gas leases and mineral rights. The other three answers describe activity the chapter reaches. Subsection (1) lists managing and negotiating among the acts that make a person a broker, and subsection (3) provides that one (1) act done with the expectation of compensation is enough to make the actor a broker subject to the chapter. Subsection (2) puts timesharing and condominiums inside the definition of "real estate," and MREC Rule 8.1 requires anyone other than the developer and its regular employees who sells a timeshare plan in Mississippi to be licensed.

Under Mississippi's real estate transfer disclosure requirements, the Property Condition Disclosure Statement is completed by the:

• a.listing broker, on behalf of the seller
• b.home inspector engaged by the buyer
• c.transferor, that is, the seller of the property✓
• d.closing attorney, before the deed passes

Section 89-1-503(1) puts the duty on "[t]he transferor of any real property subject to Sections 89-1-501 through 89-1-523," who "shall deliver to the prospective transferee the written property condition disclosure statement." MREC's own form repeats it in the instructions to the seller — "Complete this form yourself" — and states that the representations on it "are made by the seller and are not the representations of any real estate licensee involved in the transaction." A licensee may hand the form over, but cannot author the seller's personal knowledge of the property. A home inspector reports to whoever hires the inspector, under a separate contract, and produces an opinion rather than the seller's statutory statement. A closing attorney arrives at the end of the transaction, long after the statement is due.

Which Mississippi transaction requires the seller to give a Property Condition Disclosure Statement?

• a.A house sold at a foreclosure sale after a default
• b.A wooded forty-acre parcel with no dwelling on it
• c.A newly built house sold through a licensed broker✓
• d.A house deeded by a widow to her adult daughter

Section 89-1-501(1) applies the statement to transfers of real property on which a dwelling unit is located, or a residential stock cooperative of not less than one nor more than four dwelling units, when the transfer is made by or with the aid of a duly licensed real estate broker or salesperson. Nothing in the section carves out new construction, so a builder selling a house he has just finished owes the same statement as anyone else; the only relief on the MREC form is for a seller who has neither occupied the property nor has any knowledge of its condition, which is not a builder's position. Subsection (2) is where the exclusions live, and the other three answers sit on that list: foreclosure sales after default in paragraph (b), transfers to a person in the lineal line of consanguinity of the transferor in paragraph (e), and transfers of real property on which no dwelling is located in paragraph (h).

A Mississippi buyer signs an offer and only afterward is handed the seller's disclosure statement. The buyer may terminate in writing within:

• a.five days of the in-person delivery
• b.three days of the in-person delivery✓
• c.ten days of the in-person delivery
• d.fifteen days of the in-person delivery

Section 89-1-503(1) closes with the remedy: if any disclosure, or any material amendment of a disclosure, is delivered after the execution of an offer to purchase, the transferee has three (3) days after delivery in person, or five (5) days after delivery by deposit in the mail, to terminate the offer by delivering written notice of termination to the transferor or the transferor's agent. Five days is the mail figure, and it is the trap in this item — the question specifies delivery by hand. MREC's form states the consequence for a buyer who acts in time: the earnest money is fully returned. Ten and fifteen days appear nowhere in the article. Note that "execution" is defined in the same section as the making or acceptance of an offer, so the clock is not tied to closing.

After delivering a disclosure statement, a Mississippi seller learns of a serious foundation problem. The seller must deliver an amended statement:

• a.only if the buyer asks a question about the foundation
• b.within ten days, even after the buyer has moved in
• c.at the closing, with the seller's closing certification
• d.as soon as practicable, until title passes or occupancy✓

The certification on MREC's form carries the rule: if a seller acquires knowledge that renders a previously provided statement materially inaccurate, the seller shall deliver an amended statement to the buyer as soon as practicable, and in no event is a seller required to provide one after transfer of title to the buyer or occupancy by the buyer, whichever is earlier. Section 89-1-515 permits the amendment in writing and makes it subject to Section 89-1-503, which is the sting: a material amendment is treated like a first delivery, so the buyer's three-day (in person) or five-day (mailed) right to terminate begins again on the amendment. Waiting for a question inverts the duty, which is triggered by the seller's knowledge rather than the buyer's curiosity. Holding the amendment for the closing certification defeats the buyer's right to act on it.

A Mississippi seller's house was the site of a suicide two years ago. Under Section 89-1-527 that fact is:

• a.a material fact the seller must disclose in writing
• b.disclosable only through the listing broker
• c.a ground for the buyer to rescind the sale
• d.not a material fact that must be disclosed✓

Section 89-1-527(1) provides that the fact or suspicion that property is or was the site of a natural death, suicide, homicide or felony crime — with one exception, illegal drug activity that affects the physical condition of the property, its physical environment or its improvements — "does not constitute a material fact that must be disclosed in a real estate transaction." The same subsection covers an act or occurrence that had no effect on the property's physical condition, and property owned or occupied by a person affected or exposed to a disease not known to be transmitted through common occupancy, expressly including HIV and AIDS. Failure to disclose these gives rise to no criminal, civil or administrative action against the owner, a licensed broker or any affiliated licensee, and subsection (3) says the omission is not a ground for terminating or rescinding the transaction. What the statute does not license is lying: an owner who makes an intentional or fraudulent misrepresentation in response to a direct inquiry can still be sued.

A Mississippi seller leaves half the disclosure statement blank and the sale later sours. As to the statement itself, the listing licensee:

• a.must fill the blanks in from the licensee's own file
• b.shares the seller's liability for the missing answers
• c.must withdraw from the listing within three days
• d.is not subject to MREC discipline over the statement✓

Mississippi went further here than most states. Section 89-1-523(2) provides that, notwithstanding any other provision of law, no real estate licensee shall be subject to discipline or other action of any kind by any Mississippi licensing authority pertaining to information required to be disclosed by Sections 89-1-501 through 89-1-523, or the delivery of that information. Section 89-1-503(2) says the same about a statement the seller fails to deliver or leaves partly blank, and Section 73-35-21(6) puts the mirror-image restriction on the Commission: it may not promulgate a rule or make an interpretation under which a licensee is held responsible for that information. All three came from HB 1271 (2024 Regular Session), ch. 423, which also repealed Section 89-1-519. Where the seller leaves blanks, Section 89-1-503(2) presumes the prospective buyer is on notice to inquire — the burden shifts to the buyer, not to the licensee. None of this touches the licensee's own duty under Section 73-35-21(1)(a) to avoid making a substantial misrepresentation.

Since 1 July 2026, a Mississippi licensee may take a prospective buyer on a tour of a property:

• a.only after a written buyer brokerage agreement is signed
• b.without first entering into a brokerage agreement✓
• c.only if the buyer signs an agreement at the property
• d.only when the seller's own agent is present at the tour

Mississippi went the opposite way from most states after 2024. The act codified within Chapter 35, Title 73 by SB 2713 (2026 Regular Session), ch. 349, Section 1, effective July 1, 2026, provides that "[a] licensee shall not be required to enter into a brokerage agreement with a customer who is a prospective buyer in order for a licensee to provide a tour of a property to that prospective buyer." The written agreement attaches later, not at the door: "[a] written brokerage agreement shall be required prior to a licensee either listing for sale or submitting an offer on a property on behalf of a client or customer for compensation." So in Mississippi the showing is free and the offer is not. Cite the act rather than a code section — the Legislature has not yet assigned the new provision a number, and MREC's own compilation prints it under the heading "Section 73-35-__ (Needs catchline)." Section 73-35-3(4), added the same session, defines a brokerage agreement as a written agreement between a broker and a consumer establishing a brokerage relationship and stating the terms, conditions and compensation.

Under Mississippi's 2026 brokerage-agreement law, a written brokerage agreement is required before a licensee:

• a.submits an offer on a property for compensation✓
• b.shows a listed property to a prospective buyer
• c.answers a buyer's question about the asking price
• d.lets a prospective buyer into a public open house

The act requires a written brokerage agreement before a licensee either lists a property for sale or submits an offer on a property on behalf of a client or customer for compensation. Two carve-outs in the same subsection dispose of the other answers: a buyer brokerage agreement is not required of a seller's agent conducting an open house as to prospective buyers, nor as to a buyer customer for whom a seller's agent presents an offer while acting solely for the seller and without receiving compensation from the buyer. Showing property and answering questions are not triggering events at all. The act reaches only real property on which a dwelling unit is located, or a residential stock cooperative of one to four dwelling units, transferred by or with the aid of a licensee, and it excludes the same categories the property-condition-disclosure article excludes: court-ordered transfers, foreclosures and transfers after default, fiduciary transfers, transfers between co-owners or family members, transfers to or from a governmental entity, and land with no dwelling on it.

In a Mississippi single agency, written agency disclosure to the party the broker represents must be made:

• a.at the first substantive meeting with the other party
• b.when the party signs the offer to purchase the property
• c.before the agreement for representation is entered into✓
• d.within ten days after the listing agreement is signed

MREC Rule 4.3(A) requires the broker in a single agency to disclose in writing, to the party the broker is an agent for, that the broker is that party's agent, and "[t]he written disclosure must be made before the time an agreement for representation is entered into between the broker and the party." It goes on an MREC Agency Disclosure Form — Form A, "Working With A Real Estate Broker," which states on its face that it is an acknowledgment of disclosure and not a legally binding contract. The first-substantive-meeting trigger is real, but it belongs to the other side of the transaction: Rule 4.3(B) uses it for the party the broker does not represent. Rule 4.3(C) adds that if the agency relationship later changes, new disclosure forms must be acknowledged by all parties involved, and Rule 4.3(F) requires the terms of the relationship to be ratified on all contracts pertaining to the transaction.

For the party a Mississippi broker does not represent, the "first substantive meeting" is before or immediately prior to:

• a.the buyer's first drive past the listed property
• b.the seller's acceptance of a written offer to purchase
• c.a bona fide open house or model home showing
• d.showing the property or eliciting confidential facts✓

MREC Rule 4.3(B) requires written disclosure to the party the broker does not represent at the time of the first substantive meeting, on an MREC Agency Disclosure Form. Rule 4.2(H)(1) defines that moment for a seller's agent as before or just immediately prior to the first of three things: showing the property to a prospective buyer, eliciting confidential information from a buyer about the buyer's real estate needs, motivation or financial qualifications, or executing any agreement governed by Section 73-35-3. Rule 4.2(H)(2) then takes three situations back out of the definition: a bona fide open house or model home showing that involves nothing more than the showing, preliminary conversations or small talk about price range, location and property styles, and responses to general factual questions about property already advertised. Note the limit on that open-house carve-out — the moment confidential information is elicited or an agreement is executed there, the disclosure is due.

Disclosed dual agency is permitted in Mississippi only where the broker obtains:

• a.a written designation by the responsible broker
• b.the informed written consent of both parties✓
• c.a signed waiver of the fiduciary duty of loyalty
• d.the written consent of the party paying the fee

MREC Rule 4.2(F) defines a disclosed dual agent as an agent representing both parties to a transaction with the informed consent of both, with a written understanding of the specific duties and representation afforded each. Rule 4.3(B) then times that consent: it is deemed timely if the seller signs the Consent To Dual Agency portion of MREC Form A when the seller's representation agreement is entered into, the buyer signs the same portion when the buyer's representation agreement is entered into, and the broker confirms both parties' understanding on the MREC Dual Agency Confirmation Form — the buyer's before the offer to purchase is signed, the seller's before the offer is presented — with that form attached to the offer and kept attached whatever the outcome. Who pays the fee does not decide it: Rule 4.2(D) says compensation, considered alone, is not the determining factor in an agency relationship. And consent is not a waiver of loyalty; a dual agent still owes both parties every fiduciary duty except full disclosure and undivided loyalty, which the conflict makes impossible.

Without written instruction from the party concerned, a Mississippi disclosed dual agent may not tell the buyer:

• a.how many days the property has been on the market
• b.that the roof was replaced after a hail storm in May
• c.that the seller will take less than the listed price✓
• d.the amount of the annual homeowners' association fee

MREC Form A lists exactly what a disclosed dual agent may not reveal absent written instruction to the contrary from the party concerned: that the seller will accept less than the asking or listed price, that the buyer will pay a price greater than the price submitted in a written offer, the motivation of any party for selling, buying or leasing, and that a party will agree to financing terms other than those offered. Those four are each side's bargaining position, and protecting them is what makes dual agency workable at all. The other answers are facts about the property or the listing rather than a party's negotiating posture, and one of them runs the other way: a known material defect in the physical condition of the property is something a licensee must not conceal, because Section 73-35-21(1)(a) makes a substantial misrepresentation in connection with a real estate transaction a ground for discipline.

A Mississippi seller's agent shows a house to an unrepresented buyer. To that buyer the licensee owes:

• a.honesty and fair dealing in the transaction✓
• b.obedience to the buyer's lawful instructions
• c.confidentiality as to the buyer's top price
• d.undivided loyalty in negotiating the price

MREC Form A states the seller's agent's duties in two lines: to the seller, the fiduciary duties of loyalty, confidentiality, obedience, disclosure, full accounting and the duty to use skill, care and diligence; to the buyer and the seller alike, a duty of honesty and fair dealing. Rule 4.2(E) defines a customer as a person not represented in the transaction, and Rule 4.2(G) reserves the six fiduciary duties for the principal. That division is why Form A warns the unrepresented buyer, in terms, not to disclose the price he is willing to pay, the other terms he would accept, or his motivation for buying: the seller's agent would be required to pass all of it to the seller. Loyalty, obedience and confidentiality run to the client. Honesty runs to everyone.

MREC's agency disclosure requirements do not apply when a Mississippi licensee transacts with:

• a.a first-time buyer who is represented by counsel
• b.a limited liability company or a municipality✓
• c.an out-of-state buyer purchasing the house unseen
• d.a buyer who declines to sign the disclosure form

MREC Rule 4.4 excuses compliance with the Rule 4.3 disclosure requirements in transactions with a corporation, non-profit corporation, professional corporation, professional association, limited liability company, partnership, real estate investment trust, business trust, charitable trust, family trust, or any governmental entity — entities presumed sophisticated enough not to need the consumer warning. The rule adds that operating under the exception in no way circumvents the common law of agency. Having a lawyer, or buying from a distance, does not put an individual on that list. And a party who refuses to sign does not make the disclosure disappear: Rule 4.3(E) tells the broker to annotate the form that a copy was delivered on a stated date and that the recipient declined to acknowledge receipt. Rule 4.3(D) covers the party who is simply unavailable — disclose orally, note the form, and forward it for signature as soon as possible, with electronic transmission sufficient.

A Mississippi broker signs a cooperative agreement with a Tennessee broker who holds no Mississippi license. The Mississippi broker must:

• a.post a bond equal to the expected commission
• b.obtain a Tennessee license before the closing
• c.file a copy with the Commission within ten days✓
• d.split the commission with the other broker evenly

Section 73-35-11 lets a licensed broker of another state who holds no Mississippi license cooperate with a Mississippi broker, but every obligation falls on the Mississippi side. The Mississippi broker must file a copy of each written cooperative agreement with the Commission within ten (10) days, must require a listing or joint listing of the property, must supervise the showing of the Mississippi property and the negotiations, and is liable for the cooperating broker's acts as well as his own. All earnest money on a cooperative agreement must be held in escrow by the Mississippi broker unless both buyer and seller agree in writing to relieve him of it. In all advertising of the Mississippi property, the Mississippi broker's name and telephone number must appear with equal prominence to the nonresident broker's. There is no bond, no requirement that the Mississippi broker be licensed in the other state, and MREC Rule 3.1(C) makes the split negotiable between the two brokers rather than fixing it at half.

A broker licensed in Alabama obtains a Mississippi nonresident broker's license. That broker:

• a.is exempt from Mississippi continuing education
• b.may not hold earnest money on Mississippi property
• c.need not maintain a place of business in Mississippi✓
• d.must place every listing under a resident broker

Section 73-35-8(1) says the nonresident broker need not maintain a place of business within Mississippi provided he is regularly and actively engaged in the real estate business and maintains a place of business in the other state. Everything else tracks the resident rules. Subsection (5) requires the applicant to qualify in all respects — education, background investigation, examination and fees — with the residency requirement and approved equivalent pre-licensing education the only exceptions, and subsection (8) requires a nonresident broker, broker-salesperson or salesperson to meet Mississippi continuing education just as a resident does. Subsection (2) adds a filing a resident never makes: an irrevocable consent that legal actions may be commenced against the licensee in a Mississippi court by service on the Secretary of State or a member of the Commission. A nonresident licensee is a Mississippi licensee and holds trust money under the same rules; it is the unlicensed out-of-state broker cooperating under Section 73-35-11 who must let the Mississippi broker hold the escrow.

An Arizona developer wants to advertise Arizona lots to Mississippi consumers. Before advertising, the developer must:

• a.have the property approved by the Commission✓
• b.register the lots with the Secretary of State
• c.license its own staff as Mississippi salespersons
• d.record a copy of the plat where the buyer lives

MREC Rule 7.1 requires out-of-state land developers who wish to advertise out-of-state property in Mississippi — national publications excepted — first to contact the Commission and have the property approved for advertising. The Commission may in its discretion conduct an on-site inspection of the property at the developer's cost, and on request the developer must provide documentation establishing the truth and accuracy of the proposed advertisements. The rule then puts the continuing risk on the Mississippi side: a Mississippi broker who becomes the agent or representative of the out-of-state developer is responsible for the truth and accuracy of the representations, offerings and advertising of those properties in Mississippi. Registration with the Secretary of State and recording a plat are corporate and land-records steps with no bearing on advertising approval.

A Mississippi responsible broker receives an earnest money check on an accepted contract. It must reach the trust account by the close of business of:

• a.the banking day immediately after receipt
• b.two banking days immediately after receipt✓
• c.three business days immediately after receipt
• d.five calendar days immediately after receipt

Section 73-35-21(1)(f) defines "reasonable time" for depositing money belonging to others as "by the close of business of two (2) banking days immediately following the date on which a licensee comes into possession of monies belonging to others or on which a responsible broker takes or receives any cash or checks from procuring the execution of an earnest money contract or option or other contract." SB 2748 (2026 Regular Session), ch. 350, effective July 1, 2026, moved it there from "the next banking day." Watch the trap: MREC Rule 3.4(A) has not caught up and still requires the deposit "prior to the close of business of the next banking day." The statute controls, and the Commission has said so — its own August 2026 regulations preview reads, "Statute trumps the rule. Will be fixed in the Rules on the next pass." Answer the statute, and note that failing to deposit within a reasonable time, or commingling money belonging to others with the licensee's own funds, is a ground for suspension or revocation.

A Mississippi salesperson takes an earnest money check from a buyer on a Friday afternoon. The salesperson must:

• a.deposit it in the firm's operating account
• b.hold it until the seller accepts the offer
• c.pay it over to the responsible broker at once✓
• d.endorse it over to the closing attorney

MREC Rule 3.4(A) makes the responsible broker responsible at all times for earnest money deposits and requires a licensee to pay over to the responsible broker all deposits and earnest money immediately upon receipt. The broker, not the salesperson, is the account holder, and a salesperson may not establish a property-management escrow account independent of the broker. Rule 3.4(C) requires accurate records of all monies received, disbursed or on hand, each item individually identified to a particular transaction, kept in accordance with standard accounting practices and subject to inspection by the Commission at all times. The same rule draws the one narrow exception to the no-commingling principle: monies received in a trust account on behalf of clients or customers are not assets of the broker, but the broker may deposit and keep some personal funds in each escrow or rental account for the express purpose of covering service charges and other bank debits. Rule 3.4(D) adds that if a check the broker took as escrow agent is later dishonoured, the broker must immediately notify all parties to the transaction.

A Mississippi sale collapses and buyer and seller each demand the earnest money. The broker may:

• a.release it to the party the contract favors
• b.hold it in escrow until one party gives way
• c.divide it and pay each party an equal share
• d.turn it over to a court for disposition✓

MREC Rule 3.4(A) provides that in the event of uncertainty as to the proper disposition of earnest money the broker may turn the earnest money over to a court of law for disposition, which MREC describes as an interpleader into chancery court. The same rule requires the broker to return earnest money promptly when the purchaser is rightfully entitled to it, allowing reasonable time for the check to clear, and makes failure to comply a ground for revocation or suspension. Picking a winner is what the broker is least equipped to do — deciding which party the contract favors is a legal judgment, and paying out on it invites a claim from the other side. An even split satisfies neither party's contractual right. Sitting on the money indefinitely leaves the broker holding disputed funds with no way out, which is precisely what the interpleader route exists to prevent. Rule 3.4(B) settles one case in advance: where the broker is the seller's agent and the seller fails or is unable to close, the broker has no right to any part of the earnest money even if a commission has been earned, and the whole deposit goes back to the purchaser.

Under MREC Rule 3.1(A) the responsible broker's duty toward the licensees under that broker is to:

• a.review every contract before it is presented
• b.guarantee their compliance with federal fair housing
• c.carry errors-and-omissions coverage on their behalf
• d.instruct them and supervise their licensed activity✓

MREC Rule 3.1(A) states the duty plainly: it is the duty of the responsible broker to instruct the licensees licensed under that broker in the fundamentals of real estate practice, the ethics of the profession and the Mississippi Real Estate License Law, and to exercise supervision of their real estate activities for which a license is required. Rule 3.1(D) adds that the broker is responsible for the real estate practices of those licensees, and Rule 3.1(B) extends the same accountability to an affiliated broker working under the responsible broker's supervision, who must not at any time act independently as a broker; if the responsible broker does agree to let an affiliated broker work outside that supervision, the responsible broker must notify the Commission in writing of the exact nature of the arrangement and of the brokers involved. The duty is instruction and supervision, not a guarantee of outcomes and not a line-by-line pre-approval of every document. Errors-and-omissions coverage is each active licensee's own obligation under Section 73-35-16(2).

When a Mississippi licensee's agency with a firm is terminated, the principal broker must, within three days:

• a.mail the licensee a final commission statement
• b.notify each client the licensee was working with
• c.acknowledge the transfer so a new license may issue✓
• d.report the departure to the local board of Realtors

Section 73-35-15(2), as amended by SB 2748 (2026 Regular Session), ch. 350, effective July 1, 2026, now reads: "Upon termination of a licensee's agency, the principal broker shall within three (3) days acknowledge the transfer of the licensee so that a new license may be issued." Before the amendment the broker returned the salesperson's license to the Commission for cancellation, which is the answer any study guide printed before mid-2026 will give. The licensee carries a matching three-day duty: prompt written notice to the Commission of a change of principal broker and of the name of the broker into whose agency the licensee is about to enter. A change made without that notice automatically cancels the license, and until the license has been reissued it is unlawful for the licensee to perform any act contemplated by the chapter, directly or indirectly. A private trade association's records form no part of the statutory sequence.

A Mississippi responsible broker operates two additional branch offices. Under MREC rules each branch office must be:

• a.located in a different county from the firm's main office
• b.licensed, with its branch office license displayed there✓
• c.closed whenever the responsible broker is away from it
• d.owned by a broker other than the responsible broker

MREC Rule 3.1(D) is concrete: a responsible broker must maintain an office and display the license there, and if the broker has more than one office, the broker "shall display a branch office license in each branch office." A branch is separately licensed and separately fee-bearing — Rule 2.1 sets both a branch office application fee and a branch office renewal fee — so a consumer who walks into a branch sees the same evidence of licensure as one who walks into the main office. Section 73-35-15(1) supplies the underlying requirement of a definite place of business designated in the license, with the certificate of registration as broker and the certificate of each salesperson employed by the broker prominently displayed in that office, and requires application to the Commission before a move or within ten (10) days after it. Ownership is beside the point, because a branch is another location of the same firm. So is geography, since nothing turns on the county. And supervision runs through the responsible broker's continuing legal responsibility for the office rather than through physical presence.

A Mississippi broker prepares a broker's price opinion for a lender weighing a refinance. The opinion must:

• a.carry a disclaimer that it is not an appraisal✓
• b.be reviewed by a certified appraiser beforehand
• c.state a value rather than a probable selling price
• d.be filed with the Commission within ten days

Section 73-35-4 lets a licensee whose license is active and in good standing prepare a broker's price opinion and charge a fee for it, but subsection (4) fixes the contents: the intended purpose, a description of the property and interest priced, the basis of reasoning including market data or capitalization computation, any assumptions or limiting conditions, disclosure of any interest the licensee has in the property, the effective date, name and signature, the firm's name, the signature date, a certification of errors-and-omissions coverage, and a disclaimer stating that the opinion is not an appraisal of market value, may not be used in lieu of one, and may not be used by any party as the primary basis to determine value for a mortgage loan origination. Subsection (6) draws the line the wrong answers cross: an opinion that estimates the value or worth of a parcel rather than its sales price is deemed an appraisal, may not be prepared under a real estate license, and may never be referred to as a valuation or appraisal. MREC Rule 3.1(G) requires conformity with the standards of the National Association of Broker Price Opinion Professionals. Nothing requires appraiser review or a Commission filing.

A Mississippi salesperson closes a sale with a cooperating firm's buyer. The salesperson may accept the commission from:

• a.the responsible broker the salesperson works under✓
• b.the buyer, provided the buyer agrees in writing
• c.the closing attorney at the settlement table
• d.the cooperating firm's own responsible broker

Section 73-35-21(1)(l) makes it a ground for discipline for a salesperson to accept a commission or valuable consideration for a licensed act "from any person, except his or her employer who must be a licensed real estate broker," and MREC Rule 3.1(E) states the same rule from the paying side: no licensee shall pay any part of a fee, commission or other compensation to anyone except to another licensee through that licensee's responsible broker. The money therefore moves broker to broker and then broker to salesperson — never buyer to salesperson, closing agent to salesperson, or another firm's broker straight to a salesperson. Rule 3.1(E) allows one sensible exception: a licensee who has gone inactive or transferred to another responsible broker may still be paid by the previous responsible broker where the commission was generated during the time the licensee was under that broker's supervision. Section 73-35-21(5) separately permits a licensee to own a business entity for the purpose of receiving these payments, and that entity need not itself be licensed so long as it does nothing else requiring a license.

How long after a transaction is consummated must a Mississippi broker keep complete records of it?

• a.One year
• b.Three years✓
• c.Two years
• d.Seven years

MREC Rule 3.2(G) requires a real estate broker to keep on file, for three years following its consummation, complete records relating to any real estate transaction. The rule then says what "complete" reaches, and the list is broad and expressly not exhaustive: listings, options, leases, offers to purchase, contracts of sale, escrow records, agency agreements and copies of all closing statements. Rule 4.3(H) folds completed Agency Disclosure Forms into the same obligation. The retention period matters because Rule 3.4(C) makes escrow records subject to inspection by the Commission at all times and Section 73-35-23(9) gives the Commission up to a year to dispose of a complaint — a broker who has discarded the file early has no way to answer either.