Construction, Development and Environmental Issues
Eight hours: the broker course's 3-hour Construction and Development chapter and the salesperson course's 5-hour Construction and Environmental Issues subject.
Codes, warranties and inspections
Construction standards run in layers — federal standards enforced by the Federal Housing Administration, the New York State minimum building codes, and county, city, town or village standards that comply with or exceed them. The broker syllabus asks a broker to explain how zoning affects new construction, where to find the standards, and how to read plans and specifications against them. General Business Law § 777-a implies a housing merchant warranty in the contract for the sale of a new home, and it survives the passing of title. It has three tiers: one year that the home is free from defects due to a failure to have been constructed in a skillful manner; two years for the plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling and ventilation systems; and six years that the home 'will be free from material defects'. Section 777-a(2) excludes defects that are not defective workmanship, materials or design attributable to the builder, and any patent defect the buyer's own examination ought to have revealed before taking title. The syllabus also asks how a licensed home inspector's role differs on new construction, and treats the temporary certificate of occupancy as a step to understand rather than a formality.
Environmental issues
Two figures are worth checking rather than memorizing. Environmental Conservation Law § 24-0107 defines freshwater wetlands as areas of at least twelve and four-tenths acres, or smaller if of unusual importance — and the same section carries a second version of that definition, marked effective January 1, 2028, that lowers the threshold to seven and four-tenths acres. Any source quoting either number without a date is unreliable. Federal law adds the lead-based paint rule at 42 U.S.C. § 4852d: before the purchaser is obligated under a contract, the seller must provide the EPA lead hazard information pamphlet, disclose known lead-based paint and hazards, hand over any available evaluation report, and 'permit the purchaser a 10-day period (unless the parties mutually agree upon a different period of time) to conduct a risk assessment or inspection'. The lead warning statement fixes the scope at housing built before 1978. New York layers its own disclosures on top, and the broker syllabus lists lead paint alongside agricultural districts, truth in heating and bedbug disclosure.
Development feasibility
The broker course's development material is about time and money rather than construction technique. New York's constitutional home rule means several agencies and departments hold sign-off authority over a subdivision or a development, and the syllabus asks a broker to understand how many, how long approvals take, and 'the financial demands for project viability during protracted approval period'. It then asks for the absorption rate: unsold inventory divided by the rate at which the market takes it up, so 60 lots absorbing at 5 a month is 12 months of supply. A project underwritten on an eight-month projection that in fact absorbs over twelve pays four more months of interest and taxes, which is why the syllabus insists on gathering and interpreting real market data rather than assuming. The same chapter covers the requirements for offering newly constructed or newly converted condominiums and cooperatives, including the Attorney General filing, Cooperative Policy Statement #1 and the tenant notification period.
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State-specific details
State exam facts
- Prelicensing education
- 152 total hours (77-hour salesperson + 75-hour broker qualifying course)
- Time limit
- 150 minutes
Who regulates real estate brokers in New York?
The New York Department of State (DOS), Division of Licensing Services, licenses real estate brokers and salespersons under Real Property Law article 12-A and the rules at 19 NYCRR parts 175 to 179. New York writes and administers its licensing exam itself, at DOS exam sites scheduled through eAccessNY, rather than through PSI, Pearson VUE or any other outside vendor.
What experience do I need before the New York broker exam?
Real Property Law § 441(1)(b) requires either two years of active participation as a licensed real estate salesperson under a broker's supervision, or the equivalent experience in the general real estate business for at least three years. The experience is documented on the point schedule at 19 NYCRR § 179.3, where 3,500 points equal two years of full-time experience, a residential sale is worth 250 points and an exclusive listing 10. On top of that comes 152 hours of approved qualifying education — the 77-hour salesperson course plus the 75-hour broker course — and Real Property Law § 440-a sets the minimum age for a broker at 20.
How is the New York broker exam structured?
DOS publishes four facts about the paper and no more: it is multiple choice, it is "based on the 152-hour pre-licensing curriculum", applicants "will be allowed 2 1/2 hours to complete the test", and "all exam results are reported as either passed or failed; you will not receive a numerical score". There is no published item count, no published passing percentage and no content outline anywhere on dos.ny.gov — so treat any source that quotes a New York broker question count or topic breakdown as quoting something the Department has never published. There is also no separate national portion; the single state-written exam covers the whole 152-hour curriculum.
What does the 152-hour curriculum actually cover?
It is fixed in regulation, not just in the syllabus PDFs. 19 NYCRR § 176.3 prints the 77-hour salesperson course as 19 subjects, led by Law of Agency (11 hours), Legal Issues (10), Commercial and Investment Properties (10) and Human Rights and Fair Housing (6). 19 NYCRR § 176.4 prints the 75-hour broker course as 11 chapters, led by Agency Law, License Law and Operating a Real Estate Office (26 hours) and Advanced Fair Housing and Fair Lending (13), and requires completion of both courses. Because DOS names the full 152 hours as the exam's basis, material built on the 75-hour broker course alone misses whole subjects — Commercial and Investment Properties, Condominiums and Cooperatives, Municipal Agencies and Property Insurance among them.
Sources: https://dos.ny.gov/become-real-estate-broker, https://dos.ny.gov/real-estate-broker-frequently-asked-questions, https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2024/10/reb-syllabus-2022.pdf, https://dos.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2024/10/res-syllabus-2022.pdf, https://dos.ny.gov/real-estate-license-law
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