Property Insurance and Licensee Safety
Two hours, one from each of the salesperson course's Property Insurance and Licensee Safety subjects. It is the smallest block in the curriculum and it earns one question, but the broker course's own chapter on best business practices pairs the same two subjects, so they are treated together here.
The coverages a brokerage carries
The broker syllabus lists them by name: 'liability, worker's compensation, professional liability (Errors and Omissions) Premises liability, commercial crime bond, (fidelity policy) for property management brokerages'. Errors and omissions responds to claims arising out of professional services — a missed disclosure, a misdescribed property, advice that turns out to be wrong — and is the coverage that answers the classic brokerage claim. A commercial crime bond or fidelity policy responds to dishonesty by staff, which matters most where the firm handles other people's money under 19 NYCRR § 175.1 and General Obligations Law § 7-103. Premises liability responds to bodily injury at the office, and workers' compensation to employee injury. On the transaction side, the salesperson course's Property Insurance hour covers what a homeowner's or landlord's policy does, why a lender requires it, and why flood coverage is bought separately — a point the current Property Condition Disclosure Statement reinforces by asking whether the property sits in a FEMA special flood hazard area and whether flood insurance is in force.
Agent safety and supervision
Real Property Law § 441(1)(b) and 19 NYCRR § 176.4 reserve two of the broker course's 26 first-chapter hours for agent safety and supervision, and the syllabus asks the broker to 'create guidelines for maintaining agent safety and supervision' covering how to identify potential threats, safety tactics and cyber security. That last item is not decoration: a brokerage holds escrow instructions, bank details and identity documents, and wire fraud in real estate closings works by impersonating exactly those communications. The safety material connects to the standardized operating procedures required by Real Property Law § 442-h(4), because whether the firm asks a prospective buyer for identification is both a safety decision and a disclosure the firm must publish. It also connects to supervision under 19 NYCRR § 175.21, since a policy nobody enforces is not the 'regular, frequent and consistent' oversight the rule requires.
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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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