New York Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

The Department of Environmental Conservation's freshwater wetlands jurisdiction under ECL § 24-0107 currently reaches wetlands of:

• a.7.4 acres, or smaller if the wetland is next to a public road
• b.5.0 acres, or smaller if the wetland drains into a public water supply
• c.12.4 acres, or smaller if the wetland is of unusual importance✓
• d.1.0 acre, or smaller if the wetland lies within a village boundary

The definition in force today covers lands and waters that are not tidal wetlands and “that have an area of at least twelve and four-tenths acres or, if less than twelve and four-tenths acres in size, are of unusual importance.” This is a figure to check rather than memorize: the same section carries a second version of the definition, noted as effective January 1, 2028, that lowers the threshold to seven and four-tenths acres. Material quoting either number without a date is unreliable, and a buyer of raw land should be told which version governs when the application is made. The unusual importance clause matters as much as the acreage, because it lets the Department reach a small wetland on its ecological merits.

General Business Law § 777-a implies a housing merchant warranty in the sale of a new New York home. Its longest period is:

• a.six years for material defects in the home itself✓
• b.two years for material defects in the home itself
• c.one year for material defects in the home itself
• d.ten years for material defects in the home itself

The warranty has three tiers, and the statute states each one: one year from the warranty date that the home will be free from defects due to a failure to have been constructed in a skillful manner; two years that the plumbing, electrical, heating, cooling and ventilation systems will be free from defects due to a failure to install them skillfully; and six years that the home “will be free from material defects.” The warranty is implied in the contract for the sale of a new home and survives the passing of title. Subdivision 2 limits it, excluding defects that are not defective workmanship, materials or design attributable to the builder, and excluding a patent defect the buyer's own examination ought to have revealed before taking title.

A Rochester subdivision has 60 unsold lots and the market absorbs 5 lots a month. The absorption period is:

• a.24 months, found by dividing inventory by monthly sales
• b.6 months, found by dividing inventory by monthly sales
• c.12 months, found by dividing inventory by monthly sales✓
• d.5 months, found by dividing inventory by monthly sales

Absorption is unsold inventory divided by the rate at which the market takes it up, so 60 lots divided by 5 lots a month is 12 months of supply. The broker syllabus asks a broker to explain “the formula for calculating absorption rates” and how to gather and interpret market data to draw meaningful conclusions from it, because the number drives a development's carrying costs: a project financed on an eight-month projection that in fact absorbs over twelve months pays four more months of interest and taxes. The same measure, applied to an existing housing market, is the months-of-inventory figure that distinguishes a seller's market from a buyer's market.

The federal lead-based paint disclosure rule applies to a New York home built:

• a.before 1990, and gives the buyer a ten-day inspection opportunity
• b.before 1978, and gives the buyer a ten-day inspection opportunity✓
• c.before 1978, and gives the buyer a thirty-day right to cancel
• d.before 1950, and gives the buyer a five-day inspection opportunity

Title 42 of the United States Code, § 4852d, requires that before the purchaser is obligated under a contract the seller provide the EPA lead hazard information pamphlet, disclose any known lead-based paint or hazards and 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 the statute prints refers to residential property “on which a residential dwelling was built prior to 1978,” which is what fixes the date. The ten days buy an inspection window, not a free right to cancel, and the parties may agree to a different period. New York layers its own disclosures on top, and the broker syllabus lists lead paint alongside agricultural districts, truth in heating and bedbug disclosure.