Ohio Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Ohio requires a signed written agency agreement before a licensee does which of the following?

• a.Shows a house to a prospective purchaser who has not yet made an offer
• b.Prepares a comparative market analysis for an owner who is considering selling
• c.Answers a purchaser's questions about a listed property at an open house
• d.Advertises or shows residential real property on behalf of a seller✓

ORC 4735.55(B), as amended by House Bill 96 of the 136th General Assembly and effective September 30, 2025, provides that "a licensee shall enter into a written agency agreement before doing any of the following: (1) Advertising or showing residential real property on behalf of a seller; (2) Making an offer to purchase residential real property on behalf of a purchaser; (3) Making an offer to lease a residential premises on behalf of a tenant for a term exceeding eighteen months." The trigger is asymmetric, and that is the point: showing is a trigger only on the seller's side, so showing a house to a buyer does not by itself require a buyer agency agreement in Ohio — the buyer-side trigger is making the offer. Answering questions at an open house is not a listed act at all, and ORC 4735.56(D)(3) treats an open house as an exception even to the brokerage policy on agency. And a market analysis prepared before any listing precedes the advertising or showing that the statute names.

Which item must appear in every Ohio written agency agreement?

• a.The name of the multiple listing service the property will be entered in
• b.The lowest price the seller is willing to accept for the property
• c.A copy of the HUD equal housing opportunity logotype✓
• d.A statement that the commission rate is set by the local board of Realtors

ORC 4735.55(C) lists seven required contents, and division (C)(4) is "a copy of the United States department of housing and urban development equal housing opportunity logotype, as set forth in 24 C.F.R. 109.30." The other six are an expiration date; the fair housing statement citing ORC 4112.02(H) and 42 U.S.C.A. 3601; a statement defining blockbusting and saying it is illegal; a statement that the licensee is appointed as agent, indicating whether the relationship is exclusive or nonexclusive; the terms of the broker's compensation; and a conspicuous statement that "broker fees and commissions are not set by law, are fully negotiable, and may be paid by the seller, the buyer, the landlord, the tenant, or a third party." That last item is why a claim that a local board sets the rate is not merely absent but contrary to the required text. A reserve price is a negotiating position, confidential under ORC 4735.51(F) rather than required in the agreement. And no listing service is named, because the statute regulates the agreement, not where the property is marketed. Divisions (D) and (E) add a place for both parties to sign and date, and delivery of a copy to the client in a timely manner.

A licensee is engaged to lease a client's warehouse. Does Ohio's written agency agreement statute apply?

• a.No, the section reaches residential property of one to four dwelling units✓
• b.Yes, because a lease of any length triggers the requirement
• c.Yes, because every listing of any property in Ohio requires one
• d.No, because leases are excluded from Chapter 4735 altogether

ORC 4735.55(A)(1) borrows its scope from ORC 5302.30, where division (A)(4) defines "residential real property" as "real property that is improved by a building or other structure that has one to four dwelling units." A warehouse is outside that, so the written agency agreement requirement in division (B) does not reach it, and commercial work escapes the section entirely. Nor does the requirement extend to every lease: division (B)(3) is limited to "making an offer to lease a residential premises on behalf of a tenant for a term exceeding eighteen months," with "residential premises" and "tenant" taking their meanings from ORC 5321.01. Leases are certainly not outside Chapter 4735, since ORC 4735.01(A)(1) puts leasing and negotiating leases squarely within the definition of a broker's licensed acts. Falling outside ORC 4735.55 removes the written-agreement trigger, not the license law.

Ohio requires a licensee to give the consumer the Agency Disclosure Statement:

• a.No later than when an offer to purchase or lease is prepared✓
• b.Within 30 days after the date on which the transaction closes
• c.Only if the consumer requests a copy of it in writing before closing
• d.Only after the seller has accepted the buyer's written offer

ORC 4735.58(A)(1) requires a purchaser's agent or a seller's subagent working with a purchaser to present the agency disclosure statement and request a signature "no later than the preparation of an offer to purchase or lease, or a written request for a proposal to lease," and to present it to the seller before the seller receives a written offer. This is a different document with a different clock from the written agency agreement in ORC 4735.55; the disclosure statement records who represents whom, while the agency agreement creates the relationship and carries the seven contents. Delivering it a month after closing would arrive long after every decision it exists to inform. Waiting until an offer is accepted is the same problem in smaller form, because the offer has by then been written and negotiated. And the duty does not turn on a written request; ORC 4735.58(C) makes non-compliance prima-facie evidence of misconduct under ORC 4735.18(A)(6), and the consumer who does not know to ask is exactly who the requirement protects.

In Ohio, dual agency, in which the same brokerage represents both the buyer and the seller in one transaction, is:

• a.Automatically created whenever two agents in the same firm are involved, with no consent needed
• b.Permitted only with the informed, written consent of both parties✓
• c.Prohibited in all residential transactions
• d.Allowed only for commercial property

ORC 4735.71(A) says that "no licensee or brokerage shall participate in a dual agency relationship... unless both the seller and the purchaser in the transaction have full knowledge of the dual representation and consent in writing to the dual representation on the agency disclosure statement," and requires the licensee to disclose everything each party needs "to make an informed decision" before that consent is taken. Consent is therefore never automatic, and while ORC 4735.70(B) does make a brokerage representing both parties a dual agent, the involvement of two agents from one firm creates the status, not the permission. Dual agency is not prohibited in residential transactions, since Ohio allows it wherever the parties consent. And it is not confined to commercial property, because what makes the arrangement lawful is the consent, not the type of property. ORC 4735.57(B)(7) requires the statement to tell the client that consent may be refused and the client may seek representation elsewhere.

When two different agents in the same Ohio brokerage separately represent the buyer and the seller, the brokerage commonly manages the conflict through:

• a.Refusing to disclose that both agents work for the same brokerage
• b.Terminating one of the two agents involved
• c.A dual-agency arrangement in which each agent keeps their own client✓
• d.Referring the buyer to a competing brokerage after the offer is written

ORC 4735.70(C) makes the management level licensee the dual agent in an in-company transaction, and ORC 4735.71(B) permits the arrangement only where the brokerage has established a procedure under ORC 4735.54 ensuring that "licensees, including management level licensees, who represent one client will not have access to and will not obtain confidential information concerning another client," and where "each licensee fulfills the licensee's duties exclusively to the licensee's client." Concealing that both agents work for one firm is the reverse of what the law asks, since ORC 4735.57(A)(5) requires the agency disclosure statement to state whether affiliated licensees are acting as dual agents or representing the parties separately. Terminating an agent solves nothing, because ORC 4735.53(B)(1) makes the brokerage itself an agent of the client. And referring the buyer away after the offer is written abandons a client mid-transaction; ORC 4735.59 requires written consent from the party originally represented before a licensee changes sides at all.

Ohio's fiduciary duties statute requires a licensee representing a client to:

• a.Disclose material facts of the transaction that are not confidential information✓
• b.Guarantee the accuracy of the seller's residential property disclosure form
• c.Obtain the best price the open market could produce for the property
• d.Advance the client's earnest money if the client is short at closing

ORC 4735.62 makes the licensee "a fiduciary of the client" and lists the duties, including division (F): "disclosing to the client any material facts of the transaction of which the licensee is aware or should be aware in the exercise of reasonable skill and care and that are not confidential information pursuant to a current or prior agency or dual agency relationship." The list also includes reasonable skill and care, following lawful instructions, accounting in a timely manner for money and property, and keeping confidential information confidential. Guaranteeing the seller's disclosure form is not among them; ORC 4735.67(B) says a licensee need not "verify the accuracy or completeness of statements made by the seller" unless aware of something that should cause doubt. A best-price guarantee is likewise absent, because ORC 4735.63(A)(1) asks the licensee to seek an offer "at a price and with terms acceptable to the seller," which is the client's standard rather than the market's. And advancing a client's funds appears nowhere in the chapter; ORC 4735.62(H) points the other way, toward accounting for money rather than supplying it.

Which duties may an Ohio client waive?

• a.The fiduciary duties in the general duties section, if the waiver is notarized
• b.None, because every duty in the chapter is mandatory in every transaction
• c.Any duty at all, provided the brokerage's company policy allows it
• d.The seller or purchaser duties, on a signed waiver of duties statement✓

ORC 4735.621 draws the line in two sentences. Division (A): "the duties required of a licensee under section 4735.62 of the Revised Code may not be waived by a client." Division (B): "a licensee shall perform the duties required under section 4735.63 or 4735.65 of the Revised Code unless the client agrees to waive these duties, and signs a waiver of duties statement." So the core fiduciary duties stand whatever formality is added, and notarization cannot reach them. The transaction-specific seller and purchaser duties — seeking offers, presenting them, answering questions, assisting with counteroffers — are the ones a client may give up, on the form the superintendent prescribes by rule in OAC 1301:5-5-30, which must list the duties individually, state that no other licensee will perform a waived duty, and note that the client may hire counsel. A brokerage's own company policy under ORC 4735.54 governs which agency relationships its licensees may form; it cannot enlarge what a client is permitted to waive. And it is wrong that nothing may be waived, since division (B) expressly allows it.

After an Ohio transaction closes and the agency agreement has ended, the licensee still owes the former client:

• a.The full fiduciary duties, until the statute of limitations has run
• b.An accounting of money and property, and continued confidentiality✓
• c.Nothing at all, once the transaction file has been closed
• d.A duty to keep marketing the property until the client says otherwise

ORC 4735.74 provides that "unless otherwise agreed in writing, a licensee owes no further duty to a client after performance of all duties or after any contract has terminated or expired," with two exceptions: "(A) Providing the client with an accounting of all moneys and property relating to the transaction" and "(B) Keeping confidential all information received during the course of the transaction," subject to the listed exceptions. The full fiduciary package in ORC 4735.62 does not survive on a limitations clock, because the section ends those duties on performance or termination. Nor does everything end: two duties expressly outlive the agreement, and confidentiality is the one candidates most often forget. And marketing stops with the agreement, which is exactly why ORC 4735.55(C)(1) requires an expiration date and ORC 4735.18(A)(28) disciplines a broker who leaves one out.

A former client tells an Ohio licensee about a crime the client intends to commit. What may the licensee do?

• a.Nothing; the information must be kept confidential without exception
• b.Disclose it, because an intended crime is a listed exception✓
• c.Disclose it, but only after receiving a court order
• d.Disclose it, but only with the client's written permission

ORC 4735.74(B) keeps information received during the transaction confidential after the relationship ends, but lists six exceptions, of which division (B)(4) is "the information is necessary to prevent a crime the client intends to commit." So confidentiality is not absolute. Client permission is another of the exceptions, in division (B)(1), but it is one route among six rather than the only one. A court order or a requirement of law is a third, in division (B)(2); the remaining three cover information that becomes public from another source, disclosure needed to defend the brokerage against an accusation or to establish a commission claim, and sales information supplied to a licensed appraiser. Reading any single exception as exclusive misses the structure of the subsection, which is a list.

An Ohio licensee wants to buy a property personally. Ohio license law prohibits the licensee from:

• a.Buying property that the licensee's own brokerage has listed for sale
• b.Earning any commission at all on the licensee's own purchase
• c.Being represented in the purchase by a different brokerage
• d.Acting as a licensee and an undisclosed principal in the same transaction✓

ORC 4735.18(A)(15) reaches a licensee "having acted in the dual capacity of real estate broker and undisclosed principal, or real estate salesperson and undisclosed principal, in any transaction." The defect is the concealment, not the purchase: what the chapter demands is that the licensee's interest be on the table. ORC 4735.16(B)(2) carries the same idea into advertising, requiring a licensee who advertises property the licensee owns to "indicate that the property is agent owned." Buying an in-house listing is therefore not forbidden as such, though ORC 4735.71(C) does bar the licensee who is a party to the transaction from taking part in a dual agency relationship in it. A commission is not automatically forbidden either; it must be disclosed, which is what ORC 4735.18(A)(13) means in prohibiting "any undisclosed commission, rebate, or direct profit." And being represented by another brokerage is not a violation at all — it is one clean way to keep the roles apart.

A purchaser asks an Ohio licensee to draft a custom contingency clause for the offer. The licensee:

• a.May not perform a service that constitutes the practice of law✓
• b.May draft it, because a real estate license authorizes contract drafting
• c.May draft it if the brokerage's attorney reviews it afterwards
• d.May draft it as long as no separate fee is charged for the drafting

ORC 4735.02(A) closes with the sentence "nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed as authorizing a real estate broker or salesperson to perform any service constituting the practice of law," and ORC 4735.18(A)(32) makes "performing any service for another constituting the practice of law, as determined by any court of law" a ground for discipline. The license therefore confers no drafting authority; ORC 4735.63(C) and ORC 4735.65(D) repeat the limit at the end of both the seller-duty and purchaser-duty sections. Later review by the brokerage's attorney does not cure it, because the violation is in the act of performing the service. Nor does declining a separate fee, since the chapter's prohibition turns on the nature of the service rather than on how it is billed. What the licensee may do is what ORC 4735.62(G) contemplates: advise the client to obtain expert advice on material matters.

An Ohio licensee's advertising claims membership in a professional real estate association the licensee has never joined. This is:

• a.Acceptable, if the licensee applies for membership within thirty days
• b.Acceptable puffery, because association membership is voluntary
• c.A ground for disciplinary sanctions by the Ohio Real Estate Commission✓
• d.A matter for the association alone, outside the Commission's reach

ORC 4735.18(A)(12) lists "having falsely represented membership in any real estate professional association of which the licensee is not a member" among the grounds on which the Commission may impose disciplinary sanctions, so the claim is actionable as license law regardless of what the association itself does. A later application does not repair it, because the violation is complete when the false claim is published. Calling it puffery misreads the provision: membership is indeed voluntary, and that is precisely why a false claim of it misleads consumers about the licensee's standing. And the Commission's reach is not displaced by the association's private remedies; ORC 4735.18(A)(21) separately covers advertising "which was misleading or inaccurate in any material particular," and under ORC 4735.051(I) the sanctions available run from a public reprimand and a fine to suspension or revocation.

Ohio's canons of ethics for the real estate industry are:

• a.Adopted by the National Association of Realtors and enforced by local boards
• b.Written into Revised Code Chapter 4735 by the General Assembly
• c.Optional guidance that no licensing examination in Ohio covers
• d.Adopted and published by the Ohio Real Estate Commission under a statutory duty✓

ORC 4735.03 opens the Commission's list of mandatory duties with division (A): "adopt canons of ethics for the real estate industry." ORC 4735.07(C) confirms both the publication and the examination, providing that a broker applicant shall be examined on "the canons of business ethics pertaining to them" and that "the commission from time to time shall promulgate such canons and cause them to be published in printed form." A national trade association publishes its own code for its own members, but that is a private document binding members rather than Ohio licensees. The General Assembly did not write the canons into the chapter; it delegated their content to the Commission, which is why they are adopted by rule rather than by statute. And they are not optional background reading that goes untested, since the broker examination expressly covers them.