Oklahoma Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which transfer is exempt from the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act under 60 O.S. § 838?

• a.The sale of a thirty-year-old house by an owner who never lived in it
• b.The sale of a newly constructed dwelling that has never been occupied✓
• c.The sale of a duplex in which the seller occupies one of the two units
• d.The sale of a house by an owner who is not represented by a licensee

Paragraph 9 of section 838(A) exempts "transfers of a newly constructed, previously unoccupied dwelling." The rest of the exemption list is structural rather than about the condition of the house: court-ordered transfers including execution, eminent domain and partition; transfers to a mortgagee in default, foreclosure sales, power-of-sale transfers and deeds in lieu; transfers by a non-occupant fiduciary administering an estate, guardianship, conservatorship or trust; co-owner to co-owner; transfers to a spouse or a lineal relative; divorce and separation settlements; mergers and parent-subsidiary transfers; and transfers to or from a governmental entity. A seller who never occupied an older house is not exempt at all — she simply qualifies for the disclaimer statement under 60 O.S. § 833(A)(1). A duplex is squarely inside the Act, since 60 O.S. § 832(8) defines "property" as residential real property improved with not less than one nor more than two dwelling units. And an unrepresented seller becomes a "seller" under 60 O.S. § 832(2)(b) as soon as the purchaser makes a written request. Section 838(B) leaves 59 O.S. § 858-513 on psychologically impacted property untouched.

Under 59 O.S. § 858-513, the fact that an Oklahoma house was the site of a suicide or a homicide is:

• a.Not a material fact, so it need not be disclosed in the transaction✓
• b.A material defect the seller must record on the disclosure statement
• c.A material fact the licensee must volunteer to every serious prospect
• d.Disclosable only where the event happened within the past five years

Section 858-513(A) provides that the fact or suspicion that real estate is psychologically impacted — including that an occupant was infected with HIV or diagnosed with AIDS or another disease highly unlikely to be transmitted by occupying a dwelling, or that the property "was, or was at any time suspected to have been the site of a suicide, homicide or other felony" — "is not a material fact that must be disclosed in a real estate transaction." Subsection (B) bars any cause of action against the owner or an assisting licensee for failing to disclose it. There is no five-year window and no entry for it on the disclosure statement, whose items in 60 O.S. § 833(B)(1) are physical conditions. But silence is not the whole answer: subsection (C) and OAC 605:10-15-3 set a procedure where a purchaser or lessee making a bona fide written offer tells the licensee in writing that the factor matters to the decision — the licensee must then inquire of the owner and report the findings with the owner's consent, and if the owner refuses, must tell the purchaser so. Section 858-514 separately provides that the Sex Offenders Registration Act and the Mary Rippy Violent Crime Offenders Registration Act impose no disclosure duty on a licensee.

Under OAC 605:10-13-1 and 605:10-13-2, who must be a signer on an Oklahoma brokerage's trust account?

• a.Any associate the broker designates in writing to the financial institution
• b.The title company handling the closing, as the neutral third-party escrow
• c.The listing associate, for the deposits taken on that associate's listings
• d.The broker, who is required to be a signor on any account holding such funds✓

Rule 605:10-13-1(a)(1)(B) is explicit: "the broker is required to be a signor on any brokerage account where such funds are held." Subparagraph (C) adds that the account must be in the name of the broker or brokerage as it appears on the license or on the trade name registered with the Commission, and must be "styled as a trust or escrow account." Rule 605:10-13-2(3) closes the other side, providing that an associate "shall not be authorized to open or maintain a trust or escrow account, or be a signer on a trust or escrow account wherein the associate is providing licensed activities," and (1) requires the associate to turn over all documents, files and monies to the broker promptly. That is why neither a designated associate nor the listing associate can hold the pen. A title company may run its own settlement escrow under its own arrangements, but that is not the brokerage's trust account and it does not displace the broker's accountability under 858-312(6).

Under OAC 605:10-13-1, escrow funds must be deposited before the end of the:

• a.Next banking day after acceptance of an offer or receipt of the funds
• b.Fifth business day after acceptance of an offer or receipt of the funds
• c.Tenth calendar day after acceptance of an offer or receipt of the funds
• d.Third banking day after acceptance of an offer or receipt of the funds✓

Rule 605:10-13-1(a)(1)(D) provides that "all escrow funds shall be deposited before the end of the third banking day following acceptance of an offer by an offeree or receipt of escrow funds unless otherwise agreed to in writing by all interested parties." Two details matter as much as the number. The clock starts at whichever comes first in practice, acceptance or receipt, and the deadline counts banking days rather than calendar or business days. And the parties can move it, but only by a writing signed by all interested parties — an oral understanding with one side does not. Subparagraph (E) then requires the funds to stay in the account "until the transaction involved is consummated or terminated and proper accounting made," and (F) requires an accurate and detailed record at all times. On the way out, subsection (g) requires the broker to pay over all sums promptly after closing, and makes failure to do so within three days after a closing prima facie evidence of a violation.

How much of a broker's own money may sit in an Oklahoma trust account under OAC 605:10-13-1?

• a.None whatever, since any personal funds in the account are commingling
• b.Enough to keep the account open and cover the institution's service charges✓
• c.Up to one month of the brokerage's operating expenses, held as a buffer
• d.Any amount, so long as the broker's funds are ledgered as a separate client

Rule 605:10-13-1(b) provides that "a broker may not keep any personal funds in the trust account except amounts sufficient to insure the integrity of the account and cover any charges made by the financial institution for servicing the trust or escrow account." That is a narrow, purpose-limited allowance rather than a general license, and it exists because a trust account that gets closed for a service charge protects nobody. Section 858-312(16) makes it a cause for discipline to commingle "with the licensee's own money or property the money or property of others which is received and held by the licensee, unless the money or property of others is received by the licensee and held in an escrow account that contains only money or property of others." So the absolute-zero answer overstates a real rule, and the operating-buffer and separate-ledger answers abandon it — a ledger entry does not change whose money is in the account. Rule 605:10-13-1(d) adds that a broker need not maintain a trust account at all unless the broker accepts money or depositable items belonging to others.

Which accounts must an Oklahoma broker notify the Commission of in writing, under OAC 605:10-13-1?

• a.Only the single escrow account used to hold earnest money on sale contracts
• b.Only accounts opened at financial institutions located outside of Oklahoma
• c.Only accounts on which some person other than the broker is a signer too
• d.Trust, escrow, security deposit, rental management operating and interest accounts✓

Rule 605:10-13-1(e) requires the broker "to notify the Commission in writing of all trust or escrow accounts, security deposit accounts, rental management operating accounts, and interest bearing accounts in which trust funds are held," and adds that "if a broker is a signor on a principal's account, the broker shall register that account as a trust account." The broker must also tell the Commission in writing when any such account is closed and no longer in use. The same paragraph is the audit hook: "all records relating to the broker's trust accounts, including bookkeeping system data, shall be made available for inspection by the Commission or its authorized representatives" — an inspection power that does not wait for a consumer complaint. The narrowing answers all invent a limit the rule does not draw; a rental management operating account and a security deposit account are named expressly, wherever the bank sits and whoever else signs. Section 858-313(3) makes the brokerage records that result from a Commission audit confidential and not public records.

How long must an Oklahoma broker keep trust account records, under OAC 605:10-13-1?

• a.Five years from disbursal, the first two of them in the original format✓
• b.Three years from disbursal, in whatever format the broker finds easiest
• c.Five years from disbursal, in the original paper format for all five years
• d.Two years from disbursal, after which the records may all be destroyed

Rule 605:10-13-1(l) requires a broker to "maintain all records and files for a minimum of five (5) years after consummation or termination of a transaction," and provides that "in the case of trust account records the five years shall commence with the date of disbursal of funds." Subsection (m)(1) then sets the format rule: "trust account records shall be maintained by the broker in their original format for a minimum of two (2) years. Trust account records may then be transferred to an alternative media for the remaining required record retention time." So neither of the single-number answers is right — three years is short of the retention period, two years is only the original-format period, and nothing requires paper for the full five. Other records may move to alternative media at any time under (m)(2). After a quality assurance check confirming every document was imaged legibly, the originals may be destroyed under (m)(4), but the broker must still keep the means of viewing the media and produce "a true, correct and legible paper copy to the Commission upon request." Subsection (l) also requires records to be destroyed in a secure manner.

Buyer and seller are in dispute over the earnest money and no civil action has been filed. Under OAC 605:10-13-3, the broker may disburse on the broker's own good-faith decision:

• a.Thirty days after final termination, and after fifteen days' written notice to all parties✓
• b.Fifteen days after final termination, and after thirty days' written notice to all parties
• c.Immediately, so long as the broker records the reasons for the decision in the file
• d.Never, because only a written release from all parties or a court order will do

Rule 605:10-13-3(a) sets the default: the broker "shall continue to retain said money or valuables in escrow until he or she has a written release from all parties consenting to its disposition or until a civil action is filed to determine its disposition," and may also interplead the funds. Subsection (b) then supplies a safe harbor the last option overlooks: "in the absence of a pending civil action and upon the passage of thirty (30) days from the date of final termination of the contract, it shall not be considered grounds for disciplinary action by the Commission against a broker for a broker to disburse escrow monies or valuables to either purchaser or seller when the disbursement has been based on a good faith decision by the broker that the opposite party has failed to perform as agreed, such disbursement to be made, however, only after fifteen (15) days written notice to all parties concerned setting forth the broker's proposed action." Thirty days then fifteen, in that order — reversing the two figures gets the sequence wrong, and disbursing at once decides the dispute the broker has no authority to decide.

Under the Commission's own definition in OAC 605:10-1-2, an Oklahoma broker is the person the Commission holds responsible for:

• a.All actions of the associates who ask that broker for guidance
• b.All actions of the associates who are assigned to that broker✓
• c.All actions of the associates in their first year of licensure
• d.All actions of the associates that the broker personally approved

The rule's definition of "broker" ends by naming the person "whom the Commission shall hold responsible for all actions of associates who are assigned to said broker." The trigger is assignment, not the associate's request for help, not the associate's seniority and not the broker's own sign-off — a broker who never saw the conduct is still answerable for it. Rule 605:10-9-1(a) supplies the operative duty: each broker "shall be available to manage and supervise such brokerage practice," which must be available to the public during reasonable business hours. Subsection (g) extends the same responsibility to "all real estate related activities of any unlicensed assistant working within the firm." On the consequences, 858-208(6) lets the Commission discipline a licensee on a showing of good cause by reprimand, probation, additional education, suspension, revocation, administrative fine or any combination, and 858-312(9) makes disregarding or violating any provision of the Code or the Commission's rules a cause in itself.

OAC 605:10-9-1 requires an Oklahoma broker's place of business to be:

• a.A commercially zoned suite, because a broker may not operate from a residence
• b.Open to the public twenty-four hours a day so documents can be delivered there
• c.At least one enclosed room or building of stationary construction, allowing privacy✓
• d.Registered jointly by the broker and by every associate assigned to that office

Rule 605:10-9-1(a)(1) requires that "the place of business shall consist of at least one enclosed room or building of stationary construction wherein negotiations and closing of real estate transactions of others may be conducted and carried on with privacy and wherein the broker's books, records and files pertaining to real estate transactions of others are maintained," and (a)(2) requires the broker to register a physical business address and office telephone number for each place of business. Subsection (c) says plainly that "the office may be in the residence of the broker," so no commercial zoning test exists. The access standard in (a) is availability "to the public during reasonable business hours," not around the clock. And associates cannot register an office: subsection (d) provides that "associates are not permitted to have a place of business, but must be registered with a place of business maintained and registered in the name of the broker." Section 858-310(B) requires a branch office license for each additional location, each under the direction and supervision of a separate broker.

Before any Oklahoma property is advertised for sale, OAC 605:10-9-4 requires the owner's permission, and that permission must carry:

• a.A notarized signature from every owner of record shown on the title
• b.The listing associate's countersignature as the broker's designated agent
• c.A recital of the commission the owner has agreed to pay on the sale
• d.A definite date of expiration on the owner's authorization to advertise✓

Rule 605:10-9-4(a)(6) provides that "a licensee shall not advertise any property for sale, rent, lease, or exchange in any media unless the broker has first secured the permission of the owner or the owner's authorized representative and said permission has a definite date of expiration." Open-ended authority to advertise is the thing the rule forbids. The supervision half of the subtopic sits in (b)(2) and (c)(2): "all advertising by an associate must be under the direct supervision of the associate's broker," and the same for team advertising. Nothing requires notarization or a countersignature, and the commission figure has no place in the advertising authority — indeed OAC 605:10-17-1(a) keeps the Commission out of rates altogether. Section 858-312(11) backs the rule with discipline for "advertising or offering for sale, rent or lease any real estate, or placing a sign on any real estate offering it for sale, rent or lease without the consent of the owner or the owner's authorized representative."

Under OAC 605:10-9-3, when must an Oklahoma broker register a trade name with the Commission?

• a.In writing, within ten days after the trade name is first used publicly
• b.At the next license renewal after the trade name has been adopted
• c.Only where the trade name differs from the franchise name in use
• d.In writing, before the trade name is advertised or displayed in any way✓

Rule 605:10-9-3 requires that "each licensed broker or entity must register in writing to the Commission all trade names used in connection with real estate activities prior to the trade name being advertised or displayed in any way," and that "each broker is to notify the Commission in writing of all deleted or unused trade names." Registration carries a twenty-five-dollar fee, and the Commission may refuse a submission "too similar to an existing trade name or licensed real estate brokerage that approval will likely confuse the public." Registering after the fact defeats that screening, which is why no ten-day grace period or renewal-cycle filing exists. Franchise names are handled separately by 605:10-9-4(a)(3): a broker operating under a franchise name must reveal the franchise name together with the broker's name or registered trade name in office identification and advertising, "a franchise name shall not be the complete business trade name," and institutional franchise advertising must state that each office is independently owned and operated. Team names are registered separately under 605:10-9-3.2 at a hundred dollars each.

An Oklahoma firm ceases all real estate activities. Under OAC 605:10-13-1(n), advertising in the firm's name must stop and offering signs come down within:

• a.Ten days of the cessation of the firm's real estate activities
• b.Sixty days of the cessation of the firm's real estate activities
• c.Five business days of the cessation of the firm's activities
• d.Thirty days of the cessation of the firm's real estate activities✓

Rule 605:10-13-1(n)(3) requires that "all advertising in the name of the firm must be terminated and offering signs removed within thirty (30) days of cessation of real estate activities." It sits inside a checklist the broker owes in full: written notice to the Commission of the effective date and of where records will be stored; return or destruction of the license certificates; release forms filed for every affiliated licensee; the broker's own license transferred to a new firm or placed inactive; and written notice to all listing and management clients and to the parties and co-brokers on existing contracts. Paragraph (n)(4) keeps the money where it is — trust funds and pending contracts "must be maintained by the responsible broker until consummation of transaction and final proper disbursal of funds," after which the account is closed and the Commission told in writing. Where the broker cannot continue, (n)(5) allows transfer to another authorized broker or legal representative only on written Commission approval plus new agreements from all parties. Rule 605:10-9-7 routes the cessation of any portion of a firm's activities through the same provision, and (n)(7) gives a firm merger thirty days to file the paperwork.

A sole-proprietor Oklahoma broker dies. Under OAC 605:10-9-6, the money in the firm's trust account must be:

• a.Paid over to the Commission, which holds it pending each client's written claim to it
• b.Held by the administrator, executor or co-signer until all parties agree or a court orders✓
• c.Distributed at once to the clients shown on the ledger as of the date of the broker's death
• d.Transferred to the broker's estate as an asset of it and accounted for in the probate case

Rule 605:10-9-6(2)(F) requires whoever winds the firm up to "retain trust account monies under the control of the administrator, executor or co-signer on the account until such time as all parties to each transaction agree in writing to disposition or until a court of competent jurisdiction issues an order relative to disposition." The rest of paragraph (2) is the wind-down: all brokerage activity must cease, and a family attorney or representative notifies the Commission in writing of the date of death or disability, advises where records will be stored, destroys the license certificates of the broker and of everyone associated, notifies each listing and management client in writing that the broker is out of business and that they may go elsewhere, notifies each party and co-broker to existing contracts, tells the Commission the date the trust account will be closed, and stops all advertising and removes offering signs within thirty days. Trust money is other people's money, so it is never an estate asset, and no provision hands it to the Commission. Paying it straight out on the ledger would decide entitlements the rule reserves for agreement or a court. Paragraph (3) applies the same steps to an entity that ceases all brokerage activity.

An Oklahoma broker's license is suspended. Under OAC 605:10-17-6, what becomes of the associates that broker supervised?

• a.They keep working under the suspended broker's license until it is fully revoked
• b.They go inactive for the suspension period unless they transfer to another broker✓
• c.Their licenses are revoked along with the broker's and they must reapply anew
• d.They are assigned by the Commission to the nearest brokerage willing to take them

Rule 605:10-17-6(b)(2) provides that "when a broker's license is suspended/revoked, associates under the suspended/revoked broker's supervision will automatically be placed 'inactive' for the duration of the suspension/revocation period unless the licensee requests to be transferred to another broker." The same treatment runs to a branch office and its licensees under (b)(3), and to the licensees of a corporation, partnership or association whose managing broker is disciplined for an act on its behalf. Around that sit the rest of the shutdown duties: listings must be canceled between receipt of the order and its effective date and are void on that date; the broker may not assign listings elsewhere without the owner's written consent; all advertising stops; pending contracts, items and monies transfer to another responsible broker as the Commission approves; and a Commission representative visits the office before the effective date to check compliance. Section 858-312.1(A) bars the disciplined person from any participating interest in a licensed real estate business, and 858-307.3 bars an application for reissuance for five years after a revocation.

What part does the Oklahoma Real Estate Commission take in setting brokerage commission rates?

• a.It publishes a non-binding schedule of customary rates for each county yearly
• b.It sets a ceiling on residential commissions and reviews that figure every year
• c.It approves the rate each brokerage charges as a condition of license renewal
• d.None; its rules say it shall not establish rates and shall have no interest in them✓

Rule 605:10-17-1(a) states that "the Commission shall not establish the rate of commissions to be charged for real estate services and shall have no interest therein," and (b) lets the Commission dismiss or postpone any investigation or hearing that is essentially a private dispute not affecting the public interest. Rates are a matter between broker and client. Section 858-359(D) reinforces the point from the statutory side: nothing in it "requires a broker to charge, or prohibits a broker from charging, a separate fee or other compensation for each duty or other brokerage services provided during a transaction," and nothing "requires a broker or real estate owner of record to offer compensation to any real estate professional in this state." Subsection (C) permits, without requiring, an offer of compensation to another Oklahoma licensee. What the law does require is disclosure rather than a rate: since November 1, 2024, 858-353(A)(7) obliges the broker to disclose compensation and fees in writing to the represented party before the effective date of the contract for sale or lease, and to state the period the compensation agreement is valid, which may not exceed one year and defaults to sixty days if unspecified.