Oklahoma Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which of these is one of the duties 59 O.S. § 858-353(A) owes to all parties in a transaction and that a broker may not waive?

• a.Timely accounting for all money and property the broker receives✓
• b.Guaranteeing the party a profit on any resale within twelve months
• c.Representing both sides on equal terms in every listed transaction
• d.Advancing a party's earnest money when that party's funds run late

Section 858-353(A) opens by declaring its list "mandatory and may not be abrogated or waived by a broker," and paragraph 3 is "timely account for all money and property received by the broker." The other duties on the list are treating all parties with honesty and exercising reasonable skill and care; receiving all written offers and counteroffers, reducing them to writing on request and presenting them timely unless specifically waived in writing; keeping the four listed categories of confidential information confidential; disclosing property information required by the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act; complying with the Code and all applicable statutes and rules; and, since November 1, 2024, disclosing compensation and fees in writing before the effective date of the contract. Guaranteeing future resale profits is not a duty but a violation — 858-312(10). Nothing compels a broker to serve both sides; 858-355.1(B) says a broker "may provide brokerage services to one or both parties." And fronting a party's earnest money is a cause for discipline under 858-312(22).

Under 59 O.S. § 858-353(B), when an offer is made the broker must inform the party the broker serves, in writing, of:

• a.The commission split agreed between the two firms working the transaction
• b.The names of the other prospects who have toured the property being sold
• c.The costs that party will be expected to pay, and their approximate amount✓
• d.The lowest figure the seller has privately said that she would be willing to take

Subsection B carries the two duties a broker owes only to the party being served, and both are mandatory and unwaivable: "1. Inform the party in writing when an offer is made that the party will be expected to pay certain costs, brokerage service costs and approximate amount of the costs; and 2. Keep the party informed regarding the transaction." The trigger is the making of an offer, and the content is the party's own costs including brokerage service costs, given in writing with an approximate figure rather than a vague warning. Nothing in the section obliges a broker to publish the split between cooperating firms, though 858-353(A)(7) does now require written disclosure of the compensation and fees assessed on the transaction to the represented party. The other two options describe information a broker must not hand over: the identity and interest of other prospects is nobody's entitlement, and what a seller would privately accept is confidential under 858-353(A)(4)(a).

Under 59 O.S. § 858-363, a brokerage agreement with a party may be entered into:

• a.In the name of the associate who negotiated it, once the broker countersigns
• b.Only in the broker's name, though the broker may authorize associates to sign✓
• c.In either name, so long as the brokerage agreement is filed with the Commission
• d.Only in the broker's name, and only over the broker's own personal signature

Section 858-363 requires each broker associate, sales associate and provisional sales associate to be associated with a real estate broker, then draws the line: "Associates shall not enter into a brokerage agreement with a party in the associate's name and shall only be allowed to enter into the agreement in the name of the broker. A real estate broker may authorize associates to provide brokerage services in the name of the real estate broker as permitted under The Oklahoma Real Estate License Code, which may include the execution of written agreements." So the associate may sign, but signs for the broker — which is why the version demanding the broker's own pen is too strict, and the version letting the associate contract in her own name with a countersignature is too loose. Rule 605:10-11-1(a) puts it more broadly still: "All acts performed by an associate under the provisions of the Real Estate License Code shall be done only in the name of the associate's broker." Brokerage agreements are not filed with the Commission at all.

A broker manages a rental house for its owner. Under OAC 605:10-15-2, what does the broker owe a prospective tenant?

• a.A full broker relationship, because the Act defines a tenant as a party to a transaction
• b.Nothing whatever, because the management agreement runs only between owner and broker
• c.Honesty and reasonable skill and care, but no broker relationship unless agreed in writing✓
• d.A written disclosure naming the broker as the transaction broker for the tenant in the deal

Rule 605:10-15-2(c) settles this directly: "When a broker provides brokerage services to a landlord under a property management agreement, the services provided to the tenant by the broker shall not be construed as creating a broker relationship between the broker and the tenant unless otherwise agreed to in writing; however, the broker owes to the tenant the duties of honesty and exercising reasonable skill and care." Section 858-351(5) does define "party" to include a tenant, which is why the second option is tempting — but the rule is the specific provision and it says managing for the landlord does not by itself put the broker in a relationship with the tenant. Owing nothing is equally wrong; honesty and reasonable skill and care are named in the rule and are the first duty in 858-353(A)(1). The transaction broker option describes a status Oklahoma no longer has: sections 858-352, 858-354, 858-355 and 858-357 were repealed by Laws 2012, c. 251, § 9, effective November 1, 2013.

Which of these counts as confidential information under 59 O.S. § 858-353(A)(4)?

• a.That the roof leaks, a defect the seller described to the listing broker
• b.That the house was the site of a homicide some eleven years ago now
• c.That the seller is willing to take less than the price she is asking✓
• d.That the seller's brokerage agreement expires at the end of this month

Paragraph 4 lists four items and then closes the list: they "shall be considered confidential and shall be the only information considered confidential in a transaction." They are that a party is willing to pay more or accept less than what is being offered; that a party is willing to agree to different financing terms; the party's motivating factors; and information a party specifically designates as confidential unless it is public. A seller's willingness to accept less is the first of them. A known defect is the opposite of confidential — 858-353(A)(5) requires disclosure of property information under the Residential Property Condition Disclosure Act, and 605:10-17-5(2) makes failure to disclose a known material defect a substantial misrepresentation. A homicide is not confidential either, because 858-513(A)(2) provides that it "is not a material fact that must be disclosed in a real estate transaction" at all. And the expiry date of a brokerage agreement is simply not on the statutory list.

Once an Oklahoma brokerage relationship ends, 59 O.S. § 858-358 leaves the broker owing the party:

• a.A continuing duty to present any later offer received on the same property
• b.An accounting for the monies and property, and continued confidentiality✓
• c.Nothing at all any longer, once the transaction has closed and been funded
• d.A continuing duty of reasonable skill and care for two years after closing

Section 858-358 provides that "the broker owes no further duties or responsibilities to the party after termination, expiration, or completion of performance of the transaction, except: 1. To account for all monies and property relating to the transaction; and 2. To keep confidential all confidential information received by the broker during the broker's relationship with a party." Those two survive; the rest fall away. Note the section's opening words, "Except as may be provided in a written brokerage agreement between the broker and a party" — the parties can contract for more, so the two exceptions are a floor rather than a ceiling. Saying nothing at all survives ignores the two express carve-outs, which is precisely the mistake the section exists to prevent. The duty to receive and present offers lives in 858-353(A)(2) and belongs to the life of the relationship, and no provision extends reasonable skill and care for a fixed period afterwards.

Under 59 O.S. § 858-360, what is an Oklahoma real estate broker's status toward the parties in a transaction?

• a.A common-law agent of whichever party has agreed to pay the broker's compensation
• b.A dual agent of both parties whenever the firm provides services to both of them
• c.Not an agent, subagent or dual agent; statutory duties replace common-law agency✓
• d.A subagent of the listing broker whenever the broker works with a cooperating firm

Section 858-360(A) states that the duties and responsibilities in sections 858-351 through 858-363 "shall replace and abrogate the fiduciary or other duties of a broker to a party based on common law principles of agency," and (B) is blunter still: "a broker shall not be an agent, subagent, or dual agent and an offer of subagency shall not be made to other brokers." This is the single largest departure from the national agency material, and it is why importing the common-law frame into an Oklahoma answer produces the wrong result. Payment does not create the relationship either — 858-359(A) provides that "the payment or promise of payment or compensation by a party to a broker does not determine what relationship, if any, has been established." A firm may serve both parties under 858-355.1(B), but it does so as a broker owing the 858-353 duties to both, not as a dual agent. Section 858-361 does allow the word "agent" in a trade name and as a general reference, which is the source of much of the confusion.

Under 59 O.S. §§ 858-355.1 and 858-356, the written description of a broker's duties must be given and then confirmed:

• a.At the closing, and confirmed by the party's signature on the settlement statement
• b.Within three days after the contract is signed, and confirmed by return receipt
• c.Before the party signs the contract, and confirmed in a separate provision of it✓
• d.Only when the firm serves both parties, and confirmed in the listing agreement

Section 858-355.1(C) requires a broker providing brokerage services to one or both parties to "describe and disclose in writing the broker's duties and responsibilities set forth in Section 858-353... prior to the party or parties signing a contract to sell, purchase, lease, option, or exchange real estate." Section 858-356 then says those disclosures "shall be confirmed by each party in writing in a separate provision, incorporated in or attached to the contract," and adds that where a broker is involved but did not prepare the contract, "compliance with the disclosure requirements shall be documented by the broker." Waiting for closing hands the disclosure to somebody already bound, and a three-day post-signing window exists nowhere in the Act. The duty is not limited to both-party transactions either — that situation triggers an additional written notice under 858-355.1(D), on top of this one, and 858-355.1(E) adds a further written disclosure where the broker will provide fewer services than the transaction requires.