Virginia Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Under Section 54.1-2137, at what point must a Virginia licensee have a brokerage agreement with a prospective client?

• a.Before providing brokerage services to that client✓
• b.Before presenting a written offer for that client
• c.Before accepting any compensation from that client
• d.Before the transaction is scheduled for settlement

Subsection B of Section 54.1-2137 states that "except as otherwise provided in this article, a licensee shall enter into a brokerage agreement with a prospective client prior to providing brokerage services," a rule the 2025 Acts of Assembly chapters 479 and 495 put in force on 1 July 2025. Compensation is the wrong trigger: Section 54.1-2140 says paying a broker creates no brokerage relationship at all, so the money neither starts nor delays the obligation. Waiting until an offer is written is far too late, because negotiating and drafting that offer is itself a brokerage service under the definition in Section 54.1-2130. Settlement is later still. The same subsection carves out one narrow step: a licensee need not have an agreement before "preparing property-specific materials with the intent to obtain a brokerage relationship with a prospective client."

A Virginia licensee is asked by an unrepresented prospective buyer to take her through three listings this afternoon. What does Section 54.1-2132 require first?

• a.Written consent from each of the three listing brokers
• b.A written disclosure that the licensee is unrepresented
• c.A brokerage agreement with that prospective buyer✓
• d.A signed acknowledgment of the buyer's loan approval

Subdivision A 1 of Section 54.1-2132 opens the buyer's-agent duties with "enter into a brokerage agreement with the prospective buyer prior to showing property to such prospective buyer." Until 1 July 2025 subsection G of the same section excused this where the licensee was showing under a seller-client's brokerage agreement, but the 2025 Acts of Assembly chapters 479 and 495 struck that exemption from the buyer section, so the agreement now comes first. A disclosure of brokerage relationship under Section 54.1-2138 is a separate obligation owed to someone who is not the licensee's client, and it does not substitute for the agreement. Listing brokers control access to their sellers' properties but their consent is not what Section 54.1-2132 conditions the showing on. And loan qualification is a financing step with no place in this statute. Subsection G of Section 54.1-2131 still lets a licensee show a seller client's own listing without a buyer agreement.

Section 54.1-2130 defines "showing property." Which virtual tour falls inside that definition?

• a.A pre-recorded walkthrough video posted to the listing
• b.A live tour given by a licensee inside the property✓
• c.A three-dimensional scan the buyer navigates alone
• d.A gallery of still photographs emailed to a buyer

The definition added to Section 54.1-2130 in 2025 covers "taking a prospective buyer or tenant to a property, obtaining access to such property, and taking the individual through the property, including entering a property to provide a live, virtual tour to a prospective buyer or tenant who is not physically present." Two conditions do the work: the licensee physically enters the property, and the tour is live. A pre-recorded walkthrough fails both, because nobody is in the house when the buyer watches it. A photo gallery fails for the same reason and is ordinary marketing. A self-guided three-dimensional scan has no licensee present at all, live or otherwise. The definition matters because Section 54.1-2132 A 1 now requires a brokerage agreement before a licensee shows property, so a licensee walking a house with a phone camera for a remote buyer needs the agreement first.

A Virginia brokerage agreement is signed but states no termination date. What happens under Section 54.1-2137?

• a.It is void, because a definite date is mandatory
• b.It continues until the client's transaction is completed
• c.It runs until either party gives 30 days written notice
• d.It terminates 90 days after the date of the agreement✓

Subdivision C 1 of Section 54.1-2137 requires a brokerage agreement to have a definite termination date, then supplies the consequence when it does not: "if a brokerage agreement does not specify a definite termination date, the brokerage agreement shall terminate 90 days after the date of the brokerage agreement." That is a default the statute writes in, not a cap on how long parties may agree to work together, and an agreement with a stated 12-month term is unaffected. Nothing in the section voids the agreement; the legislature chose to save it with a shorter life instead. A 30-day notice term appears nowhere in the article. And leaving it open until the transaction completes would give the agreement no end at all if no transaction ever happens, which is the gap the 90-day rule closes. Subsection E of Section 54.1-2135 does the same for property management agreements.

A Virginia licensee performs a few routine, non-discretionary acts for a buyer with whom no brokerage agreement exists. What is that buyer's status?

• a.A client, because the licensee provided assistance
• b.A dual client, because two parties were assisted
• c.An unrepresented party owed no duty whatsoever
• d.A customer, which the statute presumes by default✓

Section 54.1-2130 defines a "customer" as "a person who has not entered into a brokerage relationship with a licensee but for whom a licensee performs ministerial acts in a real estate transaction," and adds the presumption directly: "unless a licensee enters into a brokerage relationship with such person, it shall be presumed that such person is a customer of the licensee rather than a client." A client is someone who has entered a brokerage relationship, which by Section 54.1-2137 C means a written agreement, so assistance alone does not create one. Dual agency under Section 54.1-2139 requires brokerage relationships with both sides and the written consent of all parties, neither of which exists here. And a customer is not owed nothing: subsection B of Section 54.1-2131 requires the licensee to treat prospective buyers honestly, give them no false information, and disclose in writing all material adverse facts about the physical condition of the property that the licensee actually knows.

A Virginia listing agent actually knows the basement floods every spring. What does Section 54.1-2131 require toward a prospective buyer who is only a customer?

• a.Disclosure only if the buyer asks about flooding
• b.Written disclosure of the material adverse fact✓
• c.Silence, because the duty of loyalty runs to the seller
• d.Referral of the buyer to the seller for an answer

Subsection B of Section 54.1-2131 provides that "a licensee engaged by a seller shall disclose to prospective buyers all material adverse facts pertaining to the physical condition of the property that are actually known by the licensee," and closes with "such disclosure shall be made in writing." The duty does not wait for a question; it attaches to the licensee's own actual knowledge. Loyalty to the seller does not license concealment, and the same subsection says no cause of action arises against a licensee for revealing what the article requires. Passing the buyer to the seller leaves the licensee's own statutory duty unperformed. The subsection limits itself to the physical condition of the land and improvements, expressly excluding matters beyond the boundaries, land use regulation and highways, and it separately requires disclosure of defective drywall the licensee actually knows about.

When must a Virginia licensee give the written disclosure of brokerage relationship required by Section 54.1-2138?

• a.At the first open house the other party attends
• b.No later than the presentation of a written offer
• c.No later than the first specific assistance✓
• d.No later than the settlement of the transaction

Subsection A of Section 54.1-2138 says the disclosure must be made "in writing at the earliest practical time, but in no event later than the time when specific real estate assistance is first provided," and it is triggered by a substantive discussion about a specific property with a buyer or seller who is neither the licensee's client nor represented by another licensee. Attendance at an open house is not itself the trigger, and a visitor who never has a substantive discussion is owed no disclosure under this subsection. Waiting for an offer or for settlement puts the disclosure after the assistance rather than at it, which is the sequence the statute forbids. Subsection D requires the licensee to keep copies of disclosures for fully executed purchase contracts for three years, whether or not the other party signed.

What must a Virginia limited service agent's written brokerage agreement contain under Section 54.1-2138.1?

• a.A statement that the client waives all statutory duties
• b.A promise that another licensee will supply the gaps
• c.A schedule reducing the brokerage fee accordingly
• d.A list of the standard agent duties not being provided✓

Subsection A of Section 54.1-2138.1 permits limited service agency only under a written brokerage agreement in which the licensee discloses that status, gives "a list of the specific services that the licensee will provide to the client," and gives "a list of the specific duties of a standard agent... that the limited service agent will not provide to the client," conspicuously printed in bold or capitals and underlined or boxed. A blanket waiver is the opposite of what the statute wants, which is an itemized, informed consent. Nor does anyone step in to fill the gap; the model disclosure has the client acknowledge that neither the other party nor the other party's licensee "is under any legal obligation to assist the undersigned with the performance of any duties and responsibilities... not performed by the limited service agent." And nothing in the section ties the fee to the reduced service, which the parties negotiate for themselves.

Section 54.1-2139 permits dual agency in a Virginia residential transaction on what condition?

• a.Written consent of all parties, given in advance✓
• b.Approval of the arrangement by the Real Estate Board
• c.Written notice to both parties at settlement
• d.Consent of the client who is paying the brokerage fee

Subsection A of Section 54.1-2139 provides that a licensee may not act as a dual agent or dual representative "unless he has first obtained the written consent of all parties to the transaction given after written disclosure of the consequences of such dual agency or dual representation," and requires that disclosure to be given to both parties "prior to the commencement of such dual agency or dual representation." Notice at settlement comes after the whole representation has run, which is why subsection D refuses to count a disclosure given inside a purchase agreement or lease. The Board is not asked to approve individual transactions; it regulates licensees. And consent from the paying client alone leaves the other client unconsented, which is the very harm the section addresses. Subsection G lets a licensee withdraw without liability from a client who refuses to consent, and keep representing the other client.

A Virginia principal broker assigns two affiliated licensees as designated representatives for the buyer and the seller in one transaction. What is the broker's own status?

• a.A dual representative, as the article provides✓
• b.A standard agent for whichever client signed first
• c.A limited service agent for both of the clients
• d.A customer of the firm, owed ministerial acts only

Subsection A of Section 54.1-2139.1 allows a principal or supervising broker to assign different affiliated licensees to different clients in the same residential transaction, and says that using them "shall not constitute dual agency or representation if a designated agent or representative is not representing more than one client in a particular real estate transaction; however, the principal or broker who is supervising the transaction shall be considered a dual agent or representative." Order of signing has nothing to do with it, and treating the broker as a standard agent for one side would leave the other side's client supervised by an adverse agent. Limited service agency is a different arrangement altogether, created by a brokerage agreement that names duties the licensee will not perform. And the broker is plainly not a customer of the broker's own firm. The same subsection bars the designated representatives from sharing their clients' confidential information with each other, though they may share it with their broker.

A Virginia seller's firm offers to share its fee with the buyer's broker, and the buyer's broker accepts. What does Section 54.1-2140 say that establishes?

• a.That the buyer's broker now also represents the seller
• b.That a dual agency has arisen requiring written consent
• c.That no brokerage relationship arises from the payment✓
• d.That the buyer's broker is a subagent of the listing firm

Section 54.1-2140 is a single sentence: "the payment or promise of payment or compensation to a real estate broker does not create a brokerage relationship between any broker, seller, landlord, buyer or tenant." Representation of the seller would have to come from a brokerage agreement with the seller under Section 54.1-2137 C, not from a check. Dual agency likewise requires brokerage relationships with both parties and the advance written consent of all of them under Section 54.1-2139 A, so a fee split does not trip it. Subagency is not created either; Section 54.1-2144 abrogates the common law of agency in brokerage relationships to the extent it conflicts with the article, and the article builds relationships out of written agreements. Section 54.1-2141 does the same job for common source information companies, so using a multiple listing service creates no relationship with the seller either.

From whom may a Virginia salesperson accept compensation for licensed real estate activity?

• a.From any party to the transaction who agrees in writing
• b.From the listing firm, whenever a fee split is published
• c.From the settlement agent, out of the closing proceeds
• d.From the licensee's own principal or supervising broker✓

Subdivision A 2 of 18VAC135-20-280 makes it an improper financial transaction to accept "a commission, fee, compensation, or other valuable consideration, as a real estate salesperson or associate broker, for any licensed real estate activity from any person or entity except the licensee's principal broker or supervising broker at the time the licensed real estate activity was performed without the prior written consent of the licensee's principal broker." A client's written promise does not satisfy that, because the consent the regulation names is the broker's. Taking the money from the settlement agent routes it around the firm entirely, and subdivision 12 a of 18VAC135-20-260 separately treats diverting commission away from the firm as dishonest conduct. A published fee split is an offer between firms, and it is paid to the cooperating broker rather than to that broker's salesperson. Subdivision A 1 of the same regulation bars paying anyone unlicensed for work that requires a license.