Virginia Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Which body licenses and disciplines real estate brokers in Virginia?

• a.The Virginia Association of Realtors
• b.The Real Estate Board, part of DPOR✓
• c.The Virginia State Corporation Commission
• d.The Virginia Department of Housing

Section 54.1-2104 creates a nine-member Real Estate Board within the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, and Section 54.1-2105 A gives that Board power to "do all things necessary and convenient for carrying into effect the provisions of this chapter" and to promulgate regulations, which is where both the license and the discipline come from. A trade association such as the Virginia Association of Realtors is a private membership group that can enforce its own code against its own members but issues no state license and revokes none. The State Corporation Commission charters and regulates business entities and industries such as insurance and utilities, so a brokerage may file with it as a corporation while its real estate license still comes from elsewhere. And a housing department administers housing programs and funding rather than occupational credentials, so it has no role in licensing an individual broker.

Under 18VAC135-20-335, which task may an unlicensed assistant in a Virginia brokerage lawfully perform?

• a.Answering a caller's questions on financing
• b.Placing a for sale sign on a listed property✓
• c.Holding an open house at a listed property
• d.Agreeing to a commission split with a firm

Subsection B of 18VAC135-20-335 lists "placing signs on properties" among the activities an unlicensed individual may perform, alongside clerical duties, scheduling appointments and acting as a courier. Subsection A reserves the other three to licensees by name: it lists "answering questions on listings, title, financing, closing, contracts, brokerage agreements, and legal documents," so fielding a financing question is licensed activity even over the telephone; it lists "holding an open house" separately from "showing property," so staffing one is licensed activity even if the assistant never opens a contract; and it lists "negotiating or agreeing to any commission, commission split, management fee, or referral fee," so the money side of a cooperating arrangement is reserved as well. Subdivision 3 of 18VAC135-20-165 makes the supervising broker responsible for adequate supervision of unlicensed personnel.

What licensed experience must an applicant for a Virginia real estate broker license show?

• a.Thirty-six of the preceding 48 months as a salesperson✓
• b.Twenty-four of the preceding 36 months as a salesperson
• c.Sixty of the preceding 84 months as a salesperson
• d.Twelve of the preceding 24 months as a salesperson

Subsection C of 18VAC135-20-35 requires that broker applicants "have been actively engaged as defined in 18VAC135-20-10 as a real estate salesperson for a period of 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding application," and the same subsection requires the principal or supervising broker for whom the applicant worked to verify that experience. Twelve months in a 24-month window and 24 months in a 36-month window both fall short of the three years the regulation actually demands. Five years within seven is another state’s broker standard, not Virginia's, and applying it here would keep qualified Virginia applicants out of the examination for two extra years. Subsection E 4 applies the same 36-of-48 test to broker applicants seeking licensure by reciprocity, verified there by an individual with direct knowledge of the applicant's activities.

18VAC135-20-10 defines "actively engaged" for the Virginia broker experience requirement as active licensure performing licensed activity for what level of effort?

• a.Any level of effort, so long as the license stayed active
• b.At least twenty transactions closed over the same period
• c.An average of at least 40 hours per week over the period✓
• d.At least six months of full-time work in each of three years

The definition in 18VAC135-20-10 reads that "actively engaged" means "active licensure with a licensed real estate firm or sole proprietorship in performing those activities as defined in Section 54.1-2100 of the Code of Virginia for an average of at least 40 hours per week." Holding an active license is therefore necessary but not sufficient; a licensee who parked a license with a firm and sold nothing has active licensure without the hours. The regulation measures time rather than production, so no transaction count appears in it and an applicant with a light but full-time practice still qualifies. And the standard is an average across the qualifying period rather than a run of separately certified full-time months, which is why subsection C of 18VAC135-20-35 has the principal or supervising broker verify the experience rather than having the applicant document each month.

What education does Section 54.1-2105 require of an applicant for an initial Virginia real estate broker license?

• a.A baccalaureate degree with a major or minor in real estate
• b.Not less than 60 hours of a principles of real estate course
• c.Not less than 12 semester hours of real estate courses✓
• d.Not less than 30 hours of post-license education in one year

Subdivision B 2 of Section 54.1-2105 requires every applicant for an initial broker license to hold at least a high school diploma or its equivalent and to have "completed not less than 12 semester hours of classroom or correspondence or other distance learning instruction in real estate courses," with subsection D specifying that the content be in real estate brokerage, finance, appraisal, law and related Board-approved subjects. The 60-hour principles course is the salesperson requirement in subdivision B 1 b, and a broker candidate needs considerably more than that. A real estate degree is not a route the section creates, though subsection C lets the Board waive education or experience for an applicant found to have the equivalent. And the 30-hour figure is the post-license curriculum that Section 54.1-2105.01 imposes on new salespersons within their first year, which is neither a broker requirement nor a prelicence one.

When does a Virginia salesperson, broker or firm license issued under 18VAC135-20 expire?

• a.One year from the date printed on the face of the license
• b.Three years from the last day of the month it was issued
• c.Two years from the last day of the month it was issued✓
• d.On 30 June of the second year following its issuance

18VAC135-20-90 provides that licenses for salespersons, brokers and firms "will expire two years from the last day of the month in which the licenses were issued, as indicated on the license," with concurrent broker licenses expiring on the same date as the original broker license. A one-year term is too short and would double the renewal cycle the Board actually runs. Three years is longer than the regulation allows and would let a licensee go a full extra year without the continuing education Section 54.1-2105.03 ties to renewal. And Virginia does not use a common fixed expiry date for everyone; each licensee's cycle runs from the licensee's own issue month, which is why 18VAC135-20-110 C warns that failing to receive the Board's renewal notice does not excuse a late renewal.

Of the 24 hours of continuing education a Virginia broker must complete each licensing term, how many hours must relate to supervision and brokerage management?

• a.Two hours, of which one covers broker supervision
• b.Three hours, of which one covers broker supervision
• c.Five hours, of which two cover broker supervision
• d.Eight hours, of which two cover broker supervision✓

Subdivision A 1 b of Section 54.1-2105.03 requires "a minimum of eight hours of courses relating to supervision and management of real estate agents and the management of real estate brokerage firms as are approved by the Board, two hours of which shall include an overview of the broker supervision requirements under this chapter and the Board regulations." Two hours and three hours both match other line items in the same curriculum rather than this one: subdivision A 1 a sets two hours of fair housing, two of legal updates, two of agency, two of contracts and three of ethics. Five hours is the general elective allowance in subdivision A 1 c. The eight-hour management block is what makes the broker's 24-hour requirement larger than the salesperson's 16 hours under subdivision A 2, and it is a broker-only obligation.

A Virginia salesperson moves house. Within what period must the change of address be reported to the Real Estate Board?

• a.Within 10 calendar days of the change of address
• b.Within 21 calendar days of the change of address
• c.At the next renewal of the salesperson's license
• d.Within 30 calendar days of the change of address✓

Subdivision A 1 of 18VAC135-20-170 requires salespersons and individual brokers to keep the Board informed of their current name and home address, and states that "changes of name and address must be reported to the board in writing within 30 calendar days of such change." Ten days is the deadline in subdivision B 1 of the same regulation for a different event, the principal broker's notice that a licensee has terminated active status. Twenty-one days is the deadline in subsection B of 18VAC135-20-240 for answering a Board inquiry. Waiting for renewal would leave the Board writing to a dead address for as long as two years, which is why the same subdivision adds that the Board is not responsible for correspondence a licensee fails to receive after neglecting to report a move.

A salesperson leaves a Virginia firm. Who must notify the Real Estate Board of the termination, and within what period?

• a.The departing salesperson, within 10 calendar days
• b.The principal broker, within 30 calendar days
• c.The principal broker, within 10 calendar days✓
• d.The departing salesperson, within 30 calendar days

Subdivision B 1 of 18VAC135-20-170 places the duty on the firm rather than the individual: when a salesperson or broker "is discharged or in any way terminates active status," it is "the duty of the sole proprietor or principal broker to notify the board with the licensee name, license number, and date of termination within 10 calendar days." Giving the principal broker 30 days confuses this obligation with the 30-day address rule in subdivision A 1, which runs against the individual licensee. Both answers that shift the duty to the departing salesperson invert the regulation, which is deliberate: the firm controls the license records and the departing licensee may already be gone. Subdivision B 2 applies the same 10-day rule to the firm when a principal broker terminates active status.

A Virginia licensee lets a license lapse. How long may that license be reinstated before the holder must reapply as a new applicant?

• a.One year following the expiration date✓
• b.Ninety days following the expiration date
• c.Six months following the expiration date
• d.Thirty days following the expiration date

Subsection C of 18VAC135-20-140 states that "a license may be reinstated for up to one year following the expiration date with payment of the reinstatement fee," and that "after one year, the license may not be reinstated under any circumstances and the applicant must meet all current educational and examination requirements and apply as a new applicant." Thirty days is the separate trigger in subsection B, after which the reinstatement fee rather than the renewal fee becomes payable, so it marks a price change and not the end of the window. Ninety days and six months appear nowhere in the regulation. Subsection D adds the real hazard of drifting through the window: activity conducted with an expired license "may constitute unlicensed activity" and be prosecuted under Chapter 1 of Title 54.1.

When must the principal or supervising broker of a Virginia firm conduct the mandatory audit of the firm's practices, policies and procedures?

• a.Within 90 days prior to the firm license's expiration✓
• b.Once in every calendar year, on a date the firm sets
• c.Within 30 days after any Board investigation opens
• d.Within 90 days after the firm license has been renewed

Subdivision A 1 of 18VAC135-20-225 requires the principal or supervising broker to "conduct or have a third party conduct an audit within 90 days prior to the expiration of the firm license," documented on a Board form, and Section 54.1-2106.2 makes the broker certify at renewal that the audit was done and keep the completed form on the premises for inspection. A Board investigation is not the trigger; the audit is a routine self-check tied to the license cycle and is meant to catch problems before an investigator does. A calendar-year cadence would drift out of step with a license term that runs from the firm's own issue month under 18VAC135-20-90. And running the audit after renewal would certify compliance the broker has not yet examined, which is the reverse of what Section 54.1-2106.2 asks.

A Board agent asks a Virginia licensee for the transaction file on a closed sale. Within what period must the licensee produce it?

• a.Within 30 days of the request, absent an extension
• b.Within 21 days of the request, absent an extension
• c.Within 10 days of the request, absent an extension✓
• d.Within 45 days of the request, absent an extension

Subsection A of 18VAC135-20-240 requires a licensee to produce "within 10 days of the request" any signature card, bank record, document, book or record concerning a real estate transaction in which the licensee was involved, though the Board may extend that period on a showing of extenuating circumstances. Twenty-one days is the deadline in subsection B, and it applies to a different thing: any other inquiry by the Board or its agents. Thirty days is the reporting period in 18VAC135-20-170 A for a change of name or address, and it governs the licensee's own record rather than a transaction file. Forty-five days appears nowhere in this regulation. The retention rules that make production possible sit in subsection C of 18VAC135-20-185, which keeps brokerage agreements and transaction documents for three years.

A Virginia principal broker opens a second staffed office that the public is invited to visit. What does Section 54.1-2106.1 require?

• a.Nothing further, because the firm license covers it
• b.A branch office license, kept on those premises✓
• c.Written notice to the Board within 30 days of opening
• d.A separate firm license in a different trade name

Subsection E of Section 54.1-2106.1 provides that a principal broker maintaining more than one place of business in the Commonwealth "shall be required to obtain a branch office license from the Board for each additional place of business maintained other than his primary place of business," and that "a copy of the branch office license shall be kept on the premises of the branch office." The firm license covers only the primary place of business named on the firm license application, so it does not stretch to a second office. A bare notice to the Board is not what the section asks for; it asks for a license, which the Board issues. And a second firm license in another trade name would create a separate firm rather than a branch of this one. The same subsection exempts locations such as vehicles, post office boxes and coffee shops, and a residence unless it is held out to the public.