Wyoming Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

Under Wyoming law, preparing a broker's price opinion for another for compensation is:

• a.Appraisal work that requires an appraiser permit
• b.Exempt from both the License Act and appraisal law
• c.Real estate activity requiring a license✓
• d.Permitted only for property the licensee has listed

W.S. 33-28-102(b)(xlv)(O) includes in the definition of real estate activity that an individual, for another and for compensation, "provides a broker's price opinion as provided in W.S. 33-28-125," and W.S. 33-28-101 makes real estate activity without a license unlawful. So the opinion sits inside the License Act rather than outside it. It is not appraisal practice: W.S. 33-28-125(b) requires the opinion to say on its face that it is not a certified appraisal, which is the line between the two credentials. And W.S. 33-28-125(a) lets a licensee prepare one for a potential seller, a potential buyer, or any third party for any purpose permitted by law, so there is no requirement that the licensee hold the listing.

A Wyoming resident responsible broker may establish and hold licenses for real estate companies or sole proprietorships numbering no more than:

• a.1 company
• b.2 companies
• c.3 companies✓
• d.5 companies

W.S. 33-28-109(a) requires each resident responsible broker to "lawfully establish at least one (1) but no more than three (3) real estate companies or sole proprietorships within Wyoming and acquire a license for each real estate company." The floor and the ceiling both matter: a resident responsible broker must run at least one company, and may not run a fourth. Subsection (d) reinforces the limit by allowing only one license to conduct real estate activity per licensee at a time, except as subsection (a) provides. Because multiple companies are possible, W.S. 33-28-111(a)(xxix)(D) requires a responsible broker to disclose in every transaction the names of all real estate companies for which he holds a license.

Commission rules require the responsible broker of a Wyoming real estate company to be:

• a.A salaried employee with no ownership in the company
• b.An independent contractor engaged by the company
• c.A resident of the county where the office is located
• d.An officer, partner, manager, or owner of the company✓

Commission rules chapter 1, section 6(b) states that "the responsible broker shall be an officer, partner or manager, or hold an ownership interest in the real estate company." The requirement ties the person answerable for the firm to the firm's own governance, so the license and the control sit in the same hands. Section 6(a) adds that the company license is issued to the responsible broker only after the Secretary of State verifies the company is in good standing, and section 6(c) requires organizational documents, bylaws or an operating agreement, and minutes naming the responsible broker. A detached employee or outside contractor could not supply that. County residence is nowhere required; the statutory requirement is a fixed principal office within Wyoming.

Wyoming requires a responsible broker's trust or escrow account to be held:

• a.In Wyoming, in an account permitting immediate withdrawal✓
• b.In any state, so long as the deposits are federally insured
• c.In Wyoming, in a certificate of deposit having a fixed term
• d.In any state where the brokerage holds an active license

W.S. 33-28-122(a)(i) requires every responsible broker to "maintain an account in a financial institution in this state designated as a trust or escrow account" for all down payments, earnest money, advance listing fees, and other trust funds, and adds that "the account shall permit immediate withdrawal of the funds deposited therein." Both halves matter, and the second rules out a fixed-term instrument. Commission rules chapter 5, section 1(e)(iii) makes that explicit by barring investment in any account, security, or certificate of deposit with a fixed maturity absent written consent of all parties. Out-of-state depositories do not qualify, and chapter 5, section 1(h) applies the same Wyoming requirement to nonresident responsible brokers. In place of the account, W.S. 33-28-122(a)(i) allows a funds holder.

Absent a written agreement by everyone with an interest in the money, a Wyoming responsible broker must deposit a received financial instrument no later than:

• a.The first banking day after receipt✓
• b.The third banking day after receipt
• c.The fifth banking day after receipt
• d.The tenth banking day after receipt

W.S. 33-28-111(a)(xxvii) makes it a ground for discipline to fail "to deposit all financial instruments in an escrow or trust account within one (1) banking day in a financial institution in this state, unless each person with an interest in the funds has agreed otherwise in writing." Commission rules chapter 5, section 1(e)(v) states the same deadline as "not later than the first banking day after receipt" and assigns the duty to the listing responsible broker's company account or its funds holder. The written-agreement escape requires every interested person, not just the buyer. In a cooperative transaction W.S. 33-28-122(g) routes cash or a check through the responsible broker working with the seller, who makes the deposit.

A Wyoming responsible broker leaves a small amount of his own money in the firm's trust account. Under the License Act this is:

• a.Commingling, which the Act prohibits without exception
• b.Allowed only with the written consent of every client
• c.Allowed only if the bank requires that minimum balance
• d.Allowed if identified at deposit✓

W.S. 33-28-122(e) bars a responsible broker from letting funds belonging to others go into his personal account or be commingled with his personal funds, then carves out one case: "it will not be considered commingling if, when establishing the trust account, the responsible broker deposits some of his funds to keep the account open or to avoid charges for a minimum balance, so long as that deposit is identified at the time of deposit." Identification at the moment of deposit is the condition, not client consent and not a bank mandate. The exception is narrow, and the same subsection forbids using trust deposits for any purpose other than the transaction they were provided for. Commingling is separately a ground for discipline under W.S. 33-28-111(a)(xiv).

A buyer and seller dispute who is entitled to the earnest money. The Wyoming responsible broker holding the deposit must:

• a.Release it to the seller named in the purchase contract
• b.Keep it in trust until released in writing or by a court✓
• c.Split it evenly between the buyer and the seller
• d.Send it to the Commission to hold pending the outcome

W.S. 33-28-122(f) provides that in the event of a dispute over the return or forfeiture of a deposit, "the responsible broker shall continue to hold the deposit in a trust account until he has a written release from the parties consenting to its disposition, until a civil action is filed or the responsible broker interpleads all parties, at which time it may be paid to the court." The broker is a stakeholder, not a judge, so he may not pick a side or invent a compromise split. The Commission is not an escrow agent for private disputes. And W.S. 33-28-122(d) confirms the broker has no claim of his own to earnest money as compensation until the transaction is consummated or terminated.

Under the Wyoming License Act, a "funds holder" may be:

• a.Any licensed real estate salesperson in the same office
• b.The buyer's lender or its mortgage loan originator
• c.A member of the Wyoming Real Estate Commission
• d.A title company, closing agent, or Wyoming attorney✓

W.S. 33-28-102(b)(xxi) defines a funds holder as "a title company, closing agent or attorney licensed in this state who holds items of value in trust for the parties to a real estate transaction." The list is closed, and the attorney must be licensed in Wyoming. W.S. 33-28-122(a)(i) allows a responsible broker to use a funds holder in lieu of maintaining his own trust or escrow account, which is why the definition matters at the office-management level rather than as vocabulary. A salesperson in the firm cannot serve, since the point of the mechanism is to place the money with a neutral third party. Neither a lender nor a commissioner appears in the definition.

A Wyoming responsible broker who uses a funds holder in place of his own trust account must:

• a.Obtain the Commission's written approval before each closing
• b.Post a surety bond equal to the largest deposit expected
• c.Also keep a separate trust account for any cash received
• d.Disclose the funds holder to the parties✓

W.S. 33-28-122(a)(ii) requires that when a responsible broker uses a funds holder and deposits money with one, "his intention to use a funds holder and the name of the funds holder shall be disclosed to all parties to any contract, purchase agreement, lease or lease agreement negotiated by him," and that he identify all funds holders used and notify the Commission in writing. Notice runs to the parties and to the Commission; no closing-by-closing approval exists. The Act imposes no surety bond on a responsible broker. And a parallel trust account is not required, because W.S. 33-28-122(a)(i) offers the funds holder as an alternative to the account, though Commission rules chapter 5, section 1(e)(vi) still requires the broker to keep a receipt and his own recordkeeping system for the funds.

For every company he is licensed for, a Wyoming resident responsible broker must maintain:

• a.A registered agent's address at the Secretary of State
• b.A fixed principal office maintained within this state✓
• c.A branch office in each county where he lists property
• d.A post office box in the county where the sales occur

W.S. 33-28-109(a) requires each resident responsible broker to "maintain a fixed principal office for each company or sole proprietorship within this state." The address of each office is designated on all licenses associated with it, and the same subsection provides that no license authorizes transacting real estate activity at any other address except a licensed branch office. W.S. 33-28-102(b)(xxxvi) reinforces the point by defining "office" as a responsible broker's place of business where records are maintained. A registered agent address is a corporate filing matter, not a place of business. Nothing requires an office in every county where the broker lists, and a post office box is not a fixed office.

A Wyoming responsible broker is relocating the firm's principal office to a new address. He must apply to the Commission:

• a.Before the office moves to the new location✓
• b.Within ten days after the office has moved
• c.At the next renewal of the company license
• d.Only if the move crosses into another county

W.S. 33-28-109(a) provides that "in case of removal from a designated address, the responsible broker shall apply to the commission before the removal designating the new location of an office and paying the required fee," after which the Commission issues a license for the new location for the unexpired period if it complies with the Act. The application comes first because the licensed address is what authorizes activity: the same subsection says no license authorizes real estate activity at any address other than the designated one or a licensed branch office. Moving first and reporting later would leave the firm operating from an unlicensed address. Waiting for renewal would extend that gap, and nothing limits the duty to moves that cross a county line.

A Wyoming responsible broker must keep a full set of records of every transaction his company took part in for a period of at least:

• a.One year
• b.Two years✓
• c.Five years
• d.Seven years

W.S. 33-28-123 requires every responsible broker to keep and maintain "a full set of records of every real estate transaction in which he participates on behalf of or to assist any party to the transaction," and provides that "the records shall be maintained not less than two (2) years from the latest date on which the real estate company participated in the transaction." The clock runs from the company's last participation, not from the contract date or the closing, so a later disbursement or amendment restarts it. Commission rules chapter 3, section 1(a)(ii) applies the same two-year minimum to readily available, properly indexed copies of unrecorded documents. Education providers, by contrast, keep attendance records for five years.

Commission rules require a Wyoming responsible broker to reconcile the trust account journal and the ledger liabilities:

• a.Annually, at the close of the calendar year
• b.Only when the Commission requests an audit
• c.Monthly, unless no banking activity occurred✓
• d.At the closing of each individual transaction

Commission rules chapter 5, section 1(e)(vii)(C) requires the responsible broker to "reconcile trust or escrow account journals and ledger liabilities monthly," with the reconciliation proving agreement among the cash balance in the account journal, the sum of the cash balances for all ledgers, and the bank account balance, and adds that no reconciliation is required for an account with no banking activity. The worksheet must be kept in hard copy or electronic form for later inspection and must list each beneficiary's ledger balance. Waiting for a Commission request would defeat the purpose, since section 2 lets the Commission audit precisely these records, and W.S. 33-28-122(a)(iii) obliges the broker to permit that examination.

A Wyoming salesperson converts client funds and is disciplined for it. His responsible broker:

• a.Faces no exposure, because only the salesperson acted
• b.Is liable only after a court enters a civil judgment
• c.Is cleared once the salesperson's license is revoked
• d.May be disciplined for failure to supervise✓

W.S. 33-28-111(a)(ix) lists as a ground for discipline, for a responsible broker, "failing to supervise the activities of his associate broker or salesperson." The two licensees answer for different failures, so disciplining the salesperson for the conversion does not resolve the broker's supervisory exposure. W.S. 33-28-302(n) makes the point directly: nothing in the relationships article limits the responsible broker's responsibility to supervise associated licensees or shields him from vicarious liability. Nor does the broker's exposure wait on civil litigation, because this is license discipline under the Act rather than a damages claim. The supervision promise is made at the outset, in the statement a responsible broker signs under W.S. 33-28-106(f)(xvii)(C).

A Wyoming responsible broker applying for a branch office license must submit, along with the branch office application:

• a.A separate trade name for each branch office
• b.A resident manager's license for the branch
• c.A plan of supervision for the branch office✓
• d.A surety bond covering the branch's deposits

W.S. 33-28-109(b) requires that "a responsible broker requesting a branch office license shall also, in addition to the branch office application, submit a plan of supervision for the branch office for approval by the commission." The same subsection puts every branch under the direction and supervision of the responsible broker and requires a company license for each branch he maintains. A separate trade name is the opposite of what the law wants, since a branch "shall use the same trade name or business name as the licensed real estate company." Wyoming does not license branch resident managers, and it imposes no surety bond. If a branch keeps its own trust account, W.S. 33-28-122(b) requires it to keep a separate bookkeeping system.

A Wyoming responsible broker holds licenses for three real estate companies. In every real estate transaction he must disclose:

• a.The gross revenue of each of the three companies
• b.The number of licensees working in each company
• c.The name of the company with the most listings
• d.The names of all three companies✓

W.S. 33-28-111(a)(xxix)(D) makes it a ground for discipline for a responsible broker to fail "to disclose, in every real estate transaction, the names of all real estate companies for which a responsible broker holds a license," and W.S. 33-28-302(j) repeats the duty in the designated-licensee context. Commission rules chapter 6, section 1(a)(xix) enforces the same obligation. The disclosure exists so a consumer can see when the firm on the other side of the table shares a supervising broker with his own. Revenue, headcount, and listing volume are business facts the Act never asks for. W.S. 33-28-302(j) also requires a transaction manager for each company when the responsible broker represents a party across companies he manages.