Wyoming Real Estate Broker Exam — All Questions

The Wyoming real estate recovery account pays a consumer only on a final judgment against a licensee for:

• a.Any breach of a listing or buyer brokerage agreement
• b.Ordinary negligence in preparing the transaction paperwork
• c.A commission dispute between two licensed brokers
• d.Fraud, willful misrepresentation, deceit, or conversion✓

W.S. 33-28-202(a) limits the account to a person who "obtains a final judgment in any court of competent jurisdiction against any licensee on the grounds of fraud, willful misrepresentation, deceit or conversion of trust funds arising directly out of any transaction which occurred when the licensee was licensed." The list is closed, and each entry describes deliberate wrongdoing rather than a mistake. That is why ordinary negligence does not reach the account, and why a plain contract breach does not either. A dispute between licensees over compensation is doubly excluded: it is not one of the listed grounds, and Commission rules chapter 6, section 3(a) says the Commission will not even entertain complaints between licensees about the earning or splitting of compensation.

The most the Wyoming real estate recovery account may pay on a single claim for actual damages is:

• a.$5,000
• b.$10,000✓
• c.$25,000
• d.$50,000

W.S. 33-28-202(a) allows a petition for an order directing payment out of the account "in the amount of actual damages included in the judgment and unpaid, and that a writ of execution has been returned unsatisfied, but for not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000.00)." Only actual damages count, so interest, costs, and punitive awards do not lift the ceiling. The petition must be filed within one year of the termination of all proceedings, including appeals. The $50,000 figure is a different number in the same article: under W.S. 33-28-201(b) and 33-28-206(a) it is the account balance at which the funding fee stops being collected, not a payment limit. If claims on file exceed the money available, W.S. 33-28-202(b) prorates them.

After the Wyoming recovery account pays on a judgment against a licensee, that license stays suspended until repayment in full together with interest at:

• a.6% per annum
• b.10% per annum
• c.18% per annum✓
• d.25% per annum

W.S. 33-28-204 requires the Commission to "immediately suspend the judgment debtor's license" on making any payment from the account, and bars licensure or reinstatement "until he has repaid in full the amount paid from the real estate recovery account with interest thereon of eighteen percent (18%) per annum." The same section adds that repayment does not stop the Commission from proceeding separately under W.S. 33-28-111, and that a discharge in bankruptcy does not relieve the licensee of the disability. The 10% figure is the statutory redemption interest rate in W.S. 1-18-103(a), a different subject entirely. Note also that under W.S. 33-28-205 the Commission is subrogated to the judgment creditor's rights for whatever it paid.

Wyoming's platting statute applies when an owner subdivides a tract for suburban lots into at least:

• a.2 parts
• b.3 parts✓
• c.5 parts
• d.10 parts

W.S. 34-12-102 applies to every original owner or proprietor of a tract who "shall hereafter subdivide the same into three (3) or more parts" for laying out a town or city, an addition, or suburban lots. That owner must cause a plat to be made "with references to known or permanent monuments," accurately describing the subdivisions, numbering them progressively, and giving the dimensions of the lots and the breadth and courses of the streets and alleys. Splitting a parcel in two does not trigger the section. The statute also makes lot-and-block descriptions taken from the recorded plat good and valid for conveyancing and taxation, which is why plat references are the ordinary way Wyoming subdivision land is described.

When a Wyoming subdivision plat is acknowledged and recorded, the areas the plat sets apart for streets are:

• a.Conveyed as if by a deed in fee simple to the public✓
• b.Held by the subdivider subject to a public easement
• c.Retained by the lot owners as tenants in common
• d.Transferred to the county only after formal acceptance

W.S. 34-12-104 provides that "the acknowledgment and recording of such plat, is equivalent to a deed in fee simple of such portion of the premises platted as is on such plat set apart for streets, or other public use, or is thereon dedicated to charitable, religious or educational purposes." The recorded plat itself does the conveying, which is why the statute is worded as an equivalence to a deed rather than as a promise to convey later. Wyoming did not choose the easement model, so the subdivider is not left holding the fee. Neither do the lot buyers take the streets in common. And no separate act of acceptance is required to complete the transfer, though W.S. 34-12-103 does require the plat to be approved before it is recorded.

Under Wyoming's Residential Rental Property Act, the deposit balance and written itemization are due within 30 days after termination or, if that is not the later date:

• a.15 days after the renter gives a new mailing address✓
• b.10 days after the renter's last utility bill is paid
• c.45 days after the renter physically vacates the unit
• d.60 days after the rental agreement's stated end date

W.S. 1-21-1208(a) requires the balance of any deposit and prepaid rent, together with a written itemization of deductions and the reasons for them, to be delivered or mailed without interest "within thirty (30) days after termination of the rental agreement or within fifteen (15) days after receipt of the renter's new mailing address, whichever is later." The same subsection extends the period by another 30 days if there is damage to the unit, and it puts a matching duty on the renter to give the owner an address within 30 days of termination. The 10-day figure in the section is real but belongs to a separately identified utilities deposit under subsection (b). Failing to comply unreasonably lets the renter recover the full deposit and court costs.

Before starting a forcible entry and detainer action in Wyoming, the party must give the occupant written notice to leave at least:

• a.3 days in advance✓
• b.5 days in advance
• c.10 days in advance
• d.30 days in advance

W.S. 1-21-1003 requires the party who wants to bring a forcible entry or detainer action to notify the adverse party to leave the premises, and the notice "shall be served at least three (3) days before commencing the action, by leaving a written copy with the defendant or at his usual place of abode or business if he cannot be found." That three-day notice to quit is a precondition to filing, not the trial date. The summons itself is then served not less than three nor more than twelve days before trial under W.S. 1-21-1004. Do not confuse this with the 10-to-20-day window in W.S. 1-21-1203(d), which is the time an owner must allow a renter to find substitute housing when the owner terminates instead of repairing.

After a foreclosure sale of a Wyoming home that is not agricultural real estate, the owner's period to redeem is:

• a.Three months from the date of sale✓
• b.Six months from the date of sale
• c.Twelve months from the date of sale
• d.Eighteen months from the date of sale

W.S. 1-18-103(a) gives the owner three months from the date of sale to redeem property sold under an execution, a decree of foreclosure, or a foreclosure by advertisement and sale, by paying the purchase price with interest at ten percent per annum plus any taxes, assessments, and prior liens the purchaser paid. Subsection (b) sets the twelve-month period, but only for agricultural real estate, which subsection (c) defines as a parcel over eighty acres lying outside any incorporated city, town, or recorded subdivision, or property used substantially for agricultural purposes reaching eighty acres in aggregate. After the owner's period runs, W.S. 1-18-104(a) gives judgment creditors and lienholders thirty more days to redeem.

To foreclose a Wyoming mortgage by advertisement, the notice of sale must be published in a newspaper for:

• a.Two consecutive weeks, at least once a week
• b.Four consecutive weeks, at least once a week✓
• c.Six consecutive weeks, at least twice a week
• d.Ten consecutive days, on business days only

W.S. 34-4-104(a) requires notice that the mortgage will be foreclosed by sale to be given "by publishing the notice for four (4) consecutive weeks, at least once in each week, in a newspaper printed in the county where the premises" are situated, or in a paper of general circulation in the county if none is printed there. Publication is only part of the sequence. W.S. 34-4-103(a)(iv) first requires written notice of intent to foreclose, served by certified mail on the record owner and on any different occupant at least ten days before publication begins, and W.S. 34-4-104(a) requires a copy of the sale notice to be mailed to the owner, the occupant, and subordinate recorded lienholders before the first publication.

Wyoming's statute of frauds makes a lease of real estate void unless it is in writing and signed when the term is:

• a.A term of more than one year✓
• b.A term of more than two years
• c.A term of more than three years
• d.A term of any length at all

W.S. 1-23-105(a)(v) makes void, unless the agreement or some note or memorandum of it is in writing and subscribed by the party to be charged, "every agreement or contract for the sale of real estate, or the lease thereof, for more than one (1) year." A sale contract therefore needs writing regardless of duration, while a lease crosses into the statute only when its term runs past a year. A shorter tenancy can stand on an oral agreement, which is consistent with the Residential Rental Property Act's definition of a rental agreement at W.S. 1-21-1201(a)(ii) as any agreement "written or oral." Subsection (a)(i) catches a separate case, an agreement that by its terms cannot be performed within one year of the making.

Every broker's price opinion prepared in Wyoming must carry a statement that it:

• a.Was prepared using at least three closed comparables
• b.Is valid for ninety days from the date it was issued
• c.May be relied on by a lender making a mortgage loan
• d.Is an opinion of price and not a certified appraisal✓

W.S. 33-28-125(b) requires every printed or electronic broker's price opinion to include this statement: "This is an opinion of price and is not a certified appraisal of the market value of the property. If such an appraisal is desired, the service of a certified appraiser must be obtained." The wording is prescribed by the statute, so the licensee cannot paraphrase it away. The Act sets no minimum number of comparables and no expiration date for the opinion; W.S. 33-28-102(b)(lxii) simply describes it as an estimate that details a probable selling price with a varying level of detail. And the required statement points a reader who needs appraisal-grade value toward a certified appraiser rather than inviting reliance.

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.