Georgia Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions

Under Georgia's Brokerage Relationships in Real Estate Transactions Act (BRRETA), a licensee who represents a client owes that client:

• a.Only a general duty of honest dealing
• b.Statutory duties of loyalty and confidence✓
• c.No enforceable duties until the closing
• d.Duties owed to the broker, not the client

BRRETA sets out the statutory duties a Georgia licensee owes to a client, including loyalty, obedience to lawful instructions, disclosure, confidentiality, and accounting. Customers are owed a more limited set of duties such as honesty and disclosure of material facts.

Information on a Georgia licensee's own website has gone out of date. How soon must it be updated or removed?

• a.Within ten days of becoming outdated
• b.Within seven days of becoming outdated
• c.Within thirty days of becoming outdated✓
• d.Within ninety days of becoming outdated

The current advertising rule gives 30 days: outdated information on a website maintained by a licensee must be updated or removed within thirty days of becoming outdated. An older version of the rule used a ten-day period tied to listing expiration; the rule in force today is the thirty-day standard. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(5)(c).

A Georgia seller tells a licensee, "Get me $300,000 and keep anything above it." How must the licensee treat that arrangement?

• a.Accept it, but disclose the arrangement to the buyer in writing
• b.Accept it only with the written consent of the qualifying broker
• c.Accept it only if the excess is deposited into the trust account
• d.Refuse it; the broker must add a fee and quote a gross price✓

The Commission prohibits brokers from accepting net brokerage engagements and makes it obligatory for the broker to add the broker's fee, so the client is told the gross price of the property and the broker's services. No disclosure or consent cures a net engagement. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.06(1)(c).

May a Georgia firm's unlicensed assistant sit an open house and hand out flyers?

• a.No; hosting an open house is a prohibited task for support personnel✓
• b.Yes, if the broker has approved the assistant's task list in writing
• c.Yes, if the assistant is paid hourly rather than by commission
• d.Yes, if the assistant only hands out brochures the broker approved

The Commission's task guidelines expressly list hosting open houses, kiosks, home show booths or fairs among the tasks support personnel shall not perform. Support personnel may accompany a licensee to an open house only for security purposes. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.07(6)(f).

What must appear on every viewable web page of a Georgia licensee's real estate website?

• a.The licensee's six-digit Georgia license number
• b.The name and the telephone number of the licensee's firm✓
• c.A statement that the licensee is an independent contractor
• d.The date the listing information was most recently updated

Internet advertising of real estate for sale, rent, lease or exchange must disclose the name and telephone number of the licensee's firm on every viewable web page; where character limits prevent it, the ad must link directly to a compliant display. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(5).

A Georgia corporation's qualifying broker resigns without notice. How long may the firm continue brokerage business?

• a.Thirty days, within which it must name a new qualifying broker
• b.Sixty days, in which to name a new qualifying broker✓
• c.Ninety days, within which it must name a new qualifying broker
• d.Not at all; it must cease brokerage activity immediately

When a qualifying broker dies, resigns or is discharged unexpectedly, the firm must secure a new qualifying broker within 60 days or cease all real estate brokerage activity until it does. Meanwhile it must designate an officer, member or partner to sign filings and disburse trust funds. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.07(3).

A Georgia salesperson wants to buy a rental house for her own account. What must she do first?

• a.Get the qualifying broker's written consent to the purchase price
• b.File notice of the intended purchase with the Commission
• c.Advise the broker holding her license in writing beforehand✓
• d.Place the transaction under a brokerage engagement with the firm

No licensee may buy, sell, lease, exchange or option real estate in the licensee's own name, or in the name of an entity in which the licensee is an officer, employee, beneficiary or member, without first advising in writing the broker for whom the licensee acts. Consent is not what the rule requires; prior written notice is. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.11(1).

A Georgia salesperson advertises his own home, which is not listed with any firm. What must the advertisement include?

• a.The name and telephone number of his firm as registered
• b.A note that the property is offered by owner without a broker
• c.The words "not a brokerage transaction" near the asking price
• d.A legend that the seller holds a Georgia real estate license✓

A licensee advertising real estate the licensee owns and that is not under a brokerage engagement must include either the legend that the seller, buyer, landlord or tenant holds a real estate license, or the legend "Georgia Real Estate License #" with the six-digit number. Written notice to and approval from the broker are also required. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.09(8).

When must a Georgia licensee make the written disclosure of the party or parties the licensee's firm represents?

• a.Before any property is shown to a prospective buyer
• b.No later than when any party first makes an offer✓
• c.At the closing, on the settlement statement signed by both
• d.Within three days after a brokerage engagement is signed

The written disclosure of whom the firm acts for, and from whom it will receive valuable consideration, must be made in a timely manner but in any event not later than the time that any party first makes an offer to purchase, sell, lease or exchange. Earlier is better, but that is the outside limit. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.06(4)(b).

What identifying information must a Georgia licensee include when preparing an offer to purchase?

• a.The firm's tax identification number and the closing attorney's number
• b.The Commission file number assigned to the brokerage engagement
• c.The six-digit license number of each firm and licensee in the deal✓
• d.The expiration date of the pocket card and of the wall certificate

A licensee preparing or signing a brokerage engagement or an offer to purchase, sell, lease or exchange must include the six-digit license number issued by the Commission for each firm and each licensee participating in the transaction. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.10(2).

A Georgia salesperson asks his broker to sign a release so he can change firms. What does the rule require of the broker?

• a.Sign it once the salesperson settles any disputed commission split
• b.Sign it within thirty days of receiving the written request to do so
• c.Sign it after the salesperson returns every listing he brought in
• d.Sign it immediately and send the wall certificate to the Commission✓

When a licensee requests that a release form be signed, the releasing broker shall immediately sign the release and forward the wall certificate to the Commission or notify the Commission that it went to the new broker. A commission dispute or unreturned firm property is not grounds for refusing to sign. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.07(5)(a)-(c).

Which money-handling task may a Georgia firm's unlicensed assistant perform?

• a.Accept a security deposit handed over by a prospective tenant
• b.Accept an earnest money check from a buyer during a showing
• c.Negotiate the commission split with a cooperating brokerage
• d.Record and deposit earnest money and rents the firm received✓

The task guidelines allow support personnel to record and deposit earnest money, security deposits and rents, but separately forbid them to collect or hold deposit monies, rent or anything of value received from an owner or from a prospective purchaser or lessee. Handling the paperwork and the bank run is permitted; taking the money from the public is not. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.07(6)(e)-(f).

Which remark by a Georgia licensee is expressly prohibited by GREC's fair housing rule?

• a.This subdivision's covenants restrict short-term rentals
• b.Two homes on this street closed below list price last quarter
• c.The county has proposed a millage rate increase for next year
• d.The schools here will slip as the neighborhood's mix changes✓

The rule forbids representing, to induce or discourage a sale or listing, that the presence of persons of a particular race, colour, religion, sex, handicap, familial status or national origin will lower property values, change the area's composition, raise crime, or cause a decline in the quality of the schools serving the area. The other three remarks concern the property or the market, not a protected class. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.13(1).

A Georgia property management agreement must set terms for written statements of property income and expenses at least how often?

• a.Written statements of income and expenses annually✓
• b.Written statements of income and expenses at least monthly
• c.Written statements of income and expenses at least quarterly
• d.Written statements of income and expenses at every renewal

Every written property management agreement must specify the terms on which the broker will remit income and provide periodic written statements of income and expenses to the owner, provided that those statements are submitted at least on an annual basis. A shorter cycle may be agreed, but annually is the floor the rule sets. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.06(2)(a)3.

May a Georgia broker pay part of a commission to a broker licensed only in another state?

• a.Yes, but that broker may not perform other brokerage acts here✓
• b.Yes, if that broker first registers the referral with the Commission
• c.No; only Georgia licensees may receive any part of a commission
• d.No, unless the property lies within fifty miles of the state line

A Georgia broker may divide or share a commission with a broker licensed in another state and may pay a referral fee to one. That out-of-state broker may not perform any of the other acts of a broker on Georgia property without a non-resident licence or a written agreement with a Georgia broker. Cite: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. r. 520-1-.07(7); O.C.G.A. 43-40-9.