Hawaii Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions

A Hawaii licensee may represent both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction only when:

• a.The broker-in-charge approves after closing
• b.The price is below a set threshold
• c.Both parties give informed written consent✓
• d.The Commission grants a waiver

Dual agency is permitted only with the informed written consent of both parties. A dual agent must remain neutral on price and terms and may not reveal one party's confidential negotiating information to the other, because dual agency limits the advocacy each client would otherwise receive.

When a Hawaii licensee represents a client, the licensee owes that client:

• a.No duty of confidentiality after an offer is made
• b.Fiduciary duties including loyalty, confidentiality, obedience, care, accounting, and disclosure✓
• c.A duty to obtain the highest possible commission
• d.Only a duty of honesty and fair dealing

A licensee representing a client owes fiduciary duties: loyalty, obedience to lawful instructions, confidentiality, reasonable care and diligence, accounting for funds, and full disclosure of material facts. A customer who is not a client is owed honesty, fair dealing, and disclosure of known material facts, but not the full fiduciary duties owed to a client.

Hawaii's required agency disclosure must be confirmed in the contract between buyer and seller in a separate paragraph that is titled AGENCY DISCLOSURE and printed in:

• a.Capital letters of any size
• b.No less than ten-point bold print✓
• c.Italic type of at least twelve points
• d.Underlined type of at least fourteen points

Disclosures required of the licensee must be confirmed in writing in a separate paragraph titled AGENCY DISCLOSURE in the contract between the buyer and the seller, and the title shall be in no less than ten-point bold print. No particular disclosure language is required. Cite: Haw. Admin. R. Sec. 16-99-3.1(e).

At the time a Hawaii listing brokerage firm obtains a listing, it must disclose in a writing dated and signed by the seller and the firm:

• a.The commission rate the firm charges other sellers
• b.The names of every licensee who may show the property
• c.The firm's policy on accepting escalation clauses
• d.Whether the seller authorises subagents and the sharing of commissions✓

At the time a listing brokerage firm obtains a listing, it must disclose whether the seller authorises the firm to appoint the seller's subagents through a multiple listing service or otherwise, and whether the seller authorises sharing commissions with the seller's subagents or buyer's agents. The disclosure must be in writing, dated, and signed by the seller and the firm. Cite: Haw. Admin. R. Sec. 16-99-3.1(b).

A Hawaii licensee must disclose to the buyer whom the licensee represents, in writing or orally, at least once:

• a.Prior to preparing any contract between the buyer and the seller✓
• b.Within twenty-four hours of the first showing of a property
• c.Before the buyer applies for mortgage financing
• d.At the time the buyer's earnest money is deposited

Prior to preparing any contract between the buyer and the seller, the disclosure of whom the licensee represents must be made at least once to the buyer, in writing or orally; a corresponding disclosure must be made to the seller prior to presenting a contract to the seller. Cite: Haw. Admin. R. Sec. 16-99-3.1(c), (d).

For purposes of Hawaii's agency disclosure rule, transaction excludes:

• a.Sales of time share interests
• b.Exchanges of commercial property
• c.Leases for one year or less✓
• d.Options involving cooperative housing interests

Transaction means any sale, lease, rent, or exchange of residential, time share, industrial or commercial real estate, or a sale, exchange or option involving an interest in a residential cooperative housing corporation, but excluding leases for one year or less. Cite: Haw. Admin. R. Sec. 16-99-3.1(a).

A Hawaii licensee who acts for both parties to a real estate transaction without first obtaining the written consent of both is subject to:

• a.A civil penalty imposed by the attorney general
• b.Revocation, suspension, or a fine by the commission✓
• c.Automatic termination of the brokerage firm's licence
• d.A private right of action only, brought by either party

Acting for both parties in a transaction, or collecting compensation from both, without first having obtained the written consent of both parties involved, is a ground on which the commission may revoke a licence, suspend the right to use it, or fine the licensee. Cite: Haw. Rev. Stat. Sec. 467-14(4).

Failing to obtain, on the contract between the parties, confirmation of whom the real estate broker represents is under Hawaii law:

• a.A technical defect curable at closing
• b.A matter left to the brokerage firm's own policy
• c.Grounds for rescission by either party only
• d.A ground for revocation, suspension, or a fine✓

The commission may revoke a licence, suspend the right to use it, or fine a licensee when the licensee fails to obtain on the contract between the parties to the real estate transaction confirmation of who the real estate broker represents. Cite: Haw. Rev. Stat. Sec. 467-14(12).