Massachusetts Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions
12 questions
Massachusetts real estate salespersons and brokers are licensed by the:
- a.Massachusetts Department of Revenue
- b.Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons✓
- c.Massachusetts MLS Association
- d.Federal Real Estate Bureau
Licensing is handled by the Massachusetts Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons, which operates under the state's occupational licensure division. It sets requirements, issues licenses, and disciplines licensees for violations.
In Massachusetts, which activity is a real estate salesperson generally NOT permitted to do?
- a.Present offers to a seller through the broker
- b.Hold an open house under the broker's supervision
- c.Show listed properties to buyers
- d.Independently hold client escrow funds in the salesperson's own account✓
A Massachusetts salesperson must work under the supervision of a licensed broker and may not independently hold client escrow funds; the broker is responsible for maintaining the escrow account. Salespersons may show property, host open houses, and handle offers under the broker's supervision.
Massachusetts defines a real estate salesperson as someone who performs any act included in the definition of a broker, with a single exception. That exception is:
- a.Completing the negotiation of a purchase or lease✓
- b.Showing a listed property to a prospective purchaser
- c.Advertising that real property is available to rent
- d.Procuring prospects for the sale of real estate
M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87PP defines a salesman as an individual who performs any act in the broker definition 'except the completing of the negotiation of any agreement or transaction' resulting in a sale, exchange, purchase, renting or leasing. The other three acts sit squarely inside the broker definition, which is why a salesperson may do them while affiliated with a broker. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87PP.
A person who has never held a Massachusetts license advertises himself as a real estate broker. Under M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87CCC the maximum fine is:
- a.$500✓
- b.$1,000
- c.$2,500
- d.$5,000
Section 87CCC provides that whoever acts as, or advertises that he is, a broker or salesman without the license required by Section 87RR 'shall be punished by a fine of not more than five hundred dollars.' The larger figures belong to other parts of the chapter: the blockbusting penalty in Section 87AAA runs from $1,000 to $2,500, and $5,000 is the broker's surety bond. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87CCC.
No Massachusetts broker's license may be issued or renewed until the applicant files with the Board a surety bond, conditioned on faithfully accounting for funds entrusted to the broker, in the amount of:
- a.$1,000
- b.$2,500
- c.$5,000✓
- d.$10,000
M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87TT requires a bond of five thousand dollars, payable to the commonwealth for the benefit of any aggrieved person and conditioned on the broker's faithful accounting for entrusted funds. An aggrieved person may sue on the bond directly, and the Board may revoke a broker's license whenever the bond lapses. Salespersons file no bond. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87TT.
A Massachusetts licensee solicits listings by telling owners that values will fall because of who is moving into the neighborhood. M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87AAA punishes this by a fine of:
- a.Not less than $100 nor more than $500
- b.Not less than $500 nor more than $1,000
- c.Not less than $1,000 nor more than $2,500✓
- d.Not less than $5,000 nor more than $10,000
Clause (k) of Section 87AAA reaches soliciting a sale or listing on the ground of an alleged change in value from the entry into the neighborhood of persons of another race, economic level, religion or ethnic origin. The stated penalty is a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $2,500, or imprisonment for not more than six months, or both, on top of license discipline. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87AAA(k).
The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination makes a final finding that a broker violated M.G.L. c. 151B in the course of her brokerage work. The Board of Registration must then:
- a.Issue a written warning and record it on the license
- b.Hold its own hearing before touching the license
- c.Refer the file to the Attorney General for prosecution
- d.Suspend her license forthwith for a period of 60 days✓
On notice of a final MCAD finding, Section 87AAA directs the Board to 'suspend forthwith' the license for 60 days; where MCAD finds the violation occurred within two years of an earlier final violation, the suspension is 90 days. The suspension follows from MCAD's finding rather than from a fresh Board proceeding. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87AAA.
A Massachusetts seller proposes this arrangement: list the house at $600,000 and the broker keeps whatever the sale brings above that figure. Accepting it is:
- a.Permitted once the seller signs a written acknowledgment
- b.Permitted for commercial listings but not residential ones
- c.A net listing, and a ground for license discipline✓
- d.Permitted if the excess is reported to the Board at closing
Clause (l) of Section 87AAA makes accepting a net listing from a prospective seller — an agreement to sell at a stated price letting the broker keep any excess as commission — a ground on which the Board may suspend, revoke or refuse to renew a license. 254 CMR 3.00(11)(c) separately bars a net listing in which the commission is unspecified. Written consent does not cure it. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87AAA(l); 254 CMR 3.00(11)(c).
An unlicensed person negotiates a Massachusetts sale, and the seller then refuses to pay the fee he promised. In a Massachusetts court that person:
- a.May recover the reasonable value of the services performed
- b.May recover so long as the fee is under three percent
- c.May recover if the promise was in writing
- d.Cannot recover compensation for services as a broker✓
M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87RR bars any suit in the courts of the commonwealth for compensation for broker services performed within the commonwealth unless the person was duly licensed at the time the services were performed. The bar is on the remedy, so neither a written promise nor a modest fee revives the claim. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87RR.
A Massachusetts salesperson is offered a thank-you payment directly by the buyer she helped find a home. Under M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87VV she may accept it:
- a.Only if it is a gift, not a commission
- b.Only if her broker waives the firm's share in writing
- c.Only if she discloses the buyer's payment to her broker
- d.Not at all; only her affiliated broker may pay her✓
Section 87VV forbids a licensed salesman affiliated with a broker to 'accept any valuable consideration for the performance of any act as a real estate salesman from any person except the broker with whom he is affiliated.' Section 87RR states the same rule. Disclosure or a broker's blessing does not create an exception. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Sections 87RR, 87VV.
A Massachusetts licensee is convicted of a misdemeanor in another state. Under 254 CMR 3.00 he must report the conviction to the Board within:
- a.7 days
- b.30 days✓
- c.90 days
- d.six months
254 CMR 3.00(14)(g) requires a broker or salesperson to report to the Board within 30 days a conviction of any crime, misdemeanor or felony, under the law of the commonwealth, the United States, or another jurisdiction where the conduct would be a crime in Massachusetts. Cite: 254 CMR 3.00(14)(g).
A Massachusetts broker who is the sole proprietor of his firm dies. On application by his legal representative, the Board may issue a temporary license that:
- a.Runs only after the representative passes the exam
- b.Runs until the probate court closes the estate
- c.Runs 90 days, renewable once
- d.Runs up to one year and cannot be renewed✓
M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87TT lets the Board issue, without examination, a temporary license to the deceased sole proprietor's legal representative or an approved designee, on filing the bond and paying the fee. It authorizes continuing the business for a period not exceeding one year from the date of death and expressly shall not be renewed. Cite: M.G.L. c. 112, Section 87TT.