Pennsylvania Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions

A Pennsylvania agreement of sale for a commercially zoned parcel leaves out the property's zoning classification. The agreement is then:

• a.Void from the start and unenforceable by either party
• b.Fully valid, since zoning is a matter of public record
• c.Enforceable once the buyer confirms the zoning himself
• d.Voidable by the buyer, whose deposit must be returned✓

Every Pennsylvania agreement of sale must state the zoning classification unless the property is zoned solely or primarily for single-family dwellings, and the agreement must itself say that omitting it makes the agreement voidable at the buyer's option with deposits returned without court action. Voidable is not the same as void. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.333(a)(6).

A comparative market analysis prepared by a Pennsylvania licensee must carry, conspicuously on its first page:

• a.The licensee's appraiser certification number
• b.A statement that it is not an appraisal under USPAP✓
• c.The Recovery Fund notice and the Commission's telephone number
• d.The seller's written consent to the valuation method used

The prescribed legend says the analysis was not performed in accordance with the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice and may not be construed or used as an appraisal for any purpose. The identical statement is required on a broker price opinion. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.340.

A Pennsylvania salesperson may prepare a broker price opinion only if the salesperson:

• a.Holds a separate valuation certificate from the Commission
• b.Has finished the 240-hour broker education requirement
• c.Prepares it for a buyer client rather than for a lender
• d.Has held an active licence for the preceding 3 years✓

Both the statute and the Commission's new rule require three years of active licensure immediately preceding the effective date of the opinion, plus the required broker price opinion education, and the finished opinion must be reviewed and signed by the employing broker or a designated associate broker. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.501(d) and (e), added December 26, 2025, effective December 27, 2025; RELRA § 608.6(j), 63 P.S. § 455.608f(j).

For which purpose may a Pennsylvania licensee NOT prepare a broker price opinion?

• a.Setting the value for a mortgage loan origination✓
• b.A short sale of a residential property
• c.A lender's property left unsold at a foreclosure auction
• d.Monitoring the value of a portfolio of properties

Pennsylvania lists the permitted uses exhaustively: lender-owned property after an unsuccessful foreclosure sale, a mortgage or equity line modification, a short sale, and portfolio evaluation or monitoring. Loan origination is expressly barred, as are eminent domain, tax appeals, bankruptcy, divorce, estate distribution and any proceeding before a court of record. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.502; RELRA § 608.6(e) and (f), 63 P.S. § 455.608f(e) and (f).

The Consumer Notice a Pennsylvania licensee hands over at the initial interview tells the consumer that:

• a.The licensee represents the consumer from that moment on
• b.Signing the notice creates a buyer agency agreement
• c.No business relationship is presumed without a written agreement✓
• d.The notice is itself the contract governing the transaction

The form is headed THIS IS NOT A CONTRACT and closes by warning the consumer that unless a business relationship is selected by signing a written agreement, the licensee is not representing the consumer and no relationship is presumed. The acknowledgment records delivery, not representation. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.336(c).

A Pennsylvania licensee's initial interview with a buyer happens over the telephone. The written Consumer Notice must then be provided no later than:

• a.Ten days after the telephone interview takes place
• b.The first in-person meeting or the first showing, whichever comes first✓
• c.The moment the first written offer to purchase is signed
• d.The interview itself, sent by fax or electronic mail

When the initial interview is not in person the licensee gives the prescribed oral disclosure at that interview, then delivers the written Consumer Notice by the earlier of the first in-person meeting after the interview or the first time anyone working with the licensee shows the consumer a property. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.284(a)(2) and § 35.339.

A Pennsylvania transaction licensee owes no loyalty or ordinary confidentiality, yet is still forbidden to disclose that:

• a.The seller will accept less than the listing price✓
• b.The property has a known material structural defect
• c.The listing broker, not the buyer, is paying the fee
• d.Another offer on the property has already been made

A transaction licensee owes a duty of limited confidentiality covering exactly three items: that the seller will take less than the asking price, that the buyer will pay more than the written offer, and that either side will accept financing terms other than those offered. Known material defects must still be disclosed. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.316.

A Pennsylvania broker names one licensee in the firm to represent the seller and another to represent the buyer in the same transaction. The broker:

• a.Has no agency relationship with either of the parties
• b.Represents the seller, whose listing the firm holds
• c.Must withdraw the firm from the transaction entirely
• d.Is a dual agent who must guard both sides' confidences✓

Designated agency requires the principal's written consent, and because the broker supervises both designated licensees the broker automatically serves as a dual agent, with duties to protect the confidential information disclosed to each and to take no action detrimental to either party. Firm licensees who are not designated have no agency relationship with either party. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.315(d) and (f).

Which transfer falls outside Pennsylvania's Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law?

• a.A resale of a condominium unit by its owner
• b.A sale of land with no dwelling built on it✓
• c.A sale of a four-unit residential apartment building
• d.An installment sales contract for a single-family house

The law reaches transfers of one to four residential dwelling units, including condominium and cooperative units, installment sales contracts and leases with an option to purchase. Unimproved real property is one of the listed exceptions, along with transfers by court order, foreclosure, transfers between co-owners, and transfers to a spouse or a lineal relative. Cite: 68 Pa.C.S. § 7103.

An action for damages under Pennsylvania's Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law must be commenced within:

• a.One year after the agreement of sale is signed
• b.Six years after the buyer discovers the defect
• c.Two years after the date of final settlement✓
• d.Four years after the deed has been recorded

The chapter sets its own two-year limitations period running from final settlement, not from discovery of the defect. A transfer is not invalidated merely because someone failed to comply; the remedy is the buyer's actual damages. Cite: 68 Pa.C.S. § 7311(b).

Under Pennsylvania's Real Estate Seller Disclosure Law, a licensee becomes liable for a violation when the licensee:

• a.Does not inspect the property before listing it
• b.Relies on the seller's answers without verifying them
• c.Recommends a home inspector who misses a defect
• d.Actually knew of an undisclosed material defect✓

An agent of either party is not liable under the chapter unless the agent had actual knowledge of a material defect that was not disclosed, or of a misrepresentation about one. The Commission's rules likewise say a licensee need not conduct an independent investigation to confirm the seller's disclosures. Cite: 68 Pa.C.S. § 7310; 49 Pa. Code § 35.284a(d).

Pennsylvania later added which subject to the statutory list that the seller property disclosure statement must cover?

• a.Storm water facilities and who must maintain them✓
• b.The price the seller originally paid for the property
• c.The names of the listing broker and the salesperson
• d.Any offers the seller has previously turned down

Act 6 of 2015 added the condition and location of all storm water facilities, together with a statement of whether ongoing maintenance falls on the property owner or on someone else. The other subjects listed in the statute are conditions of the property, not the seller's price history or negotiating record. Cite: 68 Pa.C.S. § 7304(b)(17), added June 19, 2015, P.L.23, No.6.

What are the payment limits on Pennsylvania's Real Estate Recovery Fund?

• a.$50,000 for one claim and $250,000 per licensee
• b.$10,000 for one claim and $50,000 per licensee
• c.$20,000 for one claim and $100,000 per licensee✓
• d.$25,000 for one claim, with no per-licensee ceiling

The fund's liability may not exceed $20,000 for any one claim and may not exceed $100,000 per licensee. Where valid claims against a single licensee exceed $100,000, that sum is distributed among the claimants in proportion to their claims. Cite: RELRA § 803(d), 63 P.S. § 455.803(d).

Pennsylvania's Recovery Fund pays a claim against a licensee. The licence is automatically suspended, and reinstatement requires repayment in full plus interest at:

• a.6% a year
• b.10% a year✓
• c.12% a year
• d.4% a year

Reinstatement after a payment from the fund requires the licensee to repay the amount paid plus interest at 10% a year. The 6% rate in the same section is a different thing: it is what an unpaid claimant accrues while waiting for the fund to be replenished. Cite: RELRA § 803(f)(2), 63 P.S. § 455.803(f)(2).

Pennsylvania's Real Estate Recovery Fund does not reach a claim arising from:

• a.The sale of a campground membership✓
• b.A broker's fraud in a residential sale
• c.A cemetery salesperson's misrepresentation
• d.A property manager's deceit about a lease

The fund expressly does not apply to the sale or offer of a campground membership, to a campground membership salesperson, or to the preparation or issuance of a broker price opinion. Other licensed activity remains covered once the claimant has an uncollectable final judgment for fraud, misrepresentation or deceit. Cite: RELRA § 801(b), 63 P.S. § 455.801(b), as amended June 29, 2018, P.L.500, No.75.

A Pennsylvania salesperson violates RELRA. The employing broker's own licence may be suspended or revoked:

• a.Automatically, since the broker holds the licence
• b.Only where the broker profited from the violation
• c.Only after a second violation by the same salesperson
• d.Only where the broker had actual knowledge of it✓

A salesperson's or associate broker's violation is not grounds to discipline the employer unless the hearing shows the employer had actual knowledge of it. A course of dealing shown to have been followed by the employee is prima facie evidence of that knowledge. Cite: RELRA § 702(a) and (c), 63 P.S. § 455.702(a) and (c).

Pennsylvania created a cancellation right for a consumer in a wholesale transaction whose sales agreement carries the required statements. The consumer may cancel until:

• a.Midnight of the fifth day after signing it
• b.Midnight of the 30th day after signing, or conveyance✓
• c.Sixty days after signing, or the recording of the deed
• d.Any time before settlement, with no outside deadline

The right runs until midnight of the 30th day after the consumer signed, or until conveyance, whichever happens first, and it cannot be waived. An agreement that omits the required wholesale statements may be cancelled at any time before conveyance. The five-day right belongs to time-share and campground membership purchasers. Cite: RELRA § 610, 63 P.S. § 455.610, added July 8, 2024, P.L.545, No.52.

A Pennsylvania owner deeds her house to her brother for one dollar. The realty transfer tax due on that deed is:

• a.1% of the computed value of the property
• b.2% of the property's assessed value
• c.None; transfers between siblings are excluded✓
• d.1% of the one dollar actually paid for it

Pennsylvania excludes transfers between children of the same parent, along with transfers between spouses, between lineal ascendants and descendants, and to a parent's child's spouse. Absent an exclusion, a transfer for nominal consideration is taxed on computed value, the assessed value multiplied by the county's common level ratio factor. Cite: 61 Pa. Code § 91.193(b)(6)(i)(C); 61 Pa. Code § 91.131.