Pennsylvania Real Estate Salesperson Exam — All Questions

Under Pennsylvania's Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act (RELRA), earnest money deposits a salesperson receives in a transaction must be:

• a.Deposited into the salesperson's personal account
• b.Turned over to the broker for the escrow account✓
• c.Kept in escrow by the buyer's closing attorney
• d.Held in cash by the salesperson until the closing

In Pennsylvania a salesperson must promptly deliver any deposit to the employing broker, who holds it in a separate escrow or trust account. Salespersons may not hold or commingle client funds. This safeguards consumer money until the transaction closes or the funds are properly disbursed.

Under Pennsylvania law and 49 Pa. Code, how long must a broker generally retain complete records of real estate transactions?

• a.10 years
• b.6 months
• c.1 year
• d.3 years✓

Pennsylvania's Rules and Regulations require a broker to keep records of each transaction for at least three years following consummation or termination. These records must be available for inspection by the Commission. Proper recordkeeping is a core compliance duty of the broker.

In Pennsylvania, a licensed salesperson may lawfully receive compensation for a real estate transaction from:

• a.Any party to the transaction
• b.Only the broker with whom the salesperson is affiliated✓
• c.The buyer directly
• d.The seller directly

Under RELRA a salesperson may accept a commission or fee only from the employing broker, never directly from a buyer, seller, or other party. All compensation flows through the broker who holds the salesperson's license. Accepting money directly from a consumer is a violation.

Money belonging to another that a Pennsylvania broker receives must reach the escrow account by:

• a.The end of the next business day after receipt✓
• b.The end of the third business day after receipt
• c.The close of the calendar week it arrived in
• d.Settlement, so long as the funds stay separate

Both the statute and the Commission's rule set the deadline at the end of the business day following receipt in the office where the escrow records are kept. The only relief is a check held with the written consent of both sides pending acceptance of the offer, which must then be deposited within one business day of acceptance. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.324; RELRA § 608.5(e), 63 P.S. § 455.608e(e).

A Pennsylvania broker manages rental property and collects the monthly rents for the owner. Those rents must be:

• a.Held in the broker's escrow account until the lease ends
• b.Paid over to the lessor within one business day of receipt
• c.Deposited into a separate rental management account✓
• d.Reported to the Commission at each renewal period

Rents received as a property manager are the one category a Pennsylvania broker is not required to hold in escrow, but they still may not sit with the broker's own money: they go into a rental management account kept separate from both the escrow account and the general business account. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.321(b); RELRA § 608.5(h) and (i), 63 P.S. § 455.608e(h) and (i).

A buyer and seller each demand the deposit a Pennsylvania broker is holding in escrow. The broker must:

• a.Release the money to whichever party demands it first
• b.Keep the money in escrow until the dispute is resolved✓
• c.Forward the money to the Commission for safekeeping
• d.Divide the money evenly between the two claimants

The broker retains disputed escrow money until the dispute is resolved. If resolution looks remote without litigation, the broker may give the parties 30 days' notice and then petition the county court with jurisdiction to interplead the rival claimants. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.327.

A Pennsylvania broker's duty to hold money of another in escrow can be waived or altered by:

• a.An agreement signed by the buyer and the seller
• b.An agreement between the broker and the parties
• c.An agreement among the cooperating brokers
• d.No agreement at all; the duty cannot be waived✓

The escrow duty may not be waived or altered by an agreement between the parties, between the broker and the parties, or between brokers. Parties may agree in writing to have a third party hold the funds, but they cannot relieve a broker who does hold them of the escrow obligation. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.322.

A Pennsylvania salesperson's advertisement must carry the employing broker's business name and telephone number. Those items:

• a.May be set in smaller type than the salesperson's
• b.Must be filed with the Commission before publication
• c.Must be the same size as the salesperson's own✓
• d.Are required only in print, not online, advertising

The rule requires the employing broker's business name and telephone number in an advertisement by an associate broker or salesperson, and states that the names and telephone numbers shall be of equal size. Commonwealth Court has upheld it as a supervision and anti-confusion measure. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.305(c).

Which term is prohibited in a Pennsylvania exclusive listing agreement?

• a.A listing period over one year, or an automatic renewal✓
• b.A statement in bold that the broker earns a commission on any sale
• c.The commission the seller and the broker negotiated
• d.The price at which the property is to be offered

An exclusive listing agreement may not run longer than one year, may not renew automatically, and may not give the broker an option to purchase, authority to sign an agreement of sale for the owner, or authority to confess judgment. The sale price, the commission and the duration are required contents, not prohibited ones. Cite: 49 Pa. Code § 35.332(b) and (c).

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).