Georgia Commission Info Flashcards
According to Georgia Law, an individual is not required to have a real estate license if they are…?
- An owner of real estate, the spouse of an owner, a general partner of a limited partnership, a landlord or a prospective purchaser or their regular employees or spouses.
- An attorney in fact or an attorney at law.
- Any person acting as a receiver trustee in bankruptcy, administrator, executor or guardian.
- Any officer or employee of a government agency
- Any person employed full-time by a public or private utility.
- A manager of residential properties.
- Full-time employees of the property owner.
- Any person acting as a referral agent who is not involved in the actual negotiations.
- Any individual employed by a broker to assist in property management services on residential property.
Innkeeper’s exemption
Any person who provides property management services on properties available for 90 days or less is exempt from license law.
The Commission shall maintain investigative files under the following schedules:
- forty years for all investigative files in which the Commission imposes a disciplinary action or makes a payment from the Recovery Fund.
- fifteen years for all other investigative files.
(d) Any licensee whose license is released by a broker shall not engage in the activities of a real estate broker until the licensee:
- Affiliates his or her license with a new broker and mails a Change Application to the Commission; or
- Receives from the Commission a wall certificate of licensure authorizing the licensee to serve as the broker of a sole proprietorship or the qualifying broker of a corporation, limited liability company, or partnership.
Every licensee shall notify the Commission in writing of the final disposition of any administrative, civil, or criminal action filed in any court, within..?
10 days
Change of address must be notified to the commission within…?
30 days
In what case does the commission allows certain people to keep their wall licenses ..?
Anyone who has been active for 20+ years and retires or the deceased
Brokerage Engagements must have these three items..
(a) Each exclusive brokerage agreement must fully set forth its terms and have a definite expiration date.
(b) At the time of securing a brokerage engagement, the licensee securing it must furnish each person signing it a true copy thereof.
(c) The Commission prohibits the acceptance by brokers of net brokerage engagements and hereby makes it obligatory upon the broker, when securing the brokerage engagement, to add the broker’s fee thereby notifying the client of the gross price of the property and the broker’s services.
Fidelity Bond or Insurance Required for Community Association Management is mandatory when..?
The broker collects, maintains, controls, has access to, or disburses community association funds totaling more than $60,000.00;
No licensee shall buy or lease, nor take an option to buy or lease, any interest in property listed with the licensee or the licensee’s firm unless?
The licensee shall clearly disclose the licensee’s position as a buyer to the seller or as a tenant to the landlord, as the case may be, and insert a clause to this effect in the contract.
Neither shall any licensee sell or lease or otherwise convey any interest in property owned by the licensee to any person, unless the licensee shall clearly disclose..?
the licensee’s position as a seller to the buyer or as a landlord to the tenant, as the case may be, and insert a clause to this effect in the contract.
During acting as an agent or dual agent, the licensee must disclose..?
A licensee shall make or cause to be made a written disclosure to both buyer and seller or to both lessor and lessee whom that licensee’s firm will receive any valuable consideration for its efforts as agent in the transaction.
Whenever the qualifying broker of a partnership, limited liability company, or corporation dies, resigns, or is discharged unexpectedly, the partnership, limited liability company, or corporation must..?
Secure a new qualifying broker within 60 days or cease all real estate brokerage activity until it does secure a new qualifying broker.
Any broker seeking to have a licensee affiliate with the broker’s firm shall enter into a written agreement specifying the terms under which the licensee..?
Will be compensated for work during the time of their affiliation and specifying how the licensee will be compensated for work begun but not completed prior to the termination of their affiliation.
When a licensee requests that a release form be signed, the releasing broker shall ..?
Immediately sign the release and forward the wall certificate of licensure of the departing licensee to the Commission or notify the Commission in writing that the wall certificate of licensure has been forwarded to the new broker for whom the licensee will act. If a licensee assumes the responsibility of delivering the wall certificate to a new broker, then the wall certificate must be delivered as soon as practically possible after the licensee receives it from the releasing broker.
Whenever a broker returns to the Commission a wall certificate of licensure of a licensee affiliated with the broker’s firm, the certificate shall be accompanied by..?
A release signed by both the broker or authorized associate broker and the licensee or by a signed statement that such a release has been signed by both parties. The licensee shall then transfer the license to another broker or apply to place the license on inactive status within one month of the Commission’s receipt of the licensee’s wall certificate of licensure
Support personnel shall not perform:
- make cold calls by telephone
- host open houses, kiosks, home show booths, or fairs;
- prepare promotional materials or advertisements without the review and approval of an affiliated licensee and firm;
- show real estate;
- answer any questions on title, financing, or closings (other than the time and place);
- answer any questions regarding a listing except for information on price and amenities expressly authorized in writing by the licensee;
- discuss or explain a contract, listing, lease, agreement, or other real estate document with anyone outside the firm;
- negotiate or agree to any commission, commission split, management fee, or referral fee on behalf of a licensee;
- discuss the attributes or amenities of real estate, under any circumstances, with a prospective purchaser or lessee;
- discuss with the owner of real estate, the terms and conditions of the real estate offered for sale or lease;
- collect or hold deposit monies, rent, other monies or anything of value received from the owner of real estate or from a prospective purchaser or lessee; or
- provide owners of real estate or prospective purchasers or lessees with any advice, recommendations or suggestions as to the sale, purchase, exchange, or leasing of real estate that is listed, to be listed, or currently available for sale or lease.
A licensed broker in this state is hereby permitted to divide or share a real estate commission with a licensed broker in another state. If a broker licensed in another licensing jurisdiction refers prospective clients or customers to a Georgia broker, the Georgia broker may..?
Pay a fee to such licensed broker
Brokers may maintain how many trust accounts?
More than one designated trust or escrow account. Brokers shall notify the Commission of the name of the financial institution in which each account is maintained and each account’s name or number within one month of opening each account.
A licensee shall place escrow..?
cash, checks, or other items of value received by the licensee in a brokerage capacity into the custody of the broker holding the licensee’s license as soon after receipt as is practicably possible.
Unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the party or parties at interest, the broker holding such cash or checks shall..?
promptly deposit said funds in a federally insured account designated by the financial institution as a trust account and registered with the Commission and shall make appropriate arrangement for the safekeeping of any items of value received other than cash or checks.
Can a broker deposit money into an interest-bearing account?
Yes, if the broker shall obtain the written agreement of the parties indicating to whom the broker shall pay any interest earned on trust funds deposited into that interest-bearing account prior to depositing those funds into such an account.
A broker may maintain the broker’s own funds in a designated trust or escrow account only when they are clearly identified as the broker’s deposit and only for the following purposes:
- If the financial institution in which the account is maintained designates a specific minimum balance that must be maintained in order to keep the account open.
- If the financial institution in which the account is maintained requires a service charge be paid for the account, the broker may maintain in the account in the broker’s name a reasonable amount to cover that service charge.
- A broker may allow commissions due the broker that are being paid from funds of others held in the broker’s designated trust or escrow account to remain in the account provided that:
(i) the broker’s accounting system for trust or escrow accounts designates those commissions as the broker’s funds and properly accounts for them and
(ii) each month the broker removes from the account any of the broker’s funds that exceed the minimum necessary to comply with subparagraph (a) or (b) above. - Only checks made payable to the broker may be used to withdraw monies designated as the broker’s funds from the designated trust or escrow account.
Every broker required to maintain a trust or escrow account shall maintain an accounting system in which each trust or escrow deposit is detailed in the following manner:
- Names of buyer and seller or tenant and landlord or member and community association or broker.
- Amount and date of deposit.
- Identification of property involved.
- The amount, payee and date of each check drawn on the escrow account in connection with that deposit.
A broker shall not disburse funds from a designated trust account as provided in paragraph (b) until the broker has reasonable assurance that the financial institution has credited the funds to the broker’s trust account. When a broker makes a disbursal to which all parties to the contract do not expressly agree, the broker must immediately..?
notify all parties in writing of the disbursal.
Brokers who manage real property or community associations may maintain designated rental or assessment..?
Trust or escrow accounts separate from their other trust or escrow accounts.
a) In paying bills on behalf of an owner or an association from any designated rental or assessment escrow or trust account, there must be enough money credited and deposited to the owner’s or the association’s account to cover said bill.
(b) Security deposits, if kept in a designated rental trust or escrow account, must be clearly identified and credited to the tenant and there must always be a balance in the account equal to the total of said security deposits.
(c) A licensee who manages rental property which the licensee owns must maintain any security deposits collected in a designated trust account and may not post a bond in lieu of maintaining such security deposits in a designated trust account.
No licensee shall be permitted to list, sell, buy, exchange, rent, lease, or option or offer to list, sell, buy, exchange, rent, lease, or option real estate, either in individual or multiple parcels, in the licensee’s own name without first..?
advising, in writing, the broker for whom the real estate licensee is acting.
Whenever a licensee offers to purchase a property as a condition to obtaining a brokerage engagement to sell, lease, or exchange or on which the licensee is extending the expiration date of an existing brokerage engagement, the licensee must..?
Enter into a written contract to purchase which expresses all the terms and conditions of the licensee’s purchase prior to or at the time of entering into the proposed brokerage engagement or into the extension of the existing brokerage engagement.
When a licensee wishes to advertise real estate owned by the licensee and which is not under a brokerage engagement, the licensee may do so provided:
- if the licensee’s license is affiliated with a firm, the broker holding the licensee’s license has been notified in writing of the specific real estate to be advertised;
- if the licensee’s license is affiliated with a firm, the broker gives written consent to advertising the specific real estate and approves the advertisement itself; and
- regardless of whether the licensee’s license is affiliated with a firm or on inactive status, any advertisement must include either (a) the legend “seller, buyer, landlord, tenant (select the appropriate name) holds a real estate license” or (b) the legend “Georgia Real Estate License # (insert licensee’s six digit number; for example, 000001).” “Georgia Real Estate License” may be abbreviated to “GA R. E. Lic..”
No licensee or agent or employee of a licensee shall represent, explicitly or implicitly, for the purpose of inducing or discouraging the purchase, sale, or rental of any real property or the listing for purchase, sale, or rental of any real property:
that a change has occurred or will or may occur in the composition of any block, neighborhood or area based upon race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin;
(b) that the presence of persons of any particular race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin in an area will or may result in the following:
1. a lowering of property values in the neighborhood;
2. a material change in the composition of the area based upon race, color, religion, sex, handicap, familial status, or national origin;
3. an increase in criminal or antisocial behavior in the area; or
4. a decline in the quality of the schools serving the area.
True or False?
Do you have to have a real estate license to auction farmland?
True
If a broker allows an affiliated licensee to handle personally owned rental properties outside the firm’s normal business, the broker may allow the licensee to maintain ?
A trust account. However, the broker must register that account with the Commission and remains responsible for the transactions in that account.
Death of a broker in a sole proprietorship?
(a) All affiliated licensees must cease all brokerage activity until they transfer to a new broker. The administrator or executor of the broker’s estate may not initiate new brokerage business for the firm but may conclude pending business.
There are two types of things of value that a broker may encounter:
(a) things which can be deposited ‑ cash, check, cashier’s check, money order, bank draft, and postdated check (on the date specified); and
(b) things which cannot be deposited ‑ promissory note, personal property (such as rare coins, jewelry, or stamps) and services (such as repair work to be done on the property in lieu of paying earnest money, rent, or a security deposit).
When earnest money, security deposits, or rents are in some form other than tangible property, the contract needs?
careful wording. For example, if a tenant is renting property that he or she wishes to purchase, he or she may agree to do some repair work on the property instead of paying earnest money.
The contract should include a stipulation such as the following:
The parties agree that the buyer shall perform the following: (list the services or things to be done by the buyer) and such work shall be considered earnest money in the transaction at a value of .
In order to obtain a license, every broker must have a separate, federally insured..
bank checking account that the bank designates as a trust or escrow account.
A nonresident broker may maintain a trust account in a bank in the..?
nonresident’s state of residence provided the broker authorizes the Commission to examine the trust account at such times as the Commission may elect.
Can brokers may maintain their required trust account in money market funds?
No
When an individual becomes a licensee, certain laws designed to protect the public regulate that individual’s activity as a principal in real estate transactions. For example:
(a) sales associates must notify their broker in writing whenever they buy, sell, or lease real estate;
(b) licensees acting as principals in sales or lease transactions must disclose their licensed status in writing in sales contracts and leases; and
(c) licensees must deposit trust funds received by them when acting as principals in real estate transactions into designated trust accounts.
With approval, the licensee may place security deposits and earnest money deposits in a _______..?
designated trust account approved by the broker and registered with the Commission.
The law requires that every broker maintain a trust account journal to record every transaction that affects the trust account. The journal may consist of electronic records or paper records. Although the Commission does not require that the journal be in a particular form, the journal must include the following information about each deposit or disbursement:
(a) the names of the buyer and seller or tenant and landlord or broker;
(b) the amount and date of the deposit;
(c) identification of the property involved; and
(d) the amount, payee, and date of each check drawn on the account.
A broker may release funds in the following situations only…?
(a) UPON REJECTION OF AN OFFER - Upon the rejection of an offer to buy, sell, rent, lease, exchange, or option real estate, the broker should promptly return any trust funds collected to the person who made the offer.
(b) UPON WITHDRAWAL OF AN OFFER BEFORE ACCEPTANCE - When a buyer makes an offer to buy, sell, rent, lease, exchange, or option real estate, or gives the broker earnest money and then withdraws the offer before the seller accepts it, the broker should promptly return the earnest money to the buyer.
(c) AT THE CLOSING OF A TRANSACTION - In a real estate sales transaction, a broker must disburse funds from a designated trust account according to the terms of the closing documents. The closing documents may provide for a refund of the earnest money to the buyer, for crediting it toward closing costs or down payment, or for crediting it toward the broker’s commission earned on the sale. If refunded to the buyer, the broker must write a check made payable to the buyer in the amount of the earnest money on deposit. If credited toward the closing costs, the broker must make the check payable as directed by the closing agent. If the earnest money is credited toward the broker’s commission, the broker must make the check payable to the broker in the name in which the broker does business and which the broker has registered with the Commission. If a broker operates as a sole proprietorship under a trade name, the check must be made payable to the company’s trade name. If the broker does business in his or her own name, then he or she may make the check payable to himself or herself. If the firm is a corporation, limited liability company, or partnership, the check must be made payable to the corporation, limited liability company, or partnership name. The broker must never make payable to “Cash” any check written on the trust account.
(d) BY WRITTEN AGREEMENT - A broker may disburse trust funds upon securing a written disbursement agreement signed by all parties having an interest in the trust funds. The agreement must be separate from the contract that directs the broker to hold the funds.
(e) INTERPLEADER - A broker may file a legal action known as an interpleader in a court of competent jurisdiction, and tender the trust funds in question into the registry of the court.
(f) UPON COURT ORDER - A broker may disburse trust funds upon the order of a court of competent jurisdiction.
(g) REASONABLE INTERPRETATION OF CONTRACT - A broker may disburse trust funds upon a reasonable interpretation of the contract that directed the broker to deposit the funds. After consulting an attorney, the broker may take the following steps:
A broker may act as a dual agent only with
The written consent from all clients.
Active or inactive licensees must have in any advertisement done in their own names for property that they own the phrase?
is a licensed real estate agent
all licensees whether active or inactive must insert a ______ into any sales contract for his or her property disclosing their licensed status to the buyer.
clause
Because of negligent keeping and the burning of records, courthouse record usually are sufficient how many years back?
50 years.
A warranty deed (sometimes called a “general warranty deed”) is a deed containing..?
Promises relating to the title
A limited warranty deed (known in some other states as a special warranty deed) is one that..?
limits the scope of the warranty by certain provisions in the deed. Theoretically, a limited warranty deed could contain any language limiting the promises of warranty offered by the grantor.
A quit claim deed conveys to the grantee whatever interest the grantor has in the property..?
without any warranties of title. If the grantor has fee simple title, the grantee will receive fee simple title. If the grantor has nothing, the grantee will receive nothing.
The quit claim deed has many uses in instances where the grantor does not wish to warrant the title. For example, grantors often use quit claim deeds when they are not certain of the quality of the title. This situation could occur in clearing up the estate of a deceased person or in settling a boundary dispute when the property line is not clear.
Every state, including Georgia, has its own Statute of Frauds requiring certain contractual agreements to be in…?
Written form.
To satisfy the Statute of Frauds, the memorandum of the contract must contain at least the following pieces of information:
the names of seller and buyer;
a sufficient description of the land;
the contract price;
the terms of sale, if other than cash; and
the signatures of the parties to the contract.
The usual method of discharge for a contract is the complete performance by ________ by both parties of the obligations that each incurred under the contractual agreement.
buyer and seller.
All contracts must contain some form of consideration. Since real property is part of the consideration in a real estate sales contract, the law requires a precise description. Each contract must contain a legal description of the property that provides an unambiguous statement of the dimensions and location of the property.
Chapter 27
A purchase money mortgage (PMM) is a?
a loan by the seller of the property to the buyer. A third party lender, such as a credit union, a commercial bank or another individual, typically is not part of the loan process if a PMM loan is the first mortgage loan. However, PMM’s frequently are second loans that allow the buyer to obtain the additional funds to add to the down payment and the proceeds from the first loan so that he or she has the sum of money for the purchase price.
An assumption of an existing loan as part of the purchase of property means two things.
First, the buyer agrees to make the mortgage payments as prescribed in the original loan agreement between the seller and the lender. Second, the buyer accepts the legal responsibility for the repayment of the loan balance.
Why should you not advise a seller to market an assumable loan?
However, even given this legal responsibility for the debt accepted by the buyer, the original borrower [i.e., the seller] still remains liable for debt. However, the buyer does not accept legal responsibility for repayment of the loan balance. The original borrower (i.e., the seller) remains solely liable for the debt.
An earnest money deposit is not a legal requirement for a?
valid contract, the signed offer to purchase delivered to and accepted by the seller is sufficient to form a valid contract.
Before presenting an offer to the Seller, a licensee should prepare a..?
Sellers estimated worksheet
The license law requires that a licensee present all offers to the seller..?
Promptly
If another offer to purchase the property comes in, the licensee must present it to the seller even though a contract already exists. If the seller wishes to accept the new offer, it must contain a..?
clause making the contract contingent upon termination of the first contract.
If there is no contingency clause contained in the offer, the seller must ?
reject it and make a counteroffer including such a clause, otherwise the seller may end up obligated under two contracts. The second contract would be commonly referred to as a “back-up contract.”
If the seller wishes to enter into a back-up contract with a subsequent offeror, he or she may do so, and the licensee may..?
facilitate the same provided the original contract is not breached and the back-up contract is contingent upon a termination of the original contract.
An open listing agreement is a contract in which…?
the owner of property can retain one or more brokers and in which the owner retains the right to sell or rent the property without having to pay a commission to the broker(s).
A net listing agreement is a contract in which..?
the owner of property sets a specific dollar amount for which he or she will sell or rent the property. THEY ARE ILLEGAL.
Listing agreements end when any of the following conditions or situations occur:
- THE SPECIFIC EXPIRATION DATE ARRIVES
- THE BROKER PERFORMS CONTRACT OBLIGATIONS AND CLOSING OCCURS
- THE SELLER UNILATERALLY TERMINATES THE AGREEMENT
- THE BROKER AND THE SELLER MUTUALLY AGREE
- THE BROKER UNILATERALLY CANCELS THE AGREEMENT
- THE PROPERTY IS DESTROYED
- THE BROKER DIES, CEASES BUSINESS, OR SUFFERS A LICENSE SUSPENSION OR REVOCATION - If the broker dies or goes out of business; or if the Commission suspends or revokes his or her license, all the broker’s listings end if he or she operates as a sole proprietor. If the brokerage firm is a corporation or partnership and the qualifying broker dies or has his or her license suspended, the listings do not terminate. However, if the corporation or partnership dissolves, the listings will then terminate.
Legal descriptions in Georgia use the…?
County, District, and Land Lot, and then use the metes and bounds or the lot and block, also known as the plat map description.
The legal descriptions used in Georgia
the metes and bounds, and plat map also known as the lot and block system
