Free Practice Questions for Real Estate Maryland-Real-Estate-Salesperson Exam

Severance is the act of detaching an item that was part of the realty, thereby converting it into personal property (e.g., removing a built-in fixture). Annexation is the opposite—attaching personal property so it becomes real property (a fixture). Emblements are annual crops treated as personal property by definition, not by a transformation act. A sale does not change the classification of items; it only transfers whatever is included (real or personal) as specified.

In Maryland, a redeemable ground rent (ground lease) allows the leasehold tenant to redeem (buy out) the ground rent by paying the statutory redemption amount to the ground rent holder, typically with advance written notice (often 30 days) after a minimum period has elapsed. An irredeemable ground rent cannot be bought out by the tenant. The question’s facts—15 years of payments and the tenant giving 30 days’ notice to buy out—match the characteristics of a redeemable ground lease.

The Maryland pre-licensing course explains that the Maryland Real Estate Guaranty Fund is designed to compensate members of the public who suffer actual financial loss due to certain acts or omissions of Maryland licensees in the provision of real estate brokerage services. Claims must be based on verifiable monetary damages; non-economic harms such as embarrassment, inconvenience, or pain and suffering are not compensable under the Fund. The course also outlines claimant eligibility and procedural requirements established in Title 17 (Real Estate Brokers) of the Maryland Business Occupations and Professions Article.

Agreeing—or even coordinating—on a minimum commission or listing fee among competing brokerages is price fixing, a per se violation of antitrust law. Maryland pre-licensing emphasizes that competitors must not discuss or set commission rates, fees, or pricing policies; each brokerage must independently determine its fees.

Group boycotting = competitors conspiring to refuse to deal with a party.

Market allocation = dividing territories/customers.

Tie-in arrangement = conditioning sale of one product/service on purchase of another.

References (Maryland Sources / Pre-Licensing Core Content):

Maryland 60-Hour Course: “Real Estate Brokerage Operations” (antitrust compliance: price fixing, market allocation, group boycotts, tie-ins).

Sherman Antitrust Act principles as incorporated in Maryland real estate education.

COMAR 09.11.02 (ethical conduct; avoiding anticompetitive practices); MREC guidance on commissions being negotiable and set independently by each brokerage.

Meeting potential buyer clients in-person allows the licensee to establish agency, verify identity, discuss representation agreements, and assess buyer motivation and qualifications. Maryland’s brokerage-operation standards emphasize that the licensee should determine whether prospects are ready, willing, and able to purchase before proceeding, ensuring compliance with agency-disclosure and record-keeping requirements.

The cost approach to appraisal is based on the principle of substitution, which assumes that a buyer will not pay more for a property than it would cost to purchase a similar site and construct a comparable building with equal utility.

The process involves:

Estimating the value of the land as if vacant,

Estimating the current cost to reproduce or replace the improvements,

Subtracting depreciation (physical, functional, or external), and

Adding the land value to the depreciated improvement cost.Thus, the cost approach measures the cost to acquire the land and construct a reproduction or replacement of the improvements—making option A correct.

Encouraging a client under an existing agency agreement to terminate that agreement and switch representation constitutes contractual interference and a violation of the Maryland Real Estate Brokers Act.

Licensees must respect the exclusive representation agreements of others and may only solicit business after the prior contract expires.

This is treated as unethical conduct and may result in disciplinary action, including fines or suspension by the MREC.

Under Maryland Code of Ethics (COMAR 09.11.02.33A) and Maryland Business Occupations and Professions §17-322(a)(23), a licensee must disclose any compensation, commission, fee, or bonus received from a party other than their client in the transaction.

If a seller offers an undisclosed bonus to the buyer’s agent, that bonus must be fully disclosed in writing to the buyer (the agent’s client) before acceptance. Failure to do so constitutes an ethical and legal violation. The payment, once disclosed, must be processed through the agent’s broker, who is responsible for all compensation distribution.

An encumbrance is any claim, charge, or liability attached to real property that burdens the title or limits use, including monetary interests (e.g., liens, such as mortgages, tax liens, mechanic’s liens) and non-monetary/physical interests (e.g., easements, encroachments, deed restrictions). Encumbrances do not necessarily prevent transfer, but they run with the land and affect marketability.

In real estate, positive (affirmative) misrepresentation occurs when a licensee makes an affirmative statement of fact that is false. When the statement is knowingly false and causes reliance and harm, it rises to fraudulent misrepresentation—but it is still a positive (affirmative) misrepresentation because it is an overt, false assertion (as opposed to concealment/nondisclosure, sometimes called passive misrepresentation).

Option A describes an affirmative false statement that causes harm (i.e., a classic example of positive misrepresentation; intent makes it fraudulent).

Options B and C describe innocent/negligent errors but don’t clearly state an affirmative false statement of material fact.

Option D confuses “positive” with “beneficial outcome,” which is not what the term means.

References (Maryland Pre-Licensing Core Content):

Maryland 60-Hour Course: “Real Estate Brokerage and the Law of Agency” (truthful dealing; material facts; affirmative vs. passive misrepresentation; fraudulent vs. negligent vs. innocent misrepresentation).

COMAR 09.11.02 (standards of practice: honesty, fair dealing, and prohibition against misrepresentation).