Real Estate Updated Massachusetts-Real-Estate-Salesperson Exam Questions and Answers by ingrid

The correct answer is B, $5,540.

One mortgage point equals 1% of the loan amount, not 1% of the property ' s purchase price.

The mortgage principal is $138,500.

Therefore:

$138,500 × 4% = $5,540

Thus B is correct.

Using the $140,000 sales price would produce $5,600, which is a common distractor. The points must be calculated against the mortgage amount given in the problem.

Discount points are essentially an upfront financing charge associated with the interest pricing of a mortgage. Depending on the loan program and transaction, points may be paid by the borrower, seller, or another permitted party subject to applicable mortgage requirements.

Massachusetts Board financing curriculum expressly covers FHA financing, loan terms, and mortgage expenses.

Candidates should always identify the loan principal first before performing a mortgage-point calculation.

Study Guide Reference: Financing/Real Estate Calculations — FHA Mortgages and Discount Points.

Blockbusting is an unlawful discriminatory real estate practice in which an owner is encouraged or pressured to sell because people belonging to a particular protected or demographic group are allegedly entering, or expected to enter, the neighborhood. The intended psychological effect is fear: owners are told or led to believe that neighborhood desirability or property values will decline. This can produce panic selling or panic peddling, making B the correct answer.

Massachusetts law is particularly explicit. M.G.L. c. 151B, §4(13) prohibits attempts to induce the sale, purchase, or rental of dwellings through representations concerning the entry or prospective entry of persons of specified characteristics or through representations concerning the supposed consequences of such entry. This is the statutory mechanism underlying blockbusting.

Redlining is different: it concerns discriminatory denial or restriction of credit, insurance, or services based largely on geographic area or protected-class composition. Blind advertising concerns brokerage advertising that fails to identify the broker appropriately. Therefore, neither C nor D describes the immediate behavior caused by blockbusting.

Study Guide Reference: Practice of Real Estate — Fair Housing; prohibited discriminatory practices; blockbusting/panic selling.

A Massachusetts salesperson works through and under an employing broker, rather than operating an independent brokerage. Advertising a brokerage listing is therefore permissible when the salesperson complies with Massachusetts advertising requirements and identifies the employing broker appropriately.

Option B is clearly incorrect. Massachusetts professional-practice regulations require deposit or escrow money received by an affiliated salesperson to be turned over promptly to the broker. A salesperson cannot independently maintain or control client escrow funds. The Board ' s guidance likewise explains that authority over the escrow account belongs to the broker.

Option A has been deliberately clarified from the ambiguous wording in the source bank. A salesperson may participate extensively in obtaining listings and servicing sellers on the broker ' s behalf, because Massachusetts defines a salesperson as someone who may perform essentially the activities described for a broker, except for completing/finally negotiating a transaction. However, the listing belongs to the brokerage relationship; a salesperson cannot independently take the listing in their own brokerage capacity.

Massachusetts advertising rules also prohibit a salesperson from advertising real estate brokerage services solely under the salesperson ' s own name. Thus C is the single defensible answer.

Study Guide Reference: Massachusetts License Law — salesperson authority, broker supervision, escrow and advertising.

The Massachusetts State Sanitary Code (105 CMR 410) sets minimum standards for safe and habitable housing. One explicit requirement is that every rental unit must be equipped with a stove in good repair provided by the landlord.

Other items:

Refrigerators: Landlords are not required to provide them, but if they do, they must be in working order.

Separate meters: Not required for all systems.

Water/sewer: Landlords generally pay unless specific written agreements allow tenant billing (with proper metering).

Thus, the universal requirement is a stove in good repair.