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

The correct answer is B. Massachusetts provides an attorney-broker licensing route for attorneys who hold a current Massachusetts law license in good standing.

The Board explains that qualified Massachusetts attorneys may obtain the real estate broker license without taking the ordinary broker examination. However, this is not literally an automatic license. The attorney must still apply, provide required documentation, and satisfy the Board ' s attorney-broker licensing procedure.

Therefore, candidates should reject both extremes: the attorney is not forced through the entire salesperson-to-broker pathway, but the attorney does not become a broker merely by possessing a law license.

This is a Massachusetts-specific licensing exception and is frequently tested.

Study Guide Reference: Massachusetts License Law — Attorney-Broker Examination Exemption.

The correct current answer is C, the party who hired the broker or salesperson. This is a major Massachusetts law change that makes older practice questions on rental broker fees obsolete.

Effective August 1, 2025, a landlord who hires a broker to market and lease an apartment is responsible for paying that broker. The landlord cannot require the tenant to pay the landlord ' s broker fee as a condition of obtaining the tenancy.

A tenant can still independently engage a broker or salesperson to represent the tenant in locating and negotiating for housing. In that case, the tenant who hired the broker can be responsible for the agreed fee.

Massachusetts guidance further explains that a broker cannot represent both landlord and tenant in a residential rental transaction under this newer framework.

Study Guide Reference: Property Management — Massachusetts Residential Rental Broker Fees.

Under 254 CMR 3.10 and Massachusetts escrow rules, all deposits must be turned over immediately to the broker for deposit into the escrow account. However, if the buyer gives written instructions that the check is to be held (for example, for a certain number of days), the broker must honor those instructions.

The correct procedure is to deliver the check to the broker right away, along with the buyer’s instruction to hold it for five days before depositing. The agent may not personally hold the check, nor may the agent refuse to present the offer due to escrow timing. All offers must be submitted promptly regardless of deposit status.

Massachusetts law and professional practice require that all offers must be presented to the seller forthwith (immediately). A broker may not withhold or delay offers, regardless of their order of arrival, price, or terms.

In this scenario, Broker N violated fiduciary duty to the seller by withholding the second $296,000 offer until the first was rejected. The seller is entitled to see all offers promptly in order to make an informed decision. The broker has no authority to filter, delay, or prioritize offers.

The law does not require informing other buyers about competing offers (that would be a separate issue of disclosure), but the broker’s obligation is always to the client—the seller—to present all offers immediately.