GA RE Broker common mistakes
GA RE Broker · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Treating the Georgia real estate license law rules as identical to the exam-prep generic rules and answering questions about trust/escrow account handling, commission splitting with unlicensed persons, and advertising requirements from general principles rather than from the specific Georgia statute.
Candidates study from national materials or from memory of another state's licensing course, then assume the Georgia-specific rules (escrow disbursement timing, records retention, brokerage engagement/agency disclosure timing) follow the same pattern. The exam deliberately tests the Georgia-specific numbers and procedures, and the candidate's general intuition produces plausible but wrong answers.
What to do instead
Build a one-page Georgia-specific facts sheet covering: when a broker must deposit trust funds, when disbursement may occur, recordkeeping/retention periods, advertising and team-name rules, and the required timing of the brokerage engagement and agency disclosure. Re-derive each rule from the Georgia statute/GREC rule text rather than from memory, and quiz yourself on the numbers until they are automatic.
Confusing the brokerage engagement (the written agreement establishing the brokerage relationship) with the agency disclosure/working-with-a-customer notice, and answering questions about when each must be provided and to whom.
Both documents are delivered early in the transaction and both concern the broker-client relationship, so candidates collapse them into one 'disclosure form.' The exam separates them: one establishes the engagement and its terms, the other discloses the nature of the relationship and who the licensee represents.
What to do instead
Draw a timeline of the transaction and place each document on it: engagement signed before services, agency disclosure delivered at first substantive contact or as the rule requires, and confirm who signs each. Practice distinguishing 'what creates the relationship' from 'what discloses the relationship,' and note the consequences of failing to deliver each on time.
Reading a contract question and answering what 'should' happen in a fair transaction instead of applying the legal rule for formation, acceptance, counteroffers, and the statute of frauds.
Candidates bring everyday fairness intuitions to contract questions. The exam tests doctrine: a counteroffer terminates the original offer, acceptance must be communicated and must mirror the offer, and certain agreements (such as those for the sale of land or for a term exceeding one year) must be in writing and signed by the party to be charged.
What to do instead
For every contract question, identify in writing: (1) is there an offer, (2) was it accepted, rejected, or countered, (3) is consideration present, (4) is writing required and who must sign. Drill counteroffer chains specifically, since that is where intuition most often overrides doctrine.
Selecting 'the agent owes fiduciary duties to everyone in the transaction' or applying fiduciary duties to customers, rather than limiting them to the client and treating customers with honesty and fairness only.
The word 'customer' sounds like 'client' to a candidate under time pressure, and many candidates learn 'fiduciary duties' as a slogan rather than as a set of duties owed to a specific party. The exam tests the boundary: loyalty, confidentiality, disclosure, obedience, and accounting run to the client, not to the unrepresented customer.
What to do instead
Memorize the duty list as a set and attach it to the client only. Then practice a matrix: for each party (client, customer, other broker, third-party vendor), list which duties are owed. When a question asks about a customer, the correct answer is almost always honesty, fairness, and disclosure of material facts-not loyalty or confidentiality.
Computing the loan-to-value ratio, down payment, discount points, and prorations independently and then picking an answer without reconciling them to the settlement statement, so a single arithmetic slip (or a misread 'percent of sales price' versus 'percent of loan') produces a wrong choice.
Finance and settlement questions are multi-step and time-pressured. Candidates do the math in their head, skip writing the formula, and confuse the base of a percentage-points are charged on the loan amount, while LTV uses the loan over the sales price or appraised value, whichever is lower.
What to do instead
Write the formula before substituting numbers: LTV = loan ÷ lesser of price or appraised value; points = loan × point percentage; proration = annual amount ÷ 365 × days. Estimate the answer first, then compute exactly, and check the result against the estimate. For prorations, always state who owns the day of closing and whether the item is paid in advance or in arrears before calculating.
Mixing up debit and credit entries on the settlement statement-for example, crediting the buyer for a loan when the buyer's loan is a credit to the seller's side of the ledger, or treating earnest money as a seller credit.
Candidates memorize 'debits are charges, credits are payments' without mapping that rule to the buyer's and seller's columns separately. The settlement statement is a two-column ledger, and the same item appears on both sides with opposite treatment, which is easy to reverse under pressure.
What to do instead
Rebuild a blank settlement statement from memory and place five items on it: purchase price, earnest money, new loan, payoff of the existing loan, and commission. For each, state who is debited and who is credited and why. Practice until you can explain the entry in one sentence ('the buyer is charged the price and credited with the loan and earnest money').
Assuming that a physical item attached to the land is automatically a fixture, or that an item described in the contract is automatically personal property, without applying the tests for fixtures and the legal effect of the listing and contract language.
Candidates learn 'fixtures go with the land' as a slogan and skip the analysis. The exam tests the actual factors-method of attachment, adaptation/integration, and intention of the parties-and tests whether the contract or listing addressed the item, because the parties can agree to include or exclude items that the common-law test would otherwise classify differently.
What to do instead
For each item in a practice question, run the three-factor fixture test out loud and then ask whether the contract or listing expressly addressed it. Note the classic borderline examples (window treatments, built-in appliances, above-ground pools, trade fixtures) and how agreement language can override the default. Answer based on the analysis, not the label.
Choosing a valuation approach or adjustment direction by intuition-selecting the sales comparison approach for every property, or adjusting the comparable in the wrong direction (adding value when the comparable is superior).
Candidates remember the names of the three approaches but not when each applies, and they treat adjustments as a memory exercise rather than a logic exercise. The direction of an adjustment is the most common trap: if the comparable is better than the subject, the comparable's price must be adjusted downward.
What to do instead
Anchor each approach to property type: sales comparison for residential, income (capitalization) for income-producing property, cost for special-purpose or new construction. For adjustments, write the rule literally: 'adjust the comparable toward the subject.' Then test every adjustment by asking 'is the comparable better or worse on this feature?' and moving the price in the direction that makes the comparable equal to the subject.
Skipping the 'who is my client, what did they authorize, and what does the contract say' step and jumping straight to the answer on practice/scenario questions about disclosures, fair housing, and advertising.
Scenario questions are longer than fact questions, and candidates under time pressure read the last sentence and answer from a keyword. The distractors are built to be correct under a slightly different set of facts-for example, an answer that is right if the property were owner-occupied but wrong if it is investment property.
What to do instead
Adopt a fixed routine for every scenario: identify the parties and the client, the property type and occupancy, the stage of the transaction, and the specific rule being tested. Then eliminate choices that are correct only under different facts. Practice by writing a one-line fact summary before looking at the answer choices.
Ignoring the arithmetic of commission splits, referral fees, and broker supervision-answering from the assumption that the salesperson keeps the full commission or that an unlicensed assistant may perform licensed activities.
Candidates learn the commission concept but not the brokerage structure: the commission is paid to the broker, who then splits with the licensee per their agreement, and unlicensed persons may not perform activities requiring a license. The exam tests these boundaries because they are common sources of license law violations.
What to do instead
Memorize the flow: commission is earned by and paid to the brokerage, then split per the independent contractor/employment agreement. Build a list of tasks an unlicensed assistant may and may not perform, and a list of activities that require a license. On any question involving money changing hands or an unlicensed person, ask 'who is licensed, who is paid, and who is supervised' before answering.