MA Real Estate study guide
MA Real Estate · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Massachusetts Real Estate Salesperson Examination is the licensing test that stands between a candidate and a salesperson license in the Commonwealth. Licensing authority rests with the Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons, a unit of the Division of Occupational Licensure, which - in the Board's own words - "licenses qualified individuals, businesses, and schools who meet the requirements to engage in the practice of real estate brokering and sales in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." Licensed brokers and salespersons assist consumers who want to purchase, sell, lease, or exchange real property, and that assistance runs well beyond showing houses: the Board describes the work as including appraising property for basic valuations, negotiating purchase, sale, or lease agreements, maintaining escrow accounts, and advertising properties for sale, rent, or lease. The MA Real Estate study guide has 8 sections and about 2,376 words.
01Massachusetts License Law and Board Regulations
Massachusetts licenses brokers and salespersons through the Board of Registration of Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons, within the Division of Professional Licensure. A salesperson must be affiliated with a licensed broker and may never accept compensation directly from a member of the public: the commission is paid to the broker, who then pays the salesperson.
312 words, about 2 min02Agency, Fiduciary Duties, and Brokerage Relationships
Massachusetts requires a licensee to disclose whom the licensee represents at the first substantive contact, before the consumer reveals confidential information. Written agency agreements define the relationship.
322 words, about 2 min03Contracts and Purchase and Sale Agreements
Massachusetts residential sales usually move from an accepted offer to purchase to a formal purchase and sale agreement (P&S), commonly signed within about 10 days. The offer typically carries a small deposit (often $1,000), with total deposit funds reaching roughly 5 percent at P&S.
311 words, about 2 min04Property Ownership, Legal Descriptions, and Land Use
Massachusetts recognizes severalty, tenancy in common, joint tenancy, and tenancy by the entirety, which is available to married couples and carries a right of survivorship. Legal descriptions take three main forms: metes and bounds, lot and block or plan reference, and the government survey system (not used in Massachusetts).
298 words, about 1 min05Real Estate Valuation and Appraisal
Sales comparison is the primary approach for owner-occupied residential property; cost approach suits new construction or special-purpose buildings; income approach suits investment property. The guiding principles are substitution, contribution, conformity, and highest and best use, which must be legally permissible, physically possible, financially feasible, and maximally productive.
269 words, about 1 min06Financing and Mortgages
The note is the promise to pay; the mortgage is the security instrument that pledges the property. Massachusetts is a title theory state: legal title rests with the lender until the mortgage is discharged, while the borrower keeps equitable title and the right of redemption.
296 words, about 1 min07Transfer of Title, Deeds, and Closing
A deed needs a writing, identified parties, a granting clause, a legal description, consideration, the grantor's signature, and an acknowledgment before a notary for recording. Delivery and acceptance complete the transfer.
281 words, about 1 min08Fair Housing, Consumer Protection, and Real Estate Practice
Federal fair housing law protects race, color, religion, sex, national origin, familial status, and disability. Massachusetts law goes further and adds marital status, ancestry, age, sexual orientation including gender identity, veteran status, genetic information, and disability.
287 words, about 1 min