MD Real Estate common mistakes
MD Real Estate · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Writes that a salesperson may accept a commission check directly from a client or closing agent, or that a salesperson can 'hang' a license and operate independently of a broker.
Candidates carry over general business intuition and forget that Maryland licenses are issued to and held by the broker; all compensation for brokerage services must flow through the broker.
What to do instead
Memorize the payment chain: client/third party → broker → salesperson. Practice 5 scenarios (FSBO, referral fee, team split, rental commission, co-op commission) and state in each that only the broker may receive and disburse compensation.
States that agency disclosure may be oral or made only at 'first substantive contact,' and treats dual agency consent as implied by the parties continuing the transaction.
The candidate memorized a generic national agency script; Maryland requires a written brokerage agreement before brokerage services are performed and written consent for dual agency, so a general disclosure answer feels sufficient.
What to do instead
Build a one-page timeline: written brokerage agreement signed before services; specific written agency disclosure; dual agency consent in writing before the dual role begins. Also drill the Maryland 'presumed buyer's agent' rule for a licensee who shows residential property absent a written agreement with the seller.
Treats financing, appraisal, home inspection, radon, and walk-through contingencies as boilerplate and does not record their dates, or assumes every contract is 'time is of the essence' by default.
Candidates focus on price and settlement date and skim the contingency paragraphs; they also import a default rule that is not automatic under Maryland law unless the contract says so.
What to do instead
Before answering any contract-timing question, write a deadline chart: acceptance date, days for each contingency, notice method, and whether the contract expressly makes time of the essence. Answer only after locating the operative date on that chart.
Answers ground-rent questions as if ground rent were an ordinary easement or a capped fee, and misses registration, notice, and redemption mechanics.
Ground rent is a Maryland-specific leasehold estate that rarely appears in national prep material, so candidates substitute generic encumbrance concepts.
What to do instead
Drill four facts: ground rent must be registered with the State Department of Assessments and Taxation; the leasehold tenant has a statutory right to redeem; increases and redemption require specific written notice periods; unpaid ground rent can lead to ejectment. Practice distinguishing ground rent from a mortgage, lien, easement, and covenant.
Applies the state transfer tax rate to the full price without checking the first-time-buyer reduced rate, or lumps transfer tax and recordation tax into one charge, or assumes the buyer always pays both.
The candidate memorized a single '0.5%' figure and one custom-of-the-county rule; Maryland has separate state transfer tax, county transfer tax, and recordation tax, plus a reduced first-time-buyer rate on eligible residential property.
What to do instead
Make a three-column table: state transfer tax, county transfer tax, recordation tax - with rate, who customarily pays, and the first-time-buyer exception. Recompute a sample $350,000 purchase twice, once as a repeat buyer and once as an eligible first-time buyer.
Says a security deposit must be returned within 30 days, that the landlord may keep it without an itemized list, or that a landlord may change the locks or remove belongings when rent is unpaid.
Candidates rely on general landlord-tenant/common-law instincts and television-style 'self-help' eviction rather than the Maryland Security Deposit Law and District Court eviction process.
What to do instead
Memorize: deposit cap (two months' rent), escrow/receipt requirement, interest obligation, 45-day return with itemized damages list, and the court path - complaint, trial, judgment, warrant of restitution executed by the sheriff, with the tenant's redemption right before execution. Reject any answer containing self-help.
Lists only the federal protected classes and omits source of income, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, and other Maryland-protected characteristics; or approves ad copy that says 'perfect for a retired couple' or 'no vouchers.'
The candidate learned the federal seven and assumes state law mirrors them; advertising questions feel like marketing rather than fair housing issues.
What to do instead
Memorize the Maryland additions and apply a two-step ad test: (1) does it state or imply a preference based on a protected class, including source of income? (2) does it include the Equal Housing Opportunity statement? Practice rewriting three risky ads into compliant ones.
Adjusts a comparable sale in the wrong direction (adds value when the comp is superior) or averages the adjusted comparables instead of reconciling them.
Candidates confuse the subject's features with the comparable's features and treat reconciliation as a math exercise rather than a judgment about which comps are most reliable.
What to do instead
Use the fixed sentence: 'If the comp is better, subtract from the comp; if the comp is worse, add to the comp.' Then practice three comps with one superior feature each, and write a two-sentence reconciliation explaining which comp carries the most weight and why.
Tells a seller that signing the residential property disclaimer removes all disclosure duties, or has the agent complete the disclosure form for the seller, or ignores the lead-based paint disclosure and pamphlet for pre-1978 housing.
Candidates conflate 'disclaimer' with 'no disclosure' and treat the disclosure form as agent paperwork; federal lead rules are learned as a separate topic and not integrated.
What to do instead
Memorize the distinction: the Maryland disclosure statement and the disclaimer are seller elections, but latent-defect fraud liability and the federal lead-based paint disclosure/pamphlet/10-day inspection opportunity still apply for pre-1978 housing. Practice a scenario where the seller disclaims and a known roof leak exists.
Prorates using 360 days for a calendar-year item, charges the seller for the day of settlement and the buyer for the same day, or prorates rent and taxes with the same convention.
Candidates memorize one proration formula and apply it mechanically without asking whether the item is a calendar-year tax, a monthly rent, or a 365-day interest charge.
What to do instead
Build a proration checklist: identify the item, the annual/monthly amount, the basis (365 vs 360 vs month), the closing date, and who owns the day. Compute one tax proration and one rent proration side by side, then check the debit/credit direction on the settlement statement.