Current through Register Vol. 28, No. 3, September 1, 2024
5.1 Purpose: To provide the prospective licensee with the background necessary to:
5.1.1 Understand the basics of real estate sales, law and mathematics.
5.1.2 To provide the prospective licensee with a working knowledge of federal and state laws and regulations affecting the real estate profession.
5.2 Course Objective:
5.2.1 To provide an overview of the real estate profession and to insure the prospective salesperson understands the application of professional ethics as applied to real estate transactions.
5.2.2 To provide the prospective licensee with an understanding of:
5.2.2.1 Real property characteristics, definitions, ownership, restrictions and transfer
5.2.2.2 Assessing and explaining property valuation and the appraisal process
5.2.2.3 Contracts, agency relationships with buyers and sellers, and federal requirements
5.2.2.4 Financing, the transaction and settlement
5.2.2.5 Leases, rents, and property management
5.2.2.6 The duties and powers of the Commission
5.2.2.7 Licensing requirements
5.2.2.8 Statutory requirements governing the activities of licensees
5.2.2.9 Other aspects of Delaware law which impact the real estate issues
5.3 To prepare the prospective licensee for passing the real estate sales licensing examination for the State of Delaware.
5.4 Major Course Topics and Hours:
5.4.1 Real Estate Orientation (3 hours)
5.4.2 Real Estate Sales (36 hours)
5.4.3 Real Estate Law (33 hours)
5.4.4 Real Estate Mathematics (24 hours)
5.4.5 Review for Sales, Law, Mathematics (3 hours)
5.4.6 Total minimum: 99 hours
5.5 The hours as outlined are the minimum hours to be offered; a school or distance education program presenting the Delaware Real Estate Pre-Licensing Course may offer a course with more hours.
5.6 The total 99 required salesperson pre-licensing hours may be taken through distance education.
5.7 The presentation which follows includes topics to be covered and the number of hours to be devoted to each. The manner in which the school or distance education program sequences the topics does not have to follow the sequence listed. Individual schools or distance education programs should develop a topical understanding of the material and for the instructors' presentation.
5.8 Where the course is given in a school, the time to be devoted to each topic is listed as "hours". An hour is defined as fifty (50) minutes of direct contact and ten (10) minutes of break. The three 10 minute break periods, or a total of thirty (30) minutes, can be taken in any means felt appropriate by the instructor.
5.9 Orientation - One three (3) hour session consisting of:
5.9.1 Real estate Sales Pre-Licensing Course requirements.
5.9.2 Delaware Real Estate Sales Licensing requirements.
5.9.3 General discussion of actual business practices on the part of the licensee to successfully conduct an agent's business; i.e., compensation, hours, taxes, automobile liability, business liability, cooperation with other brokers and agents, and demands of public on agent's time, expertise, and services.
5.9.4 School or distance education program shall offer a math pretest for those students who wish to exempt themselves from the math portion of this course. This optional math pretest shall be equivalent to the final test given at the conclusion of the math section in content and length. The content of the pretest shall cover each of the topics covered in the course. The students shall be permitted to use calculators when taking the test and a passing score of 80 percent shall exempt a student from taking the math section of this course.
5.10 Real Estate Sales - 36 Total hours with sessions consisting of:
5.10.1 Brokerage, Agency, Dual Agency, Buyer Brokerage - (3) hours
5.10.2 Listing procedures including practical exercises in taking a listing and preparing the data necessary for a listing - (3) hours
5.10.3 Sales including practical exercises of writing an offer of purchase and sale - (6) hours
5.10.4 Financing limited to practical knowledge including how to qualify buyers, types of financing - (6) hours
5.10.5 Preparing competitive market analysis (CMA) - (2) hours
5.10.6 Construction - (2) hours
5.10.7 Property management limited to practical aspects - (1) hour
5.10.8 Fair housing - (3) hours
5.10.9 Ethics - (3) hours
5.10.10 Environmental concerns, including soil analysis, septic systems wells, wetlands, radon, asbestos, storage tanks - (3) hours
5.10.11 Wood destroying insect infestation - (1) hour
5.10.12 Examination - (3) hours
5.11 Real Estate Law - 33 Total Hours with sessions consisting of:
5.11.1 Real Estate License Laws, Rules and Regulations - (3) hours
5.11.2 Real Estate Interests, Legislative Update - (3) hours
5.11.3 Forms of Ownership - (3) hours
5.11.4 Legal descriptions and surveys, title transfers and title records - (3) hours
5.11.5 Real Estate Contracts including listings and real estate contracts including discussion of widely used form contracts - (3) hours
5.11.6 Financing limited to legal aspects, content of notes, bonds, mortgages, concepts of foreclosure - (3) hours
5.11.7 Leases including Delaware Landlord Tenant Code, Delaware Agricultural Lease Act - (3) hours
5.11.8 Subdivision, property development, zoning - (3) hours
5.11.9 Settlement procedures including examination of settlement sheet - (3) hours
5.11.10 Tax aspects of real estate including tax aspects of home ownership, tax deferral of exchanges, one time exclusion of gain, investment real estate, tax treatment of vacation homes, transfer tax - (3) hours
5.11.11 Examination - (3) hours
5.12 Real Estate Mathematics - 24 Total hours with sessions consisting of:
5.12.1 Basic mathematics review as deemed necessary by the instructor - (3) hours
5.12.2 The relationship between list price, sales price, commission rate, amount of commission - (3) hours
5.12.3 Computation of PITI monthly mortgage payment and qualifying a buyer for that payment; computation of simple interest and the amortization of a mortgage loan; computation of discount points; computation of PMI - (6) hours
5.12.4 The relationship between assessed value, tax rate and the amount of taxes; computation of transfer tax; proration of mortgage interest and property tax, etc. - (3) hours
5.12.5 Real estate geometry (area, volume) and the computation of heated square footage; calculation of depreciation, appreciation, and appraisal mathematics (market comparison vs. cost approach vs. income approach) - (3) hours
5.12.6 Computation of cash needed by buyer at closing and monies received by seller at closing - (3) hours
5.12.7 Examination - (3) hours
5.13 Coordinator: The institution or distance education program sponsoring the course shall appoint a course coordinator who shall have the following responsibilities:
5.13.1 Selection of instructors as required by these Guidelines
5.13.2 Where the course is offered by a school, rather than by a distance education provider, selection of facilities as required by the Delaware Department of Education
5.13.3 Coordination of course content
5.13.4 Coordination of orientation, math pretest, final examinations and retest examinations
5.13.5 Coordination of required texts and reference material
5.13.6 Issuance of course certificate of completion
5.13.7 Dissemination of information concerning application to take the licensing examination administered by testing service
5.13.8 Conduct evaluation of course, instructor, facilities and coordination, and to forward evaluation results to the Real Estate Commission within ten (10) days of completion of the education course
5.13.9 Submission of course to Delaware Real Estate Commission for approval prior to offering course. Accountability for the quality of the course given shall remain with the sponsoring organization.
5.14 Instruction
5.14.1 The following three individuals, each of whom shall have at least five years' experience in their area of expertise, are required for instruction of the course:
5.14.1.1 A Delaware attorney who has been practicing in the area of Delaware real estate law,
5.14.1.2 A practicing Delaware broker or Delaware associate broker, and
5.14.1.3 An individual knowledgeable in performing real estate business mathematics.
5.14.2 When a specialized topic is presented, it is encouraged that a specialist be used for that particular session, e.g., an environmentalist to cover environmental concerns including soil analysis, septic systems, etc.
5.14.2.1 No more than 10 hours of the 99 hour course may be taught by a specialist, and
5.14.2.2 At least one approved instructor must be present when the specialist is providing instruction.
5.14.3 Except for a mathematics instructor, prior to making application, an applicant for approval to teach pre-licensing must have obtained at least 60 positive instructor evaluations within the 5 years immediately preceding application.
5.14.4 Because there is some overlapping of material among the three major topics, it is desirable, where appropriate, that the course coordinator schedule a meeting of the instructors prior to orientation to:
(1) coordinate the presentation of material, and
(2) decide who will give major emphasis to specific topics.
5.14.5 Multiple approved instructors may co-teach a course provided there is a designated primary instructor.
5.15 Location: Where the provider is a school, rather than distance learning, the location of any pre-licensing course must be a DOE approved facility.
5.16 Successful Completion - Successful completion is defined as:
(1) having attended, and
(2) having successfully completed the real estate legal, sales and mathematics examinations. Precise definitions for attendance and examination completion are presented below.
5.17 Following successful completion, students shall receive verification of this status. Verification shall be in certificate form as described in subsection 9.6 .4.
5.18 Attendance: Where the course is given in a school, it is strongly recommended that students do not miss any sessions. However, students may miss four sessions, but not more than two in any one subject area (legal, sales or mathematics) and still successfully complete the course. Being absent from a session will not relieve a student of the responsibility for the material covered.
5.19 Examinations: All examinations shall be developed by the respective educational institution and/or instructor. Scores for successful examination completion shall be mathematics, 70 percent correct; sales 70 percent correct; and legal, 70 percent correct.
5.20 A school or distance education program shall allow a student to take or sit for a minimum of one retake examination in each area, legal, sales, mathematics, prior to documenting course failure. It is required that a new examination be developed for students who request retake examinations.
5.21 Evaluation: At the conclusion of the course, the course coordinator shall conduct a student evaluation of the course, facilities, instructors and the coordination of the course on the form approved by the Commission. They shall submit those evaluations to the Delaware Real Estate Commission's Education Committee within fifteen (15) days of completion of the course with the evaluation summary report form mandated by subsection 9.7. Prelicensing providers will also conduct a regular post prelicensing survey on the form following as the final page of this course guideline. Completed forms received by the provider must be retained for a two year period. The provider must furnish the forms upon request from the Commission.
5.22 Text and Material:
5.22.1 Text covering principles and practices of real estate as selected by course provider
5.22.2 Chapter 29, Title 24, Real Estate License Act, Delaware Code
5.22.3 Rules and Regulations of the Delaware Real Estate Commission
5.22.4 Chapter 46, Title 6, Fair Housing Act, Delaware Code.
5.22.5 Chapters 1, 3, and 7, Title 25, Ownership, Delaware Code
5.22.6 Chapter 21, Title 25, Mortgages on Real Estate, Delaware Code
5.22.7 Chapter 22, Title 25, Unit Properties, Delaware Code and Chapter 81 Title 25 DUCIOA
5.22.8 Chapter 27, Title 25, Mechanics Liens, Delaware Code
5.22.9 Chapter 27, Subchapter II, Title 6, Statute of Frauds Delaware Code
5.22.10 Chapters 29, 31, Title 25, Liens, Delaware Code
5.22.11 Chapters 51-65, Title 25, Landlord Tenant Code, Delaware Code
5.22.12 Chapter 67, Title 25, Agricultural Lease Act, Delaware Code
5.22.13 Chapter 54, Title 30, Transfer Tax, Delaware Code
5.22.14 Chapter 25, Subchapter VII, Title 6, Buyer Property Protection Act and Radon Disclosure, Delaware Code
5.22.15 Delaware Real Estate Candidate Handbook - Testing Service
5.23 Instructors may and are encouraged to use additional references and hand out materials as needed. Instructors are encouraged to use sample contracts, sample leases, and sample settlement sheets. All real estate information should be generic in nature with no implications of any Real Estate firm.
5.24 The License Law and the Rules and Regulations of the Commission are readily available on the Commission's web site at www.dpr.delaware.gov. The current Delaware Code is available on line at www.delcode.delaware.gov. The Real Estate Candidate Handbook is available from the testing service.
