What is the exam-ready answer?
| Official syllabus topic | Agent Duties to Clients and Customers |
|---|---|
| Official PSI area | Agency |
| Published area weight | 13% of the 100-question national portion |
| Exam portion | National salesperson portion |
| Source edition | PSI Georgia Candidate Information Bulletin dated July 1, 2026 |
The Rule
PSI publishes the weight for the complete content area, not a fixed question count for this lesson. Learn the rule well enough to apply it when PSI changes names, numbers, or parties in a new scenario.
The lesson
These ideas work together. On the exam, the wrong answers usually describe a nearby concept, so learn where each one stops.
Obedience and loyalty
The agent follows lawful client directions within the agreement and places the client's interests ahead of the agent's own, including avoiding undisclosed self-dealing.
Disclosure and confidentiality
The agent discloses material information to the client while protecting confidential client information. Confidentiality can survive termination but does not cover a direction to misrepresent or conceal a fact that law requires disclosed.
Accounting
Money, documents, keys, and property entrusted to the agent must be safeguarded, recorded, and delivered according to the agreement and law.
Reasonable care
A licensee uses the competence and diligence expected in licensed practice, verifies when required, communicates offers and material developments, and refers matters beyond expertise.
Decision rule
Georgia-specific distinction
Worked example
Scenario. A seller tells the listing agent not to mention a known hidden foundation failure to buyers.
Reason it through. Obedience applies only to lawful instructions, and loyalty does not authorize material misrepresentation or required-fact concealment.
Answer. The agent cannot follow the concealment instruction and should follow Georgia disclosure and broker-supervision requirements.
Common exam traps
- Obeying unlawful instructions
- Treating confidentiality as permission to conceal defects
- Holding client money casually
- Giving advice beyond competence
Original practice questions with detailed explanations
These questions were written for instruction and mapped to the current outline. They are not copied from PSI or any live examination. Choose an answer before opening the explanation.
Question 1A seller client tells the listing licensee not to show the home to buyers of a particular religion. How should the licensee respond?
- A. Follow it, since obedience is owed to the client
- B. Refuse, since obedience covers only lawful instructions
- C. Follow it only if the seller puts it in writing
- D. Send those buyers to another firm to avoid conflict
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: B. Refuse, since obedience covers only lawful instructions
The duty of obedience extends only to lawful instructions, and refusing to show a home because of religion is illegal discrimination. Getting the instruction in writing is wrong because a signed instruction to break the law is still unlawful.
Question 2A seller tells the listing agent they would take $15,000 less than list price because they must relocate soon. A buyer's agent asks the listing agent for the lowest price the seller will accept. What should the listing agent do?
- A. Share it, since honesty is owed to all parties
- B. Share it only if the buyer's offer is in writing
- C. Reveal the relocation but not the dollar figure
- D. Keep the seller's bottom line confidential
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: D. Keep the seller's bottom line confidential
Confidentiality protects a client's negotiating position, including the lowest acceptable price and the reason for selling. Honesty toward the other side means not lying to them, not handing over the client's confidential information, which is why the first option is wrong.
Question 3A buyer hands a salesperson an earnest money check made out to the brokerage. Which duty most directly governs how the salesperson handles the check?
- A. Loyalty
- B. Obedience
- C. Accounting
- D. Disclosure
Show answer and explanation →
Answer: C. Accounting
Accounting covers safeguarding, recording and delivering money and property entrusted to the brokerage. Loyalty can look relevant because the agent is acting for the client, but the handling of entrusted funds is the specific job of the accounting duty.
Ready to move on?
You are ready for the next lesson when all of these are true.
- Explain Agent Duties to Clients and Customers in one clear answer without notes.
- Separate Obedience and loyalty from Disclosure and confidentiality using a fresh example.
- Apply the decision rule to a new fact pattern and name the fact that controls the result.
- State the Georgia-specific point or explain why the national rule applies unchanged.
- Answer every practice question and explain the rule each rejected option misapplies.
- Revisit this topic later in mixed practice without category labels.
Recommended next lesson
Continue with Agency Disclosures, Dual Agency, and Conflicts. These duties get harder when one firm serves both sides or a licensee has a personal stake, and the next lesson covers dual agency consent, designated agency, and disclosing ownership or compensation conflicts before anyone relies on your advice.
Return to the Agency hub to see every official branch and the complete lesson sequence for this content area.