81-885.01. Terms, defined.

For purposes of the Nebraska Real Estate License Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) Real estate means and includes condominiums and leaseholds, as well as any other interest or estate in land, whether corporeal, incorporeal, freehold, or nonfreehold, and whether the real estate is situated in this state or elsewhere;

(2) Broker means any person who, for any form of compensation or consideration or with the intent or expectation of receiving the same from another, negotiates or attempts to negotiate the listing, sale, purchase, exchange, rent, lease, or option for any real estate or improvements thereon, or assists in procuring prospects or holds himself or herself out as a referral agent for the purpose of securing prospects for the listing, sale, purchase, exchange, renting, leasing, or optioning of any real estate or collects rents or attempts to collect rents, gives a broker's price opinion or comparative market analysis, or holds himself or herself out as engaged in any of the foregoing. Broker also includes any person: (a) Employed, by or on behalf of the owner or owners of lots or other parcels of real estate, for any form of compensation or consideration to sell such real estate or any part thereof in lots or parcels or make other disposition thereof; (b) who auctions, offers, attempts, or agrees to auction real estate; or (c) who buys or offers to buy or sell or otherwise deals in options to buy real estate;

(3) Associate broker means a person who has a broker's license and who is employed by another broker to participate in any activity described in subdivision (2) of this section;

(4) Designated broker means an individual holding a broker's license who has full authority to conduct the real estate activities of a real estate business. In a sole proprietorship, the owner, or broker identified by the owner, shall be the designated broker. In the event the owner identifies the designated broker, the owner shall file a statement with the commission subordinating to the designated broker full authority to conduct the real estate activities of the sole proprietorship. In a partnership, limited liability company, or corporation, the partners, limited liability company members, or board of directors shall identify the designated broker for its real estate business by filing a statement with the commission subordinating to the designated broker full authority to conduct the real estate activities of the partnership, limited liability company, or corporation. The designated broker shall also be responsible for supervising the real estate activities of any associate brokers or salespersons;

(5) Inactive broker means an associate broker whose license has been returned to the commission by the licensee's broker, a broker who has requested the commission to place the license on inactive status, a new licensee who has failed to designate an employing broker or have the license issued as an individual broker, or a broker whose license has been placed on inactive status under statute, rule, or regulation;

(6) Salesperson means any person, other than an associate broker, who is employed by a broker to participate in any activity described in subdivision (2) of this section;

(7) Inactive salesperson means a salesperson whose license has been returned to the commission by the licensee's broker, a salesperson who has requested the commission to place the license on inactive status, a new licensee who has failed to designate an employing broker, or a salesperson whose license has been placed on inactive status under statute, rule, or regulation;

(8) Person means and includes individuals, corporations, partnerships, and limited liability companies, except that when referring to a person licensed under the act, it means an individual;

(9) Team means two or more persons licensed by the commission who (a) work under the supervision of the same broker, (b) work together on real estate transactions to provide real estate brokerage services, (c) represent themselves to the public as being part of a team, and (d) are designated by a team name;

(10) Team leader means any person licensed by the commission and appointed or recognized by his or her broker as the leader for his or her team;

(11) Subdivision or subdivided land means any real estate offered for sale and which has been registered under the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act, 15 U.S.C. 1701 et seq., as such act existed on January 1, 1973, or real estate located out of this state which is divided or proposed to be divided into twenty-five or more lots, parcels, or units;

(12) Subdivider means any person who causes land to be subdivided into a subdivision for himself, herself, or others or who undertakes to develop a subdivision but does not include a public agency or officer authorized by law to create subdivisions;

(13) Purchaser means a person who acquires or attempts to acquire or succeeds to an interest in land;

(14) Commission means the State Real Estate Commission;

(15) Broker's price opinion means an analysis, opinion, or conclusion prepared by a person licensed under the Nebraska Real Estate License Act in the ordinary course of his or her business relating to the price of specified interests in or aspects of identified real estate or identified real property for the purpose of (a) listing, purchase, or sale, (b) originating, extending, renewing, or modifying a loan in a transaction other than a federally related transaction, or (c) real property tax appeals;

(16) Comparative market analysis means an analysis, opinion, or conclusion prepared by a person licensed under the act in the ordinary course of his or her business relating to the price of specified interests in or aspects of identified real estate or identified real property by comparison to other real property currently or recently in the marketplace for the purpose of (a) listing, purchase, or sale, (b) originating, extending, renewing, or modifying a loan in a transaction other than a federally related transaction, or (c) real property tax appeals;

(17) Distance education means courses in which instruction does not take place in a traditional classroom setting, but rather through other media by which instructor and student are separated by distance and sometimes by time;

(18) Regulatory jurisdiction means a state, district, or territory of the United States, a province of Canada or a foreign country, or a political subdivision of a foreign country, which has implemented and administers laws regulating the activities of a broker;

(19) Federal financial institution regulatory agency means (a) the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, (b) the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, (c) the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, (d) the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, (e) the National Credit Union Administration, or (f) the successors of any of those agencies; and

(20) Federally related transaction means a real-estate-related transaction that (a) requires the services of an appraiser and (b) is engaged in, contracted for, or regulated by a federal financial institution regulatory agency.

Source

Annotations

Unless otherwise specified in a written agency agreement pursuant to section 76-2422(6), the fiduciary duties owed by a real estate broker derive only from the performance of limited activities defined in subdivision (2) of this section. Professional Mgmt. Midwest v. Lund Co., 284 Neb. 777, 826 N.W.2d 225 (2012).

When a client engages a real estate broker to perform any of the activities defined in subdivision (2) of this section, the resulting agency relationship is called a brokerage relationship. Professional Mgmt. Midwest v. Lund Co., 284 Neb. 777, 826 N.W.2d 225 (2012).

One of the enumerated activities covered by section 76-2422(6) is the exchange of property, based on the plain language of subdivision (2) of this section. McCully, Inc. v. Baccaro Ranch, 279 Neb. 443, 778 N.W.2d 115 (2010).

Pursuant to the Nebraska Real Estate License Act, any person collecting a fee or commission on the sale of real estate must be a licensed real estate broker or salesperson unless they meet one of the exceptions provided in the act. In re Estate of Ronan, 277 Neb. 516, 763 N.W.2d 704 (2009).

"Business brokers" are real estate brokers, as defined by this section, if the attempted sale or lease involves the transfer of any interest in real estate. Ford v. American Medical International, 228 Neb. 226, 422 N.W.2d 67 (1988).