Study Manual Covers Rules for State License
- a review by Harry Eager, THE MAUI NEWS, July 17, 1998

KAHULUI - Maui estate broker and teacher Madge Walls has published the first study manual to cover just the Hawaii-specific section of the real estate licensing exam.

Walls, who teaches a prelicensing course at Maui Community College, says two-thirds of the exam concerns uniform (nationally accepted) principles. However, the rest relates to Hawaii's unique practices, which are "traditionally the most difficult part of the exam."

Walls' book, Hawaii Real Estate Exam Book, is based on notes she uses in her class. She says she was photocopying material for her class when she realized the notes she had taken in her sales and brokerage classes were a textbook in embryo.

"I had pulled out all the Hawaii information, made lists...I saw I had the beginnings of a book.

The standard text on island real estate has been Principles and Practices of Hawaiian Real Estate, first published in 1972 and now in its 14th edition.

Walls' approach is different, she says, and proved effective when she was working on her broker's license, which she got in 1989.

Her book, designed to be used in conjunction with a general real estate text, uses multiple-choice samples, though Walls says you cannot successfully "study for the exam."

"You really have to have a very good knowledge" of the principles behind the laws, she says.

Her book covers the PASH (Public Access Shoreline Hawaii) II Supreme Court decision, which revolutionized concepts of access for Native Hawaiians; and also local procedures for new real estate responsibilities that are also done elsewhere, but not quite the same way.

These include agent responsibilities under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act and Hawaii's independent contractor law.

Hawaii Real Estate Exam Book is available at the Maui Board of Realtors, the Honolulu Board of Realtors, and can be ordered directly from the author.

And Here's More...

"Passing the Hawaii portion of the real estate licensing exam just got a little easier thanks to a new textbook titled Hawaii Real Estate Exam Book," said staff writer Frellie Campos in an article in PACIFIC BUSINESS NEWS on June 29, 1998. Campos also quoted well known Honolulu real estate licensing instructor Elizabeth Dower, owner and principal broker of Dower School of Real Estate:

“The new textbook isolates the state law which the other (licensing text) does not. I feel it serves a purpose. Students have a problem distinguishing state and federal law. There are many materials available on federal laws, but not specifically for our state laws. That's where Madge's book comes in."