RECO C2 Scenario Practice Guide
Use a five-pass method to solve RECO Course 2 residential scenarios involving representation, property facts, advertising, offers, APS terms, leasing, and closing.
Why plausible answers still fail
A RECO C2 scenario can contain four professionally worded choices. The best one is not automatically the longest, most cautious, or most compliance-heavy. It must fit the actor, relationship, transaction stage, authority, evidence, and timing in the stem.
The five-pass method
| Pass | Question to ask | What it prevents |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Actor | Who must act: the agent, brokerage, seller, buyer, landlord, tenant, lawyer, lender, inspector, or another specialist? | Assigning a valid action to the wrong person |
| 2. Relationship | Is each person a client or self-represented party, and is representation brokerage-based or designated? | Giving advice where only permitted assistance applies, or misidentifying multiple representation |
| 3. Stage | Are the parties listing, marketing, viewing, drafting, negotiating, accepting, satisfying conditions, amending, or closing? | Taking a later step before a prerequisite is complete |
| 4. Authority and evidence | What instruction, consent, agreement, record, verification, or specialist evidence exists? | Treating belief, habit, or urgency as authority |
| 5. Exact task | Does the question ask what must, may, should, should not, or should happen first? | Choosing a generally true statement that does not answer the question |
Filter the strongest distractor
| Distractor pattern | Why it can sound right | Why it fails |
|---|---|---|
| Correct action, wrong actor | The action belongs somewhere in the transaction. | The named person lacks the duty, authority, or competence to perform it. |
| Correct action, wrong time | The step may eventually be required. | A disclosure, instruction, verification, consent, or accepted agreement must come first. |
| Client-service language without a relationship check | It sounds helpful and responsive. | It may give a self-represented party advice or advocacy that the agent cannot provide. |
| Disclosure without control | It sounds transparent. | Disclosure does not replace consent, written seller direction, confidentiality, verification, or a contractual condition. |
| Disclaimer instead of accuracy | It appears to reduce risk. | A disclaimer does not make an unclear, inaccurate, or unsupported advertising claim acceptable. |
| Immediate specialist conclusion | It appears prudent. | The agent should identify the concern and recommend suitable expertise, not diagnose or decide the specialist’s issue. |
| Broad prohibition | It sounds conservative. | The conduct may be permitted when the specific direction, consent, process, or documentation exists. |
Walkthrough 1: unsupported property-use claim
Scenario: A seller says a finished basement apartment is legal and wants that statement in the listing. No supporting municipal or permit record has been produced.
- Actor: The listing agent controls the proposed advertising.
- Relationship: The seller is the agent’s client, but a lawful instruction does not include publishing an unsupported claim.
- Stage: The property is being prepared and marketed, before a buyer relies on the statement.
- Evidence: The seller’s assurance is not the same as verification of legal use.
- Decision: Verify the claim through appropriate records or change the advertising so it remains accurate and supportable. A disclaimer does not cure the missing evidence.
Walkthrough 2: competing-offer information
Scenario: Two written offers have been submitted. The seller verbally tells the listing agent to tell one buyer the amount in the other offer.
- Actor: The seller decides whether lawful offer content will be shared; the seller’s agent must follow the governing process.
- Relationship: Confidential and identifying information remains protected.
- Stage: Submitted written offers create a competing-offer situation.
- Authority: Sharing offer content requires clear written seller direction; verbal permission is not enough.
- Decision: Communicate the number of competing offers as required, but do not share content until compliant written direction exists. Any permitted content sharing must follow the equal-sharing and privacy requirements.
Walkthrough 3: tenant-occupied showing
Scenario: A buyer wants an immediate second viewing of a tenanted property, and the seller wants the agent to arrange it without waiting.
- Actor: The seller’s urgency does not itself give the agent or buyer authority to enter.
- Relationship: The trade does not remove the tenant’s statutory rights.
- Stage: This is access for a purchaser’s viewing, not an emergency.
- Authority: Confirm the landlord’s authority and the applicable notice, reason, date, and time requirements.
- Decision: Arrange access through the lawful process and document it. Do not treat convenience or a lockbox as permission.
Review every miss the same way
For each missed question, write five short entries:
- the actor you initially assigned
- the actual relationship and representation model
- the transaction stage
- the missing or decisive authority, evidence, deadline, or document
- the exact reason your preferred distractor failed
Then answer a new scenario testing the same distinction. Repeating the same static question checks recognition; a changed scenario checks whether the rule transfers.