How long does it take to get your real estate license in florida

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To become a real estate agent in Florida, you must meet several requirements, including Real Estate Associate Requirements, Real Estate Broker Requirements, and Real Estate Instructor Requirements, depending on your field. You must also be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma.

Real Estate Associate Requirements:

  • Successfully Complete a Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC)-approved 63-hour pre-licensing classroom course
    • Course remains valid for 2 years after completion for licensure purposes
  • Submit an application and application fee as well as fingerprints to the state
  • Take and pass the state Real Estate Sales Associate Examination (you may subsequently pass the Florida Real Estate Law Exam with a 30 grade or higher)
  • Activate License, of which there are two methods:
    • Complete the DBPR RE 11-Become Active - Sales Associate or Broker Sales Associate Form
    • Once license number has been issued, a broker can activate the sales associate using his or her online account
  • Before the initial sales associate license expires, complete a FREC-approve post-licensing 45-hour sales associate course

Real Estate Broker Requirements:

First, you must have completed 24 months as an active real estate sales associate for five years before becoming a licensed broker or real estate sale associate broker before applying. If you claim experience from a jurisdiction other than Florida, indicate that in your application with a certification of your real estate license history, which cannot be 30 days older, from your current jurisdiction.

  • Complete 72-hour FREC-approved pre-licensing course for brokers
  • Submit an application and application fee as well as fingerprints to the state
  • Take and pass the Florida Real Estate Broker Examination with a grade of 75 or higher
  • To activate the license, complete a DBPR RE 13 Broker Transaction form
  • Complete a 60-hour FREC-approved post-licensing course for brokers before initial broker license expires

Real Estate School Instructor Requirements:

  • Hold a valid, Florida broker's license
  • Hold a bachelor's degree in a business-related field
  • Pass an FREC-approved Instructor Examination
  • Complete a DBRP RE 6-Become Active-Real Estate Instructor form and submit it
  • Fulfill the continuing education requirement with at least 7-hours of classroom instruction that are FREC- prescribed regarding either instructional techniques or real estate

For more information, look at these Education & Real Estate Education Requirements offered by the Department of Business & Professional Regulation. Additional real estate regulation information can be found on our real estate page.

If you are taking your real estate pre-licensing course online, it can take as little as 8 weeks depending on how fast you want to pace yourself.

Learn more about real estate licensing and get exclusive offers

How long does it take to get a real estate license? It’s a question everyone asks themselves before they start the process.

Getting a real estate license doesn’t happen overnight, but it also doesn’t take as long as some other professional licenses. You also don’t need to have a bachelor's degree before you can become a licensed real estate salesperson. As long as you have a high school diploma, or equivalent, that’s all you need to pursue a real estate career; and a few states don't even require that!

But how long is real estate school anyway? On average it takes at least 4-6 months to get a real estate license in a traditional classroom. If you're taking your real estate pre-licensing course online, it can take as little as 8 weeks depending on how fast you want to pace yourself. That being said, however, there are other factors that can either speed up or slow down real estate licensing. Let’s take a look at some of those factors below.

How You Complete Your Pre-License Course - Online Vs. In-Person

Real estate education can be provided by local colleges, professional schools, and state-approved third parties, like Aceable.

A decision you will have to make is if you want to take the course online or in-person. The option you choose will influence the time it takes to meet the education requirements. In-person classes at a real estate school, local commission or college will be taken over the course of a semester. Our online courses allow you to go at your own pace and can be completed in weeks rather than months.

The State You Live In Makes A Difference

How long does it take to get your real estate license in florida

Each state creates their own guidelines for issuing real estate licenses. That means there are 50 different processes with 50 different timeframes for getting a salesperson or real estate broker license.

Required Real Estate Pre-License Courses

The biggest difference between states is what real estate education requirements must be met. State real estate guidelines typically require that a person take a specific pre-licensing course or series of courses before taking a real estate exam. Real estate courses are assigned credit hours like college courses. You’ll have to pass a real estate course successfully in order to receive the credit hours.

The California and Florida real estate industries are a good example of how the educational requirement can affect the time it takes to get a license. Florida requires 63 training hours before taking an agent licensing exam. In California, you need more than double that - 135 hours of college-level courses. Right off the bat, it takes twice as long in California compared to Florida.

Let’s take a closer look at a potential timeline for getting your real estate license in both states.

Real Estate License Timing Comparison

The 135 hours of coursework in California is spread out amongst three separate courses. The California Department of Real Estate mandates that students spend a minimum of 2 ½ weeks on each of the three required courses. That means the fastest you can complete the course would be around 7 ½ weeks.

As soon as you complete the required real estate courses, you’ll get your Exam Application submitted. It typically takes the DRE at least 6-8 weeks to process applications.

When you submit your application you can choose to have the DRE schedule your exam for the earliest date available or you can self-schedule after getting approval. Generally speaking, your exam will be a week or so after the application is approved.

As soon as you’re done, you’ll find out whether you passed. Anything that’s a 70% or higher is considered a passing score.

In all, you can get your California real estate license in about 14.5 weeks!

Florida, on the other hand, only requires 63 hours of real estate coursework through an approved provider. In Florida, you can send in your Exam Application to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation BEFORE completing your coursework. The DBPR must notify an applicant if there are any errors in their application within 30 days, and must approve or deny the application within 90 days.

Assuming there’s no errors in your application, this means you can finish your coursework in the three months it takes for them to approve your application.

After that you’ll need to take your exam. In Florida, the real estate exam is administered by a company called Pearson VUE and can either be taken online, or in-person. Assuming you take it online, you can register, take the exam, and pass it all in one sitting.

That means it can take you as little as 12 weeks to get your license in Florida, and if the DBPR approves your application sooner, it could be even quicker than that!

How Long You Need to Study For the Licensing Exam

After you’ve completed your real estate course, whether that be online or in-person, the next step is to start studying for your real estate exam. How long it takes for you to get your license could be significantly affected by how long it takes you to study. Several agents surveyed by real estate website REthority said it took them anywhere from two weeks to a month to properly review the course information until they felt confident enough to to pass the exam on their first try.

How Many Times It Takes to Pass the Licensing Exam

How long does it take to become a real estate agent, broker or associate broker? you have to take a final examination once you complete the pre-license course. Passing the final licensing exam on your first attempt can fast-track your real estate license. Failing to do so could delay things.

Each state sets their own parameters for the agent exam and broker exam. Things that should be factored into the timeline are:

  • How many times you’re allowed to take the exam
  • If there’s required downtime between test attempts
  • How often the exam is offered
  • Whether you have to wait an extended period after numerous failed attempts

Ready to start the process of getting a real estate license? Great! Check out the Aceable real estate course for your state to get more information on the education requirements or visit the state’s Real Estate Career Center for details on how to get a real estate license in your area.

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How long does it take to get approved for Florida real estate license?

You can get one in as little as one to two months You'll also need to be at least 18 years old, complete specific real estate coursework, pass an exam (or two, depending on the license), and undergo a criminal background check.

How long does it take to become a real estate in Florida?

All candidates are required to complete 63 hours of online or classroom approved pre-licensing education. In Florida, all required real estate license courses can be completed online with a state-approved school. The course certification is valid for two (2) years from the date of completion.

How much does a FL real estate license cost?

The Total Florida Real Estate License Cost - $270 - $700 Adding all these costs together, you should expect to pay somewhere around $270 to $700 total to get your real estate license in Florida, with the biggest variable in cost being which real estate school you choose.

How hard is the Florida real estate license exam?

Whether you're taking your Florida real estate course online or offline, paying attention and memorizing all the info is crucial. Only 48% of first-time exam takers pass the test, according to Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR). The exam is challenging and consists of 100 questions.