Licensing & Continuing Education
Real estate licensing requirements
If you have a high school diploma or its equivalent, your Florida real estate career begins with a 63-hour sales associate pre-license course, its final exam, and then the state’s real estate sales associate license exam.
Then there’s a sales associate 45-hour post-license course to be completed within the licensee’s first renewal cycle. This cycle ends on your license expiration date (located at the bottom of your license).
After you’ve completed the sales associate post-license course and have been licensed for at least 24 months, you can take the state’s 72-hour broker pre-license course, its final exam, and then the state’s real estate broker license exam.
Once you pass the state exam, there’s a broker 60-hour post-license course(s) (one or more broker post licensing courses, which total at least 60 classroom hours) to be completed within the licensee’s first renewal cycle. This cycle ends on your license expiration date (located at the bottom of your license.)
Exceptions to the Rule
If you are approved to practice law in Florida, you are exempt from the pre-license education requirement. You may take the sales associate’s examination by affixing a copy of your current Bar card to the examination application. Any active member in good standing with The Florida Bar and who is otherwise qualified under the real estate license law is exempt from the continuing education requirements for real estate licensees. Attorneys must complete the 45-hour post-licensing course within the first renewal period.
Pinellas REALTOR Organization has established an agreement with The CE Shop to promote online course information to consumers and real estate licensees. Pinellas REALTOR Organization is not the developer of these courses and is simply providing a referral. Any questions regarding course content or technology should be directed to The CE Shop.
Broker licensing requirements
To begin the process, a prospective broker must hold an active real estate sales associate license and complete 24 months of real estate experience during the five-year period preceding becoming a licensed real estate sales broker.
If the applicant holds a Florida real estate sales associate license, he or she must fulfill the sales associate post-licensing education requirements before being eligible to obtain a broker license. This method does not exempt a sales associate who holds a Florida sales associate license from successfully completing the sales associate post-licensing course.
Applicants must pass a FREC approved pre-licensing course for brokers, consisting of 72 classroom hours and covering the topics required by the FREC.
Real estate instructor requirements
A school instructor is described as an individual who instructs persons in the classroom in noncredit college courses in a college, university, or community college, or courses in an area technical center or proprietary real estate school. The applicant must certify competency and obtain an instructor permit by meeting one of the following requirements:
- Hold a bachelor’s degree in a business-related subject (such as real estate, finance, accounting, business administration, or its equivalent) and hold a valid broker’s license in this state.
- Hold a bachelor’s degree, have extensive real estate experience (as defined by rule) and hold a valid broker’s license in this state.
- Pass an instructor examination approved by the FREC.
- Submit a completed application to register as a Real Estate Instructor for a real estate school.
The continuing education requirement for a real estate instructor is a minimum of seven classroom hours of instruction in real estate subjects or instructional techniques as prescribed by FREC.
Continuing Education (CE) requirements
Real estate license renewal information
To maintain your salesperson real estate license all licensees must comply with education requirements and pay necessary renewal fees to DBPR. Newly licensed agents are required to take 45 hours of Sales Post Licensing education in the initial licensing period. After a real estate license has been renewed once, 14 hours of continuing education (consisting of 3 hours Core Law, 3 hours Ethics & Business Practice, and 8 hours Specialty Credits) is needed every two years.
As a licensee, you are responsible for maintaining your continuing education status with DBPR. You can do that online by going to their website at www.myfloridalicense.com . You can also pay your license fee online as well. Brokers have additional licensing requirements so please check with DBPR.
PRO/CPRO is here to help you with your continuing education needs!
We’re one of a few associations that have become a real estate school and a continuing education provider. We did this in order to assist you with as many options for post-licensing and continuing education credits as possible. Many of the classroom-style courses that we offer our members have been approved for continuing education credits and the GRI 100 series also offers the entire 45 hour post-licensing credits needed for license renewal in your first two years. When we offer a course with continuing education credits, we electronically submit those credits directly to DBPR for you.
PRO/CPRO also understands that you may not be able to easily make a lengthy time commitment away from your business. To that end, we have partnered with several online post-licensing and continuing education providers to offer you online options as well.
Any of the options below will allow you to shop for the course you need and have the credits sent electronically to the DBPR:
PRO/CPRO live streamed classes
We provide tons of CE credit classes you can take in the comfort of your home, such as the GRI 100 Series for real estate sales post-licensing or the GRI 200 and 300 series for broker post-licensing credits.
Visit our Education & Events Calendar to see continuing education courses (and more!) that you can attend live via Zoom. Class titles indicate the number of CE credits that can be earned (if applicable).
Online learning options
LearnUpon
Florida Realtors Education Portal – Learn More
The CE Shop
