To become a real estate agent, you need to meet your state’s basic eligibility rules, finish approved pre-licensing coursework, pass a two-part licensing exam, clear a criminal background check, affiliate with a licensed broker who will sponsor you, and submit a license application to your state’s real estate commission. Start to finish, the process usually takes three to six months and costs somewhere between $500 and $1,300. The specifics — required course hours, exam format, fees, renewal cycles — are set by each state, so your first stop should be your state’s real estate commission website.
Confirm You’re Eligible Before You Spend a Dollar
Most states set the minimum age at 18, though a few require 19 or 21. You’ll need a high school diploma or GED. Some states also want a Social Security number or individual taxpayer identification number on the application.
Citizenship rules are not uniform. Some states previously required proof of lawful presence and have since dropped that requirement; others still enforce it. If your immigration status could be an issue, call the state commission before you enroll in anything. Education money spent on a path you can’t finish is money you don’t get back.
Complete Your Pre-Licensing Coursework
Every state requires a set number of classroom or online hours before you can sit for the exam. Requirements range from roughly 40 hours in lighter states to 180 hours or more in states like Texas and California. The curriculum covers property ownership, contract law, fair housing, agency relationships, fiduciary duties, and the fundamentals of mortgage financing and escrow.
Courses must come from a provider approved by your state’s real estate commission. Options include community colleges, private real estate schools, and online platforms. Tuition runs from about $100 to over $1,000 depending on your state’s required hours and whether you choose self-paced online instruction or a traditional classroom. Online tends to sit at the lower end.
When you finish, the school issues a certificate of completion. You’ll need it to register for the exam and again when you apply for your license, so keep it safe. These certificates typically expire after one or two years, so you can’t take the courses now and sit for the exam whenever you feel like it.
Pass the Two-Part Licensing Exam
The exam is multiple choice and split into two sections. The national portion covers general real estate principles — property law, contracts, financing — that apply in any state. The state portion tests the laws, regulations, and administrative procedures specific to where you plan to practice. You must pass both to qualify for a license, and if you fail only one section, most states let you retake just that section.
Pearson VUE and PSI are the two testing companies that administer the exam at secure centers. Total question counts range from about 100 to 150 depending on the state, with time limits set accordingly. Passing scores generally fall in the 70% to 75% range for each section. Expect to pay roughly $35 to $80 per attempt. Scores are usually available immediately, so you’ll know before you leave the testing center.
Most states let you retake a failed section after a short waiting period, with a cap on attempts before you have to complete additional coursework. Practice exams that mirror the two-section format are the most effective preparation; the national portion in particular rewards familiarity with standardized vocabulary.
Clear the Background Check
Every state runs a criminal history review. You’ll submit electronic fingerprints at an authorized location, and those prints are checked against FBI and state law enforcement databases. Fingerprinting and background check fees usually total $40 to $100.
A record isn’t automatically disqualifying. Most states evaluate applicants individually, considering the nature of the offense, how long ago it happened, and any evidence of rehabilitation. Felony convictions and misdemeanors involving fraud, theft, or financial crimes are the hardest to overcome, because they go directly to whether regulators can trust you with client money and property.
Disclosure matters as much as the record itself. States also require you to disclose any prior disciplinary actions from other professional licenses. Failing to disclose a conviction or disciplinary history, even a minor one, can trigger an automatic denial regardless of whether the underlying offense would have been a problem.
Find a Sponsoring Broker
Passing the exam doesn’t let you start selling houses. A salesperson license has to be activated through affiliation with a licensed managing or principal broker. The broker provides supervision, takes legal responsibility for your compliance with real estate law, and handles formal recordkeeping on your transactions. Your license stays inactive until a broker formally sponsors you by filing the paperwork with the state.
If a broker terminates the relationship, your license typically goes inactive until you affiliate with a new brokerage, and you can’t legally perform licensed activities during that gap. When you’re interviewing brokers, ask about the commission split, desk fees, training, and mentorship. The brokerage you choose in your first year has an outsized effect on whether you build a sustainable career.
How You’ll Be Taxed
Even though you work under a broker’s supervision, you’re almost always classified as an independent contractor rather than an employee. Under 26 U.S.C. §3508, a licensed real estate agent is treated as a statutory non-employee for federal tax purposes when three conditions are met: you’re licensed, substantially all of your pay is tied to sales output rather than hours worked, and your written agreement with the broker states that you won’t be treated as an employee for tax purposes.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 3508 Treatment of Real Estate Agents and Direct Sellers
Practically, no taxes are withheld from your commission checks. You pay self-employment tax, which covers both the employer and employee portions of Social Security and Medicare, and you make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS. A $10,000 commission check is not $10,000 of take-home pay, and the year-end bill hurts if you haven’t set money aside.
Submit Your Application and Add Up the Costs
Once you’ve passed the exam, cleared the background check, and secured a sponsoring broker, you file your application with the state’s licensing authority. The package usually includes your education certificate, exam score report, background check clearance, and proof of broker affiliation. Most states use online portals, and processing takes about two to six weeks depending on volume.
Application and licensing fees run roughly $150 to $350. Some states also charge a small contribution to a real estate recovery fund that compensates consumers who lose money because of a licensed agent’s misconduct.
Added together, the costs of getting licensed break down like this:
- Pre-licensing education: $100 to $1,000 or more
- Exam fees: $35 to $80 per attempt
- Background check and fingerprinting: $40 to $100
- Application and license fees: $150 to $350
Total: roughly $500 to $1,300 before your first commission. The spread depends mostly on your state’s required course hours and whether you pick budget online instruction or premium classroom courses.
What Comes Right After You’re Licensed
The license is the start of your education, not the end. About half of all states require newly licensed agents to complete post-license coursework before their first renewal. The topics go deeper than pre-licensing: pricing, negotiation, marketing, and professional ethics. Requirements typically run 12 to 45 hours, with one to two years from your license issue date to finish. Miss the deadline and your license can lapse to inactive status; in some states you’d have to restart the entire licensing process. Put the deadline on your calendar the day the license arrives.
Beyond that first cycle, licenses renew every two to three years in most states. Renewal requires continuing education — anywhere from 7 to more than 50 hours per cycle — covering topics like fair housing updates, agency, legal developments, and ethics. If your license expires, you generally can’t practice while you catch up, and letting it lapse too long usually means retaking the pre-licensing courses and the exam.
Realtor Membership and MLS Access
A real estate license and a Realtor designation aren’t the same thing. The state license gives you legal authority to practice. The title “Realtor” means you’ve joined the National Association of Realtors, which charges $156 per member in 2026 plus local and state association dues. Most agents join because MLS access — the shared database of listings — typically runs through the local Realtor association, which requires NAR membership. NAR membership also binds you to a Code of Ethics with its own training requirement every three years.
Errors and Omissions Insurance
E&O insurance covers claims of negligence, mistakes, or oversights in your transactions — a missed disclosure deadline, inaccurate property information. More than a dozen states require it. Even where it isn’t mandated, most brokerages carry a group policy and pass the cost to agents. Coverage commonly starts at $500,000 per claim with a $1 million aggregate for smaller agencies, and annual premiums for individual agents through a group plan generally run $200 to $400. Some brokerages deduct it automatically from commissions, so ask before you sign on.
Working Across State Lines
There’s no national real estate license. If you move or want to work with clients in another state, you have to deal with that state’s rules for out-of-state agents. Some states let you co-broker transactions with a locally licensed agent; some let you work with clients in their state only if you stay physically in your own; some require you to hold their license outright. The most common path for an agent relocating is to skip the pre-licensing coursework and the national exam section and take only the state-specific portion in the new jurisdiction. Check the destination state’s requirements before you assume anything about your current license transfers.