| License Requirements
To obtain a California real estate sales license you must be 18 years of age, and honest and truthful. (No residency or citizenship is required.) Also, you must complete three 3-unit college-level courses in real estate: Each 3-unit course is equivelant to 45-hrs of classroom intstruction. Real Estate Principles, Real Estate Practice and a 3rd course of your choice (see CBI brochure for complete list available). All three courses must be completed BEFORE you can apply for the state exam.
CBI offers the R.E. Principles course in a "LIVE" classroom setting or you can take it by homestudy (both can be completed in about 3 weeks), Since R.E. Principles is the basic introduction to Real Estate-- we do require homework quizzes which can be taken on-line or by pencil and paper. The quizzes are graded so you know exactly how you are progressing in the course. When all 15 assignments are finished, you must take an open book, 100-question, multiple choice final exam and score 70% or better in order to pass.
State Exam Information & Fees
Once you have completed all three of the required qualifying courses, you may then apply for a state exam. This can be done by MAIL or FAX only. Submit the appropriate Application for Sales (or Broker) Exam form; evidence of course completion certificates or college transcripts and the required fee - Sales exam fee is $60.00, Brokers exam is $95.00.
Tests are conducted in five areas of California: San Diego, Los Angeles/ Orange County; Fresno; Bay area and Sacramento. It will take a minimum of 6 to 8 weeks to schedule a date and your admittance form will be sent to you by mail.
To prepare for the State test, you need to study/review on a daily basis. Our practice exam package contains 1,500 Q&A plus 20 pages of "HOT" notes; math review; study tips and test taking techniques. For those who prefer to prepare by computer, we have a CD Rom available. For extra preparation, ask about real estate dictionaries
(English or Spanish)
State Exam Information
The California SALES LICENSE exam, which is done by pencil and paper, is 150 questions (multiple choice) -- you must score 70% or higher in order to pass. Most calculators are allowed and you are given 3 hours and 15 minutes to complete the test. The test results will be mailed to you in a week. If you did not pass, simply re-apply and get another test date. You may also reschedule for any reason another test date for a $15.00 fee.
License Information and Fees
If you are notified you passed, you must get fingerprinted at a Live Scan location and apply for your license within 1 year or you will have to retest. The DRE will send you the License Application forms to complete. Fee for the 4 year sales license is $245.00. - Broker License fee is $300.00. Your license is good anywhere in the state of Claifornia in any phase of the business. There are no specialty licenses such as loan broker, industrial , commercial, property manager, etc.
It usually takes about 4 plus weeks to actually receive the license in your possession. There is much that can be done during this time. Such as interviewing potential brokers/ managers, join a Board/Associations of Realtors, start sales and computer training, preview properties, send out your announcements, etc. etc.
Broker Candidates
A candidate for the brokers license must have 2 years full time experience or equivalent (i.e. a 4 year degree or combination of college and related experience) AND 8 college-level courses in real estate. All courses that qualified you for the sales license are acceptable. Also, if you have ever taken Accounting, Business Law or Economics you will be given full credit regardless of when those courses were taken.
All of the above steps apply equally for the broker license except that the exam consists of 200 questions of which you must score 75% or better in order to pass. The broker and sales exams are virtually the same as far as context and content are concerned. |
