You live in or soon will live in Florida. You’re a born salesman – people just love to let you convince them of things. Naturally, you’ve decided to obtain a real estate license. In Florida, as in most other states, all real estate sales associates (more commonly known as agents) and brokers have to be licensed by the state. The process is regulated by the Florida Real Estate Commission, part of the Department of Business & Professional Regulation. In this Fact Sheet, we’ll walk you through the steps necessary for getting – and keeping – your real estate license. It can be quite a process, particularly for a broker’s license, but if you’re good, the rewards are sure to be phenomenal.

Obtaining a license

The first thing to understand is that in Florida, you cannot become a real estate broker without first being a real estate associate. The good thing is, when people think of real estate professionals, they are probably thinking of sales associates – agents. Agents perform the actual selling. They show homes, and typically get paid a commission of the fee paid to the broker. Only real estate brokers can open their own real estate shops and employ associates, and they are the ones paid directly when a deal is closed. So, here are the steps to take to become a sales associate:

• Be 18, and have a high school degree or GED.
• Complete a licensing course of 63 classroom hours. There are a ton of these, and most are fairly affordable. Do some research to see what works for you.
• Once you pass the course, submit an application, which can be done easily online.
• Take and pass (with a score of at least 75) the Florida Real Estate Sales Associate Examination.
• Once you’ve passed, activate the license by submitting this form – the DBPR RE 11-Become Active form.

Now, regardless of whether you want to remain a sales associate or become a broker, within two years after being granted your sales associate license, you must take a 45-hour “post-license” course or you won’t be able to renew the license. Also, if you don’t take this course, you will not be able to become a real estate broker (aka, the boss of the associates). There are also a ton of these courses to be found online. So let’s say you want to step it up a notch and become a broker. Here’s what happens next:

• You must have a total of 24 months of experience using your sales associate license. You can get this experience at any time, as long as it falls within five years prior to applying for a broker’s license. (It’s possible that out-of-state experience can count – learn more here.)
• Take and pass a 72-classroom-hour pre-license broker’s course. Again, lots of options.
• Pass the broker’s exam (more info here) with a score of at least 75.
• If you pass (good luck!) fill out and submit this form to activate the license.

There’s one big exception to the sales associate requirements: if you’re a member of the Florida Bar, that is, a lawyer, you need not take the sales associate course. All broker requirements still apply.

Maintaining a license

As noted above, to maintain the sales associate license, you must take a post-licensing course before your license needs to be renewed, which occurs every two years. Similarly, once you obtain a broker’s license, you need to take a 60-hour post-licensing course to keep your broker’s license current prior to its expiration in two years. As usual, there are many options.

Discipline of brokers is handled by the Florida Real Estate Commission, with penalties ranging from fines and suspensions, to revocation of your license. Prior to the imposition of a punishment, you’ll have a semi-trial in front of an Administrative Law Judge, where you’ll have the opportunity to contest any of the charges brought against you.