Requirements for obtaining a Real Estate license
QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS
Basic Requirements
To qualify for a real estate license, applicants must:
(1) Be at least 18 years of age;
(2) Be a United States citizen, a non-citizen national or a qualified alien under federal law;
(3) Have a social security number;
(4) Satisfy the prescribed real estate education requirements (or possess equivalent qualifications acceptable to the Commission); and
(5) Pass the real estate license examination. (Exceptions: Persons eligible for licensure by reciprocity and broker applicants who hold a
North Carolina salesperson license and complete the Broker Prelicense Course.)
(6) Satisfy the Commission that they possess the requisite character to be entitled to licensure.
Applicant must submit with his or her application a criminal record report obtained from the agency shown on page 4 of the
application form.
Salesperson Applicant: To qualify for the real estate license examination, a salesperson license applicant must have
completed, within three years prior to license application, a 75-hour Salesperson Prelicense Course at a North Carolina school
approved by the Commission. The applicant is required to pass the course.
LICENSE QUALIFICATION OPTIONS AND DOCUMENTATION
The information regarding license qualification options provided in this section does NOT apply to (1) nonresident licensees of
another state wanting to obtain a license by reciprocity or (2) former North Carolina licensees wanting to apply for reinstatement
of a license expired for more than six months. Reciprocity applicants should see the section in this booklet on “Nonresident Licensing
by Reciprocity” and reinstatement applicants should see the section on “License Reinstatement.”
NOTE TO ALL APPLICANTS LICENSED IN ANOTHER STATE
If you have ever held a real estate license in another state, you must disclose this fact on your license application. If you have
held a real estate license in another state within the past five (5) years, you must also provide a Certification of License History
issued by the Real Estate Commission (or licensing agency) in that state within the last six months. This applies to all applicants
regardless of the license application category under which you are applying.
SALESPERSON LICENSE APPLICANTS
All salesperson applicants applying under the following four license qualification options must also pass the North Carolina real estate
license examination.
Option #1
Completion of the Prescribed 75-Classroom Hour North Carolina Salesperson Prelicense Course
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Conditions:
The course must have been completed within three (3) years prior to filing the license application.
Required Documentation:
Certificate of Course Completion (original) issued by the school for submission to the Commission. DO NOT SUBMIT A
TRANSCRIPT, A GRADE REPORT OR A CERTIFICATE PROVIDED BY THE SCHOOL FOR DISPLAY PURPOSES.
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Option #2
Licensure as a Real Estate Salesperson in Another State
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Conditions:
Applicant must have held such license within three (3) years prior to filing the license application.
Required Documentation:
Certification of License History (original) from the Real Estate Commission (or licensing agency) in the other state issued within
the previous six months and indicating license history and any disciplinary action taken or complaints pending against the applicant.
(Proof of education is not required.)
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Option #3
Completion in Another State of a Salesperson Prelicense Course of At Least
75 Classroom Hours
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Conditions:
(1) Course must have: (a) consisted of at least 75 classroom hours; (b) been completed within three (3) years prior to
filing the license application; and (c) been comparable in content to the North Carolina salesperson prelicense course.
(2) Course must have been approved by the Real Estate Commission (or other real estate licensing agency) in the other state.
(3) Course must have been conducted in a manner that satisfies the requirements for course scheduling and instructional
delivery methods for North Carolina prelicense courses. (Courses that involved more than 21 hours in any seven-day period
are NOT acceptable. Also, courses involving computer-based instruction, correspondence instruction or other distance
education instructional methods that do not predominantly involve live instructor-student interaction are NOT acceptable.)
Required Documentation:
(1) Original course certificate or transcript showing course title, dates and number of classroom (or credit) hours and a copy
of either the course description or the outline of topics covered in the course.
(2) Description of the course schedule (number of classroom hours per day and week) and statement as to how the course was
conducted (live instruction, computer disk, correspondence, etc.).
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[Apply under Option #4 only if you do not qualify under Options 1-3.]
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Option #4
Real Estate Education and/or Experience Equivalent to the Qualifications in Either Option #1 or Option #2.
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Conditions:
The Commission strongly encourages applicants to qualify under Options 1-3. In rare instances, an applicant with a broad-based
real estate education other than prelicensing courses and/or extensive experience in personally handling real estate transactions
may be found by the Commission to possess education and/or experience equivalent to the salesperson course. Applicants bear
the burden of satisfying the Commission that their education and/or experience justifies waiver of the salesperson course.
Qualifying under this option based on experience alone may be very difficult. Combinations of real estate education and experience
will be considered, but real estate education will be preferred over experience. A significant portion of the qualifying
education and/or experience must have been during the previous three years.
Examples:
Provided below are a few examples of qualifications the Commission has found sufficient to justify waiver of the salesperson course:
(1) J.D. (Law) degree from an accredited law school three years prior to application filing and full-time experience for two
summers with a North Carolina law firm working as a paralegal with numerous real estate closings.
(2) B.S. degree in business with a minor (12 semester hours) in real estate five years prior to application filing and two years’
full-time experience as a mortgage loan officer handling first mortgages within the previous three years.
(3) Full-time, lawful, unlicensed experience for the immediately preceding three years selling new homes owned by a North
Carolina corporate homebuilder as an employee of the corporate homebuilder.
Note: Experience or education in specialized real estate related fields such as appraisal or mortgage lending will NOT,
standing alone, be acceptable under this option.
Required Documentation:
For equivalent real estate education, provide course description and copies of transcripts or certificates if available. Otherwise,
list each course taken and provide dates for each course along with course description.
For equivalent real estate experience, provide a detailed description of all such experience including a list or summary of all sales
and rental transactions, a description of the applicant’s role in these transactions and an indication of whether or not a real
estate agent was involved in the transactions.
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