California Real Estate License Requirements

California Real Estate Sales Associates

Successful completion of the following college-level courses (total of 135 hours) is required to become a CA real estate salesperson:

California Real Estate Principles (45 hours) AND
California Real Estate Practice (45 hours) AND

One course from the following list (45 hours):

• Real Estate Appraisal
• Property Management
• Real Estate Finance
• Real Estate Economics
• Legal Aspects of Real Estate
• Real Estate Office Administration
• General Accounting
• Business Law
• Escrows
• Mortgage Loan Brokering and Lending
• Computer Applications in Real Estate
• Common Interest Developments

Applicants for a real estate broker license examination must have successfully completed the following eight statutorily required college-level courses:

Real Estate Practice (45 hours)
Legal Aspects of Real Estate (45 hours)
Real Estate Finance (45 hours)
Real Estate Appraisal (45 hours)
Real Estate Economics (45 hours)

And three courses from the following group:

• Real Estate Principles
• Business Law
• Property Management
• Escrows
• Real Estate Office Administration
• Mortgage Loan Brokering and Lending
• Advanced Legal Aspects of Real Estate
• Advanced Real Estate Finance
• Advanced Real Estate Appraisal
• Computer Applications in Real Estate
• Common Interest Developments

Salespersons Renewing for the First Time

Real estate salespersons who were licensed prior to 10/1/2007, and are renewing an original license for the first time, must complete five separate three-hour DRE-approved continuing education courses in Ethics, Agency, Trust Fund Handling, Fair Housing and Risk Management.

Those licensees who were licensed on or after 10/1/2007, and were required to have all three statutory/pre-licenses courses (RE Principles, RE Practice, and one additional course), must complete 45 clock hours of DRE-approved continuing education consisting of:

• Five separate three-hour courses in the following subjects: Ethics, Agency, Trust Fund Handling, Fair Housing, and Risk Management;
• A minimum of 18 clock hours of consumer protection courses; and
• The remaining clock hours required to complete the 45 hours of continuing education may be related to either consumer service or consumer protection courses.

Brokers Renewing for the First Time

Real estate brokers renewing an original license for the first time must complete 45 clock hours of DRE-approved continuing education consisting of:

• Five separate three-hour courses in the following subjects: Ethics, Agency, Trust Fund Handling, Fair Housing, and Risk Management;
• A minimum of 18 clock hours of consumer protection courses; and
• The remaining clock hours required to complete the 45 hours of continuing education may be related to either consumer service or consumer protection courses.

Salespersons and Brokers - Second & Subsequent Renewals

For subsequent renewals, all real estate brokers and salespersons must complete 45 clock hours of DRE-approved continuing education consisting of:

• Either 12 hours of continuing education courses in the following subjects: (Ethics, Agency, Trust Fund Handling, and Fair Housing) OR one six-hour course that covers the four mandatory subjects (Ethics, Agency, Trust Fund Handling, and Fair Housing);
• One three-hour course in Risk Management; and
• At least 18 clock hours of consumer protection courses; and
• The remaining clock hours required to complete the 45 hours of continuing education may be related to either consumer service or consumer protection courses.

California Real Estate License Course General Information

COURSE CONTENT / TIME LIMITS: Each home-study course consists of spending a minimum of 45 hours reading and studying the course textbook, taking the non-graded chapter review quizzes, and passing a final examination. The final examination can be taken a minimum of 18 days from the date the student has had access to the course materials. No two courses can be completed in less than five weeks. Students must spend a minimum of 2.5 weeks studying each course. The maximum time students have to complete a course is one year from the date of registration. If students fail the final examination, they can take an alternate final examination one time. However, students must wait a minimum of another 18 days studying the course materials before they can re-take the final examination.

FINAL EXAMINATION: The final exam for each course is open-book and consists of 100 multiple choice questions. Students are allowed 2.5 hours to complete the final exam, and need to score a minimum of 60% to pass. Students will take the final exam on the internet and will be issued a unique username and password. Internet final exams can not be printed or downloaded and the exam will automatically time-out at 2.5 hours.