California Real Estate License FAQs

Minimum Time. Per the Department of Real Estate, a single course may not be completed in less than 2 1/2 weeks. No more than two courses may be completed in any five-week period.

The courses must be DRE approved – like the courses offered by Poway Adult Real Estate School.

The actual time it takes to get a California real estate license can vary depending upon a number of factors. It may take a few months to complete the required 135 hours of Pre-Licensing coursework, find a sponsoring broker, go through the application process, and take the California Salesperson examination.

The MAXIMUM time allowed for completion of the course(s) is one year from the date of enrollment. If you do not complete all of the courses in your package within one year, re-enrollment for another year would be required at the full course fee to continue.

Course Completion: Completion of a course includes taking and passing the course final examination. The final examination must be taken no later than the last day of the course enrollment period.

California fees to obtain a real estate salesperson license are $450, which includes a $100 exam fee and $350 licensing fee.

Other costs include Pre-Licensing course tuition.

Examinations are generally administered throughout the state and include locations in San Diego, Los Angeles, Oakland, Fresno, and Sacramento. For more information about times and locations, go to the California Department of Real Estate website.

There are three 45-hour courses that make up the required 135 hours of Pre-Licensing coursework. Those three courses are Real Estate Principals, Real Estate Practices, and one elective. For the elective, we recommend Legal Aspects of Real Estate.

Yes. If you have already taken approved classes elsewhere, you may finish your individual course requirements or take our exam prep course.

For background check information, please see Avoid Potential Denial of Your License Application:

Didn’t pass? Don’t worry, it happens. You can retake the exam as many times as you need to within two years after submitting your application.

Per the DRE, you may apply to re-take the examination after notification of failure of a prior test.

If you fail an examination, you may apply to re-take the examination using the eLicensing online system (to expedite processing) or your Examination Result Notice (RE 418A, Salespersons), or a Salesperson Examination Change Application RE 415A.

If you wish to take additional examinations after the two-year period, you will be required to submit a new application, requalify by meeting all statutory requirements, and the appropriate fee.

The California Department of Real Estate provides detailed statistics about the number of people who take the exam and the number of licenses issued (which broadly equates to the number of people who passed.)

There’s always the chance that a few people pass the exam but do not go on to get their license, but this number is negligible.

Pass rates vary month to month, quarter to quarter, and year to year. Generally, they hover around 50%. Sometimes they’re as high as 53% and sometimes as low as 45%.

So while the exam is not easy, but you can definitely pass the first time if you Prepare and Study!

California has no agreements with other States to waive its licensing requirements for someone already licensed in another state.

But if you have a real estate salesperson’s or broker’s license in another state, you may have already completed some equivalent courses that fulfill your California Real Estate Licensing requirements.

In applying for the California real estate broker or salesperson examination, evidence of completion (i.e. transcripts) of the statutory courses in out-of-state institutions is acceptable if the institution is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges or a comparable regional accrediting entity, and each course provided for three semester-units credit or four quarter-units credit.

Each applicant must qualify for the appropriate written examination in California and meet all other requirements. Residency in the state is not a requirement to become licensed.

Courses completed through foreign institutions of higher learning must be evaluated by a foreign credentials evaluation service approved by the Department of Real Estate. See Examination Applicant Foreign Education Information (RE 223).

Unless prior approval has been granted by the California Real Estate Commissioner, no private vocational real estate school outside the State of California may grant credit for the required pre-license courses

For more information please contact California DRE directly.

The California Sales Agent exam consists of 150 multiple-choice questions. The applicant is given 3 hours to complete the examination. A passing score is 70% or better, which is a minimum of 105 correct answers.

If the course was taken through an approved school, your Certificate of Completion is still valid. 

There is no expiration date on Real Estate Pre-license course certificates, and there is no deadline required to be met before you apply to take the California State Exam.

There are however, exceptions. For example, any Real Estate Practice course certificate that does not include the Implicit Bias component will no longer be valid after January 1, 2024. If you have an outdated Real Estate Practice certificate, you will need to re-take the course.

For a detailed explanation of how to obtain your license, see our page Steps to Become a Licensed Real Estate Agent.