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North Carolina Requirements for Real Estate Broker Licensing
North Carolina State Required Pre-licensing Hours: 75 hours
Superior North Carolina Course Hours Offered: 79 hours
• Step 1. Complete the 75-hour Pre-licensing Course or one of the other Education Qualification Options.
• Step 2. Submit a complete license application, including appropriate fee and all required documentation.
• Step 3. Your application is processed by Commission staff.
• Step 4. Receive Notice of Exam Eligibility within 2-3 days after application receipt and acceptance.
• Step 5. Schedule and pass your license examination.
• Step 6. If there are no character issues, your license will be issued within 7-10 days of the examination date.
• Step 7: Complete Post-licensing courses to remove your Provisional status.
1. Successfully complete the 75-hour pre-license course.
An applicant (resident or nonresident) may qualify to take the North Carolina real estate license examination by successfully completing, within three (3) years prior to license application, the Commission-approved 75-hour North Carolina Broker Pre-licensing Course. This course is only available at Commission-approved schools located in North Carolina.
Eligible 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, or have a lawful presence in the U.S. and be authorized to work in the U.S. in the real estate brokerage field. 3) Have a Social Security Number.
2. Submit your license application.
To access the online application system:
Go to the Commission’s website (www.ncrec.gov) and click on “Apply Here”.
In connection with your application, you must order a criminal record report from the agency listed below and pay the agency for the report. Only a report prepared by the agency within the six (6) months prior to filing your application will be acceptable to the Commission.
3. Your application is processed by Commission staff.
a. If you do not qualify for licensure based on one of the four (4) education qualifications, your application will be canceled and returned to you.
b. If your application is incomplete, the application will be returned to you for proper completion.
c. Note that the application fee is nonrefundable. Commission rules provide that once an application has been processed by the Commission, the application fee may not be refunded.
4. Unless you are exempt from the license examination requirement, you are sent a Notice of Exam Eligibility within 2-3 days after application receipt and acceptance.
If you applied online, the Notice will be sent by email. [Add“[email protected]” as a safe email address in your anti-spam filter in order to receive the Notice by email.]
If you submitted a paper application, the Notice will be sent by regular mail and thus may not arrive until several days after it is sent.
5. Contact the testing service to pay the examination fee and to schedule and take the license examination.
The North Carolina Real Estate Commission contracts with the professional testing service PSI Services LLC (PSI) for examination services that include scheduling applicants for examination and administering the examination. There are many available testing sites across North Carolina and the USA from which to choose.
After your application has been approved you will receive an email from the Commission with a link and code to schedule your PSI exam. More information is included in the email.
PSI utilizes a separate large question bank for each of the National and the State exam sections. The items for each exam section are drawn randomly according to a formula for that exam section, so that each administration of the exam is unique. The exam formula ensures that the topics tested are consistent and each administration is of equal difficulty.
All questions on the license examination are multiple-choice questions that require the applicant to choose the correct or best answer from the answer options provided.
6. If you PASS the license examination (or if you are exempt from the license examination requirement):
And there are no issues relating to character, your license will be promptly issued and should be received in the mail within 7-10 days of the examination date.
And there is an issue relating to character, your application will be reviewed by Commission staff and may be referred to the Commission for further consideration.
7. Remove your provisional status.
All provisional brokers must satisfy the Postlicensing education requirement of 90 classroom hours of Postlicensing education to be eligible for active broker license status. Postlicensing education is a one-time requirement and should not be confused with continuing education (CE).
The Postlicensing education program is divided into three 30-hour Postlicensing courses titled as follows:
• Broker Relationships and Responsibilities
• Contracts and Closing
• License Law, Commission Rules, and Legal Concepts
Governing Agency
Name: North Carolina Real Estate Commission
Website: https://www.ncrec.gov/
Phone: (919) 875-3700
Address: 1313 Navaho Drive. Raleigh, NC 27609
Mailing address: P.O. Box 17100. Raleigh, NC 27619