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Pennsylvania State Requirements

Education Requirements

Licenses expire May 31 of every even-numbered year. The Commission mails renewal notices 2 to 3 months prior to the license expiration date. Notices are mailed to the most recent employer address that was reported to the Commission. The Postal Service does not forward licenses.

Salesperson Licensing Requirements

Four credits, or 60 hours of instruction, in basic real estate courses as determined by the Commission. Credits will be allowed for each of the Commission-developed real estate courses-Real Estate Fundamentals and Real Estate Practice.

Broker Licensing Requirements

16 credits, or 240 hours of instruction, in professional real estate education as determined by the Commission. Two of the required 16 credits shall be in a Commission-developed or approved real estate office management course and 2 of the required 16 credits shall be in Commission-developed or approved law course. At least 6 of the remaining 12 credits shall be in 3 or more of the Commission-developed courses listed in this paragraph. The remaining 6 credits shall be in real estate courses but not necessarily those listed in this paragraph. A candidate may not apply credits used to qualify for the salesperson's examination toward fulfillment of the broker education requirement. A maximum of four credits will be allowed for each real estate course.

Continuing Education Requirements

Section 404.1(a) of the Real Estate Licensing and Registration Act requires real estate brokers and salespersons to complete 14 hours of Commission-approved continuing education during each two year license period.

Additionally, a licensed broker or salesperson who wishes to activate a license which has been placed on inactive status shall be required to document 14 hours of continuing education. (If you are activating a license which has been in escrow, you must take two additional seven hour elective courses or one 15 hour broker course to renew your license for the next two year license period.) If your license has been in escrow for a period of five years or longer, you must retake the salesperson/broker examination before your license can be reactivated.

The Commission may, for a given biennial license period and with adequate notice to standard license holders, require that all or part of the 14 hours be completed in required topics.

Acceptable courses include the following:

  1. Real estate ethics.
  2. Laws affecting real estate.
  3. Real estate financing and mathematics.
  4. Real estate valuation and evaluation.
  5. Property management.
  6. Land use and zoning.
  7. Income taxation as applied to real property.
  8. Ad valorem tax assessment and special assessments.
  9. Consumer protection and disclosures.
  10. Agency relationships.
  11. Landlord-tenant laws.
  12. Environmental issues in real estate.
  13. Antitrust issues in real estate.
  14. Current litigation related to real estate.
  15. Legal instruments related to real estate transactions.
  16. Legalities of real estate advertising.
  17. Developments in building construction techniques, materials and mechanical systems.
  18. Real estate investment analysis.
  19. Management of real estate brokerage operations.
  20. Property development.
  21. Real estate securities and syndication.
  22. Real property exchange.
  23. Broker courses encompassing supervisory duties and standards of conduct and practice contained in Subchapter E (relating to standards of conduct and practice).
  24. Marketing promotion and advertising of real estate inventory.
  25. Use of technology in delivering real estate services.

Reciprocity/Residency:

States that have entered into reciprocal agreements (See terms below):

Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Wyoming

Because of additional post licensing requirements on non-resident licensees, the Commission has rescinded its reciprocal agreement with Nebraska.

States unable to enter into reciprocal agreements at this time:

Arizona, California, Delaware, New Jersey, Ohio, Texas, Vermont

States that may enter into reciprocal agreements, however additional education/experience/examination requirements must be completed prior to issuing a license to a Pennsylvania applicant:

Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Virginia, Washington

The following terms apply for each of the executed reciprocal agreements:

  1. Each state would recognize the education, experience and examination of the applicant for any of the licensure classes authorized in that state as satisfying the requirements for licensure in that state.
  2. Applicants would be required to consent to service of process in the state where they would be receiving licensure.
  3. Applicants would be required to verify that they have received, read and agree to comply with all laws of the state where they would be receiving licensure.
  4. Applicants for licensure in classifications other than broker or cemetery broker would be required to provide certification from their brokers certifying that the brokers are currently licensed and will actively and personally supervise the applicant while performing real estate services in the state where they would be receiving licensure.
  5. Each state would not require additional continuing education in order to renew the reciprocal license.
  6. The applicant's state would furnish a Certificate of Licensure or Record of Good Standing to the state to which the applicant is applying containing the applicant's name, address, licensure classification and history and disciplinary history.
  7. Each state would require an applicant who changes his/her principal place of business to the state wherein he/she holds a reciprocal license to convert the license to a standard license. An applicant may be required to pass the state portion of the licensure examination.
  8. States have the right to refuse a reciprocal license

Reporting:

Student Reporting Requirements

Continuing education. Effective with the renewal period commencing June 1, 2004, within 30 days after a continuing education course has ended, the continuing education provider shall provide the Commission with a roster in a format approved by the Commission, listing each licensee who satisfactorily completed/taught the course. Continuing education providers shall be required to issue course transcripts/certificate of instructions to students only upon request.

Prior to permitting providers to voluntarily transfer education information to the Commission last summer, the Commission provided some helpful suggestions to assist with the transfer process. The following include those originally provided as well as some additional suggestions.

Each education provider must provide the following information in the format below:

  1. The student's license number. (If a student has more than one license, each license number must be submitted as a separate record.)
  2. The date the course was completed.
  3. The CR number assigned to the course by the Commission. (CR numbers are assigned to all courses, even broker pre-license courses)
  4. The course title
  5. The number of course hours approved by the Commission
  6. The student's full name.
  7. No additional information (i.e. instructor, school or location numbers) will be accepted. If the information is not provided in the correct format, you will receive an error report and will be required to correct the error. The format must be:
  8. Readable text
  9. Comma-delimited text file
  10. If using a Windows environment, the file must be readable with Notepad or Wordpad
  11. ASCII readable format

The following is an example of the correct format:

RM195887A,20050308,CR001699O,Accredited Buyer Representation,14,Kimberly Erb
RM195877B,20050308,CR001699O,Accredited Buyer Representation,14,Kimberly Erb
RS274735A,20050308,CR001699O,Accredited Buyer Representation,14, Patricia Geiges
RS224107,20050308,CR001699O,Accredited Buyer Representation,14,Gary Keys
RS271001,20050308,CR001699O,Accredited Buyer Representation,14,Pam Henry
AB370009A,20050308,CR001699O,Accredited Buyer Representation,14,Teresa Can
RB092327L,20050308,CR001699O,Accredited Buyer Representation,14,Karen Martin

All rosters and transfer questions must be sent to: RA-STRECCPEIMPORT@state.pa.us .

Once the roster is received and transferred, you will receive notification from this office. Please title each file that you transfer with the course number and date of the course so there is a reference in the event of any questions (CR001234June12005).

  • Pre-licensure broker courses may be submitted to this office ONLY for continuing education purposes.
  • If an instructor wishes to receive continuing education courses for a course they taught, provide them on the roster using their license number (salesperson or broker) rather than their instructor number.

In processing the transfers to date, the following are the most common errors:

  1. Spacing--There are NO spaces between each field (just a comma).
  2. Date--The date should be in the format as shown above - it will not transfer if you provide a different format.
  3. Multiple licenses-Some licensees have more than one active license with the Commission. In order to be sure that each license is credited, multiple records must be created. (See example above.)
  4. License numbers-
  5. Not all license numbers end in a letter.
  6. We do not accept transfers for a license that begins RB and ends with C - this is a corporation and the corporation cannot take CE credits. The RM (broker of record) number needs to be provided.
  7. License numbers that begin with BA are not Real Estate Commission licenses.

Correctness--All information should be checked for correctness. Once a file has been transmitted , it cannot be changed. Accuracy is very important.