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Washington State Requirements

Education Requirements

Salesperson Licensing Requirements

Before applying for a real estate Salesperson License, an individual must first furnish the Commission satisfactory evidence of successfully completing the following education:

  1. Principles of Real Estate core real estate course [60 classroom hours]
  2. Law of Agency core real estate course (30 classroom hours)
  3. Law of Contracts core real estate course (30 classroom hours)
  4. An additional core real estate course (30 classroom hours)
  5. Another four semester (60 classroom) hours in core courses or in related courses acceptable to the Commission.

Salesperson is required to have completed a total of 18 semester (270 classroom) hours of education, at least 14 semester (210 classroom) hours of which must be in core real estate courses, by the end of their first year of licensure. On the chart below, one can see that 150 of those classroom hours in core real estate courses are to have been completed before the application for the Salesperson license is made (and may be filed along with the application). Please note that this means only 4 additional semester (60 classroom) hours in core real estate courses are required to be filed during the first year as a licensed Salesperson. These hours are known as SAE, or Salesperson Annual Education. These 60 additional classroom hours in core real estate for the SAE must be submitted and on the TREC system by the end of the first year of licensure.

Broker Licensing Requirements

To get a broker's license, you must:

  1. be 18 years of age or older
  2. have a high school diploma or equivalent
  3. have a minimum of 2 years of full-time experience as a real estate salesperson in Washington or in another jurisdiction having comparable requirements.
  4. complete 120 clock hours of instruction in real estate including:
    • 30 clock hours in real estate law
    • 30 clock hours in brokerage management
    • 30 clock hours in business management, and a
    • 30 clock hours in approved elective course
    • 30 clock hours in real estate law
  5. obtain a Candidate Handbook, containing the Candidate Examination Document, from Promissor, the Department of Licensing, or the course provider. Examination instructions provided in the handbook require brokers to verify 2 years of experience.
  6. submit the completed Candidate Examination Document and proof of education to: Real Estate Licensing Department of Licensing PO BOX 9015 Olympia, WA 98507-9015
  7. pass the examination. Results are valid from 1 year from the date of passing the examination.
  8. complete and submit a Real Estate Salesperson, Associate Broker, or Branch Manager Application, along with the appropriate fee.

Upon review and approval, the application will be returned and you will be eligible to schedule an examination date by contacting the testing provider using the toll free number listed in the Candidate Handbook.

Please note: The experience and clock hours must be completed within 5 years prior to application for examination.

Post-License Requirements

First active renewal requirement:

30 clock hours in Practices course, plus 30 clock hours of continuing education including the 3-hour core curriculum. 3-Hour mandated curriculum course covers current issues in Washington Real Estate.

Reciprocity:

No reciprocity.

To receive examination approval from our department, you will need to request a license history from the Real Estate Commission of the state where you are currently licensed. If your history indicates that you have held and ACTIVE license within the previous 6 months, we will waive the National portion of the examination and you will only be required to test on the Washington Law section of the exam. In addition, the license history will provide information that will allow a waiver of the education requirements.

After you receive your license history, please mail it to our department, along with a cover letter that includes your mailing address to:

Real Estate Licensing
PO Box 9015
Olympia, WA 98507