BROKER LICENSE REQUIREMENTS

General license requirements / Experience requirement / Prelicense course / State license examination

General license  requirements

Just as with a sales associate license, an applicant for a Florida broker license must meet certain general licensure requirements. To qualify for a broker license, the applicant must

• have a Social Security number
• submit and receive approval of the DBPR RE-2 license application
• pay all required fees
• meet all general licensure provisions including age, education, character, competency, submission of all associated background history and fingerprints, as discussed in a previous section

An applicant who has been licensed as a sales associate in Florida during the preceding 5 years must complete the sales associate post license education requirements, as discussed in an upcoming section, prior to applying for the broker license. This post license education requirement does not apply to applicants who hold an out-of-state sales associate license.

Experience requirement

In addition to meeting the general licensure requirements, the applicant must have held an active real estate sales associate license for at least 2 years during the 5 years prior to applying for a broker license. The applicant must also have

• worked under one or more real estate brokers who are licensed in Florida or any other U.S. state, territory, or jurisdiction or in any foreign national jurisdiction
• performed real estate services as a salaried employee of a governmental agency, or
• been licensed in any other U.S. state, territory, or jurisdiction or in any foreign national jurisdiction

Applicants who have gained their required experience from a jurisdiction outside of Florida need to submit a current certification of real estate license history from the licensing agency of that jurisdiction. The certificate must not be more than 30 days old and should be attached to the broker license application.

Prelicense course

A licensed sales associate who is applying for a broker license must complete the required prelicense Course II. The course includes 69 classroom hours and 3 end-of-course examination hours. The course covers the fundamentals of real estate appraising, investment, financing, and brokerage and management operations.

Just as with the sales associate prelicense coursework, each classroom hour is 50 minutes of live instruction in the classroom or of live streaming or video conferencing. The course may be taken at an accredited college, technical center, or registered real estate school or through interactive distance learning. A student who demonstrates hardship may qualify to take the course through correspondence. The student must not miss more than 8 hours of classroom instruction.

The broker end-of-course exam includes 95 multiple choice questions, 90 of which are worth 1 point each and 5 of which may cover closing statements or escrow accounts and are worth 2 points each. The student must pass the exam with a score of 70% or higher to complete the course. Students who fail the exam may retake it once.

State license examination

After successfully completing the broker prelicense coursework and passing the end-of-course exam, the applicant must take and pass the state licensure examination within 2 years of completing the course. If the applicant waits longer than the 2 years, he or she must retake the prelicense course to be eligible to take the licensure examination.

The exam for brokers is based on knowledge, understanding, and application of real estate law and real estate principles and practices and includes appraising, finance, investment, brokerage management, and real estate mathematics. The exam is divided into 45 points based on law, 40 points on principles and practices, and 15 points on real estate mathematics. The student must pass the exam with a score of 75% or higher.

The processes for qualifying for, taking, passing, failing, and retaking the exam are the same as for the sales associate state exam. After passing the state exam, the student must print his or her license. Because the license is issued as inactive, the individual must submit a completed DBPR RE 13 Broker Transactions form to activate the license prior to operating as a broker.