To become a real estate agent in California, a California real estate license is required. However, acquiring this license is not so simple and requires the fulfillment of several conditions.
The article provides you with all the necessary procedures and requirements to acquire a California real estate license.
1. General Requirements
There are two different varieties of California real estate licenses: California real estate salesperson license and California real estate broker license. Both kinds of license need to fulfill the following general requirements:
Age: It is required to be 18 or above for the license to be issued.
Residence: Although you must be a U.S. citizen, getting the California real estate license does not mandate the person to reside in the state of California itself.
Honesty: Honesty and truthfulness are compulsory for the license to be issued. The license is not issued and rejected if the person has committed a crime.
2. Experience Requirements
Both kinds of licenses prescribe different work experiences. These are:
Real Estate Salesperson license: No experience required
Real estate broker license: A minimum of 2 years of full-time licensed salesperson experience within the last five years (or the equivalent) is required.
3. Course Requirements
Every California real estate license requires completion and successful passing of the following five statutory-specific college-level courses:
A. Real Estate Practice
B. Legal Aspects of Real Estate
C. Real Estate Finance
D. Real Estate Appraisal
E. Real Estate Economics or Accounting
Apart from these Real Estate broker license requires the candidates to pass three additional courses from those given below:
- Real Estate Principles
- Property Management
- Business Law
- Real Estate Office Administration
- Escrow
- Mortgage Loan Brokering and Lending
- Advanced Real Estate Finance
- Common Interest Developments
- Computer Applications in Real Estate
- Advanced Legal Aspects of Real Estate
- Advanced Real Estate Appraisal
Each course mentioned above is required to be of 45 hours in duration or more for it to be considered a requirement. These courses can then be completed from an accredited higher education institution or any other private institution providing these real estate courses approved by the state of California.
Note: Candidates who are already members of the California State bar need not take these courses. However, in such scenarios, the candidate must prove two years of full-time real estate salesperson experience or two years of practicing real estate-related law.
4. Examination Requirements
Once all those mentioned educational and course-related requirements are fulfilled, the candidate can fill out the examination form to obtain a California real estate license. However, you are required to give the examination in the following cities of California only with paper and pen-
- Fresno
- Los Ángeles (La Palma)
- Oakland
- Sacramento
- San Diego
5. Additional Requirements
- Continuing education offerings are not applicable to meet the college-level course requirements California Real Estate license examination.
- The courses required must compose of three-semester units or, equivalently, four quarter units. Before sitting for the examination, it is required for the candidate to complete all the courses mentioned above. Official transcripts, original or copies, are required to give proof of completion.
- If the person has completed courses from foreign higher educational institutions, their credentials will be evaluated through a Department of Real Estate-approved foreign credentials evaluation service.
- Suppose the candidate has completed the eight-course specifications required for the cracking broker license examination. In that case, he need not give any further proof for taking the California Salesperson Real Estate license examination.
Note: If you fail the examination, you can apply for California real estate re-examination.
Conclusion
Thus, occupying a California Real Estate License is not easy and requires you to fulfill some mandatory obligations. However, once obtained, it opens up the door to your success.
