How to Get Your Alabama Real Estate License – Course Requirements

An applicant who does not hold a current real estate license in another state must:

Step 1. Meet Alabama real estate license requirements .

Be a U.S. citizen, permanent resident alien or legally present in the U.S, and be at least 19 years old;

Show proof of bona fide residency in any state in the U.S.;

Show proof of high school graduation or the equivalent;

Not have been convicted of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude;

Not have had a real estate application or license rejected or revoked in any state within the past two years.

Step 2. Complete an approved 60-hour Alabama real estate prelicense course. Before you can sit for the Alabama state real estate license exam, you must successfully complete an approved Alabama 60-hour pre-license course. You have 12 months to pass the Alabama state exam after completing the course. If you miss the deadline, you must retake the course

Step 3. After meeting the education and/or experience requirements, pass the real estate licensing examination. You must earn a score of 70% or higher to pass. Applicants have 6 months to pass the state exam after completing the course. If these deadlines are not met, the course must be retaken.

Step 4. Must complete 30-hour post license training course within the first twelve months of licensure in order to be issued an original (permanent) license. Further, the course must be completed, and original license issued within the first six months in order to maintain an active license.

If you already hold a real estate license in another state, you may obtain an Alabama RECIPROCAL license.

Limitations

Alabama Licensing Process and Deadlines:
1. Successful completion of the 60-hour prelicense course: The 60-hour prelicense course for both salespersons and brokers must be completed within one year of the start date. The start date for distance education courses is the date the course material is first accessed and the end date is when all required documentation is submitted to the provider.
2. Successful completion of the state license examination: The salesperson and broker examinations must be taken through PSI/AMP and passed within six months of the end date of the appropriate prelicense course. Students will not be able to schedule the state exam until the school electronically submits verification of course completion to PSI/AMP.
3. Submitting Application for a Temporary Salesperson’s or Original Broker’s License: The Application for a Temporary Salesperson’s License and the Application for a Broker’s License must be submitted to the Commission within 90 days of passing the appropriate state license examination. Please note this is 90 calendar days and the first day is the day the exam is passed. The exam score report and application are a combined document that will be received at the test site. All appropriate license fees and documentation for minimum age, U.S. citizenship, state residency, and high school completion as identified in Rule 790-X-2-.01 must accompany the application.
4. Completion of the Salesperson’s 30-hour post license course: A person shall be required to have a temporary license issued prior to taking a post license course as identified in Rule 790-X-2-.03. If a salesperson’s temporary license is issued on active status, the 30-hour post license course must be completed within six months AND an application for a permanent/original license submitted to remain on active status. The six-month period begins on the first day of the month following issuance of the temporary license and concludes on the last day of the sixth month. For example, a temporary license is issued on June 10. The six months will begin on July 1 and end on December 31.
5. Submitting Application for a Permanent/Original Salesperson’s License: Every temporary salesperson MUST take a 30-hour post license course and submit the Application for an Original Salesperson License within 12 months. The 12 months begin on the first day of the month following issuance of the temporary license and conclude on the last day of the twelfth month. This deadline applies to both active and inactive licensees. The application for an original salesperson’s license can be found on the Commission’s website at www.arec.alabama.gov.
6. A Lapsed Temporary Salesperson’s License: Failure to submit application and have the permanent/original license issued within the 12-month time frame described above will result in the license lapsing, and the applicant will have to begin the licensing process again with the prelicense course.

The preceding deadlines have been explained to me by the school, and I understand the licensing requirements that must be met for temporary and permanent licensure. I also understand that I may contact the Real Estate Commission at any time if I have questions. By electronically signing the Pre-Course Checklist (presented online when starting the course) and proceeding to the online course, I am indicating that I understand these licensing requirements.

Students cannot receive credit for completing more than 6 hours in a course per day. At this rate, students are not allowed to complete a course in less than 11 days, therefore, the first attempt at the LIVE, PROCTORED COURSE FINAL EXAMINATION is not accessible until at least the 11th day after starting the course (provided the student has completed all units

Governing Agency

Name: Alabama Real Estate Commission
Phone: 3342425544
Fax: 3342709118
Website: https://arec.alabama.gov/arec/
Address: 1201 Carmichael Way Montgomery, AL 36106

I’m going to show you how to get your Alabama real estate license. Going to give you a step-by-step guide on how to get your initial license with the state of Alabama.

Now, the first thing you need to do is you need to meet some prerequisites. You have to be a US citizen, a permanent resident alien, or legally present in the United States and be at least 19 years old. You can have residency in any state in the United States, it does not have to be Alabama. You have to show proof of high school graduation or the equivalent and not been convicted of a felony or a crime.

Now, if you have specific questions about your particular case, you’re going to need to get in contact with the Alabama Real Estate Commission to ask them questions as to whether or not you would be applicable to apply for a license. You also have to not have a license that’s been rejected or revoked in any state within the last two years. So, those are the prerequisites that you have to do in order to be able to sign up for the next step, which is an approved 60-hour Alabama real estate pre-licensing course. Now, this 60-hour course must be completed before you can sit for the Alabama licensing exam.

When you go through this course, this course can be either online or in a classroom format and I’ve got a link here that will let you know my guide to selecting a real estate school. So, you can go through that when you get finished with this video, and that will give you a guide to show you whether or not you should select an online or a classroom course. You’re taking the course; the course is going to teach you the fundamentals of real estate. It’s not going to teach you how to sell real estate. It’s going to give you the facts, the figures, the terminology that you’re going to need to be able to remember to pass two tests.

The first test is going to be the final exam for the course and then the second part is going to be the independently administered state/national exam and I’ll get to that portion in just a bit. The final exam of the course is going to be a proctored test, and this can be an online proctor. You have to score 70% or above and I talk about many times in the guide to selecting a real estate school. But I’m going to bring it up here as well that you want to make sure that you have an exam preparation module so that you have sample test questions that you can go over and over again.

Now when you’ve completed the course, when you’ve passed the course final exam, you can register for a temporary ID and this pre-registration with the real estate commission allows you to schedule the state license exam. This will also be the pre-issuing of a temporary ID for your license. This information is required to expedite the exchange of information that’s going to occur between your instructor, the exam provider, and the state. You can register for a temporary ID at the state of Alabama website. I’m going to have a link to that down below. This number is what’s needed in order to go take the pre-licensing tests that you’re going to be going through.

So, you’ve met the pre-requirements, you’ve taken the course, you’ve passed the final exam of the course. You’ve gotten your temporary ID. You are now in a position to be able to take the real estate licensing examination. On this real estate exam, you have to also score 70 or above and applicants have six months to pass the state exam after completing the course. If you do not meet this deadline of six months, then you have to go back and take the course all over again from scratch, and you’ll have the expense of doing this again. So, it’s very important. This is one of those things that you want to think about is this the right time for me to be thinking about real estate in my life. Because when you make a commitment to the course, and when you make a commitment to start to take these tests, there are deadlines that will start coming up that you need to:

(a) have the mindset that you’re going to get through, but

(b) also have the finances saved up so that you can take the courses and then take the test and move through each particular step.

Now, once you’ve done that application, you’ve passed the test there is a post-licensing training course that you must complete within your first 12 months of licensing. If you do not complete this within your first 12 months, you are going to be put into an inactive status and you will not be able to sell real estate or collect commission. So, this is a 30-hour post-licensing course, and you have the option when you go to sign up for your original course of paying for just the original course or also selecting a package that will also have the post-licensing course included in it.

I would encourage you to take this sooner rather than later after you get licensed. I know there’s going to be a lot of information. You’re going to have to learn how to sell real estate, but make sure you carve out some time to take this 30-hour course because a lot of the principles and information that you learned in the pre-licensing course are still going to apply to the post-licensing course. So, therefore you want to still go through this while it is fresh in your mind.

Now going through some of the particular steps of it. That 60-hour course must be completed within one year of your start date on the course. So, if you’re taking this, you sign up for the course it’s valid for one year. I would not advise that you take the year to go through the entire course. I would say that, that 60-hour course you’re going to want to get that 60-hour course done anywhere from 11 to 30 days. You do not want to plan on it going any longer than that because you’ll start to forget the information that you learned in the first chapter, so the first modules, by the time you go to take the test, and the course is designed to prepare you to pass those tests when used in conjunction with an exam prep module.

When you’ve completed that course, then your examination must be taken through either PSI or AMP and passed within six months after the end date of the pre-licensing course. You’re going to submit that application for your temporary salesperson license. That application must be done within 90 days. So, there is another timeframe that goes through here of you being able to submit in not just the application, but your fees and information that goes through there. Then there’s also that timeframe regarding your post-licensing course so that you make sure that that course must be completed within that first year of being licensed to go through this.

If you have a lapsed temporary salesperson license, if you fail to submit your application, your final application of you going through this, you’re going to have to go back through and complete the pre-licensing course again. So, that’s something that you just want to make sure that you’re going through and taking the checklist and doing this. Now a little bit ago, I talked about 11 days and it is possible for you to get your 60-hour course done in as little as 11 days. Let me explain. The students cannot receive credit for completing more than six hours in a course per day and the way in which this works is that when you’re doing an online system, the counter will track the time that you’ve spent within the modules, doing the reading and completing the sample test questions that are included with each chapter.

At the rate of six hours per day, you are not allowed to complete the course in less than 11 days therefore your first attempt for the live proctored course final examination cannot be accessible until the 11th day after starting the course. But what that also lets you know, that is if you’re thinking about signing up for a classroom course, that is going to be spread out over a longer period of time. So, if you’re serious about getting into real estate and you want to become active sooner rather than later, then that online course option allows you to go through and do these particular things and get going sooner rather than later so that you can start to collect a commission.

Now all of this is administered by the Alabama Real Estate Commission. You can visit their link. I’ll have that link down below that if you want to get any specifics. If you have a question about your specific eligibility, your licensing capabilities whether you have had a past run-in with the law or something like that you want to reach out to them, Also, if you’re moving from another state, you’ll want to go through the details of your specific state for reciprocity so that you can become licensed.

Now, this is just the guide to getting your real estate license. I have another video that’s a comprehensive webinar that I did that talks about the complete process of getting your license, finding a real estate company to work with. What questions you should ask a broker, I’ve got a link to that as well and I would invite you to do that.

Also, if you’re looking for a brokerage or a company in your particular area you can go to digitalagentshow.com. I’ve got a little button on the sidebar that will help you in finding a brokerage and you’ll be able to walk through that information.

So, I hope this has been helpful for you. If it has, please leave a comment. We’ll have other information about getting started in your real estate career. So, feel free to subscribe to this channel. Until next time, make it a great day.