Getting your real estate license in Florida requires completing a 63-hour course and passing the state exam. After that's taken care of, you can start buying and selling properties! However, as a real estate agent, the learning never stops. To keep your license, you're going to have to meet some other education and exam requirements, including completing a post-licensing course. Here's all you need to know.
What Is the Florida Post Licensing Course?
As a sales associate, you must complete 45 hours of additional approved sales associate post-licensure courses within your first renewal period. You'll also need to pass the required exam. Further, brokers must meet a post-licensure course requirement by completing 60 hours of approved courses and passing an exam.
When Do You Need to Take the Florida Post Licensing Course?
The post-licensing course for sales associates and brokers must be completed within your first renewal period. That period ranges from 18 to 24 months after getting licensed. So basically, you'll need to complete these courses within two years of earning your license. After that, you'll need to complete an additional 14 hours of continuing education every two years.
What's on the Florida Post Licensing Course?
The post-licensing courses are designed to build on what you learned in your pre-licensing education, helping you to operate more efficiently and better protect the public. For sales associates, they'll consist of 45 hours worth of 50-minute lessons. For brokers, it will be 60 hours of 50-minute lessons.
The lessons will be on topics, including:
Sales and listing of properties
Business office management
Courses teaching practical real estate application skills
Development of business plans
Time management
Property management
Appraisals
Real estate finance
The economics of real estate management
Marketing
Technology
While this isn't an exhaustive list, it gives you an idea of what to expect. Once you complete the course, you must pass the required exam with a grade of 75% or higher.
What Happens if You Don't Complete Your Post Licensing Course?
If you don't complete your post-licensing course and pass the exam before it's time to renew your license, your license will become null and void. However, if you couldn't do so because of an approved individual hardship, the commission may allow up to six extra months for completion.
In the case that your sales associate or broker license is voided, you'll need to start over and retake the required pre-licensure course. You'll also need to retake and pass the state exam. In the case of a broker whose license was voided, you can operate as a sales associate again by completing the 14-hour continuing education course within six months of your license's expiration date.
To avoid having to lose any of the time you've put in, it's best to stay on top of your ongoing education responsibilities.
Where Can You Take the Florida Post Licensing Course?
The Florida post-licensing course can be taken online or in a classroom from a provider approved by the Florida Real Estate Commission (FREC). At Aceable, we are FREC-approved and enable you to complete your post-licensing requirements online when and where it works best for you. Our easy-to-navigate lessons, robust study tools, and videos featuring real agents will help to prepare you to ace the final exam. As long as you have a computer or smartphone, you're good to go.
Learn more about Aceable's online post-licensing course!