Florida requires its real estate agents to take continuing education (CE) classes to keep their licenses up to date. The original 45 hours for sales associates and 60 for brokers must be supplemented with 14 hours of continuing education classes every two years. These 14 hours are broken up into six mandatory hours and eight elective hours. The classes need to be completed and reported to the board before your license expires, or it becomes inactive.
Mandatory Florida CE Classes
There are two mandatory classes that account for six of the 14 total hours you need to keep your license.
Core Law
This three-hour class keeps you up to date on the changing laws of real estate. The course has six different sections that you need to learn to avoid penalties in your practice.
Review and Updates of Real Estate License Law: Covers updates to licensing laws.
Laws of Agency Applied: Discusses what agency relationships are allowed in Florida.
Review of Other Federal and State Laws Affecting Real Estate: Covers the practices of real estate itself.
Review of Commission Rules: Focuses on the real estate commission's role in real estate.
Violations as a Reference: Teaches the updated disciplinary rules and violations.
Review of Tax Laws Affecting Real Estate: Updates to the current tax laws dealing with real estate.
Ethics and Business Practices
Ethics is the second mandatory three-hour class in the continuing education process. It covers how to approach any ethical situation while working and has three different sections.
Ethics, Reputation Management, and Social Entrepreneurship: Covers how law and ethics mix in the real estate process.
Ethical Practices and the National Association of Realtors: Focuses on the Code of Ethics used in real estate.
National Association of Realtors - Duties to Realtors and Consequences of Bad Behavior: Discusses the legal consequences of unethical agents.
Elective Classes
When you take continuing education classes, you have a multitude of choices for your elective classes once you finish the two mandatory classes. They are usually either three or four hours each, and you must take a total of eight hours every two years. Here are a few examples of elective classes you can take.
Fair Housing
This course covers the history of fair housing laws and how they are changing in the future. You will learn about fair housing advertising, the protected renters and owners, and how criminal records apply to fair housing in this class.
First-Time Homebuyers
You will learn the ways you can help first-time homebuyers with this course. Learn the ins and outs of helping these new buyers with their financing, negotiations, and closing procedures. You will be able to keep them calm throughout the entire process after taking this course.
Property Inspection Issues
The property inspection course will train you on how to deal with what an inspector finds and how it affects negotiations. It will help you spot major issues involving the house's structure, electrical, and plumbing systems.
Preparing a Market Analysis
This course will teach you how to analyze the market in three steps. You will be prepared to estimate a listing price range, analyze market data, and new negotiating strategies after taking this course. If you can make the seller extra money with a better estimate, you will get a bigger cut as well.
Now that you know what you need to do to keep your Florida real estate license up to date, try out a class at Aceable Real Estate School. The Aceable Real Estate School will provide you with the tools you need to succeed in getting your Florida real estate license. You will have access to narrated courses, practice exams, flashcards, webinars, and even the option of private tutoring.