1) Be at least 18 years of age;

2) Be a United States citizen, a non-citizen national or a qualified alien under federal law, or have a lawful presence in the U.S. and be authorized to work in the U.S. in the real estate brokerage field.

3) Have a Social Security Number;

4) Satisfy the Commission that you possess the requisite character for licensure.

The base education requirement is a 75-hour North Carolina Broker Prelicensing Course taken with a Commission-approved school located in North Carolina. Most applicants will use this option to meet the education qualifications. Visit the Commission’s website to learn more. HERE

An applicant (resident or nonresident) may qualify to take the North Carolina real estate license examination by successfully completing, within three (3) years before license application, the Commission-approved 75-hour North Carolina Broker Prelicensing Course.

You will get a chance to take a second exam. If you do not pass either exam, you must retake the course. The course is available for retake at a highly discounted rate of $200 plus applicable taxes.

Submit a complete license application with the appropriate fee and all required documentation, including a background check to the Commission.

Your application is processed by Commission staff.

You will be notified as to the ruling of your application. If approved, the Commission will issue you a Notice of Exam Eligibility within 2-3 days after application receipt and acceptance. If you applied online, the Notice will be sent by email. [Add “LICAPPdonotreply@ncrec.gov” as a safe email address in your anti-spam filter to receive the Notice by email.]

If you submitted a paper application, the Notice will be sent by regular mail and thus may not arrive until several days after it is sent.

If there are no issues relating to character, your license will be promptly issued and should be received in the mail within 7-10 days of the examination date.

If there is an issue relating to character, your application will be reviewed by Commission staff and may be referred to the Commission for further consideration.

If you fail the license examination, you may reschedule and retake the examination. You must wait 10 days before you can attempt the exam again. Please note that the $100 application fee PLUS the $64 examination fee will be collected each time an applicant takes one or both sections of the license examination.

An applicant who fails both the National and State sections of the comprehensive examination must continue to take the comprehensive examination on any subsequent attempt until such time as the applicant passes either the National or State section. Please note that the $100 application fee PLUS the $64 examination fee will be collected each time an applicant takes one or both sections of the license examination.

Once an applicant has passed one of the two examination sections, the applicant may apply to take only the remaining unpassed exam section. Both sections must be passed during the same 180-day examination eligibility period. If an applicant only passes one examination section prior to the end of the 180-day examination eligibility period, then the applicant loses the benefit of having passed one section, must reapply to take the comprehensive examination, and pass both sections during the subsequent 180-day exam eligibility period to be eligible to receive a North Carolina real estate broker license.

If your Notice of Exam Eligibility has already expired (i.e., it has been more than 180 days since your license application was originally processed by the Commission) and you have not passed the section(s) of the examination required for licensing eligibility, then you must file another complete license application with the Commission and receive a new Notice of Exam Eligibility before you can contact PSI and schedule another examination. Your qualifications will be reassessed when your subsequent license application is filed. Also, your background check expires every 6 months.

A provisional broker license is initially issued on inactive status. Before the provisional broker can begin work in the real estate business, the provisional broker and a broker-in-charge must file a “License Activation/Affiliation” form (REC 2.08) with the Commission office to have the provisional broker license placed on active status. This may be accomplished by accessing the Commission’s website at (www.ncrec.gov) and utilizing the interactive online form. A provisional broker must be supervised by a broker-in-charge at all times when engaging in real estate brokerage activities.