General Requirements
All Arkansas salesperson applicants must have reached 18 years old to apply for a real estate license. There are no other basic requirements. If you meet this basic standard, you can receive your salesperson license by following these six steps.
Step 1: Take 60-hour Pre-licensing Course
All salesperson applicants must take a 60-hour pre-license real estate education. At least 30 of these classroom hours must be in the basic principles of Real Estate. Your coursework must be taken from an Arkansas Real Estate Commission approved school or organization or from an accredited post-secondary school, such as a college or university.
Your 60 hours certificate has no expiration date for salesperson applicants.
Step 2: Submit your Arkansas Salesperson Application
After you have successfully completed your pre-licensing course, you must submit an application to the Arkansas Real Estate Commission. The AREC will approve your application so that you can schedule your salesperson exam.
Your application documents must include:
Your application document must be notarized.
All real estate salesperson applicants are required to complete a state and federal criminal background check. The federal criminal background check will require fingerprints on fingerprint cards approved by the AREC. You must get your fingerprints and background check done before the Commission will issue an active real estate license.
There is a $22 Arkansas criminal background check fee and a $14.25 FBI criminal background check fee. The Commission advises you to pay all fees, including your $50 application fee, for a total of $86.25 payable to the AREC in a cashier's check or money order. Personal checks will not be accepted.
As long as there are no delays in the completion of your application, the AREC says the usual turnaround time to receive your Certificate of Eligibility is 5 to 10 business work days.
Step 3: Schedule the state licensing exam
The Arkansas Real Estate Commission has contracted with Pearson VUE to administer the state licensing exam. You will receive a Certificate of Examination Eligibility in the mail from the Commission. You must have this before you schedule your exam. The certificate is good for only one year.
Online scheduling is the fastest and easiest way to schedule your state exam. The exam fee is $75 and must be paid at reservation using a credit card, debit card, voucher, electronic check.
Find the test center nearest you by going to the Pearson VUE test center locator or by looking at the back of the Candidate Information Bulletin.
Step 4: Pass the exam
On exam day, remember to bring with you two forms of identification. One ID must be a government-issued with your photo and signature. In addition, bring your Certificate of Examination Eligibility. Without these, you will not be able to take your exam.
About your Arkansas salesperson licensing exam:
Refer to the Candidate Information Handbook for specific content outlines and information on the number of questions under each section.
The exam uses a scaled score, which takes into account variations in question difficulty on the exam. The scores do not represent the number of questions asked or how close you came to passing.
When you pass, you receive a score report and information on how to apply for your license. If you fail, your score report will have a numeric score and diagnostic information about the general section of the exam and how to apply to retake the test. You have six months to retake any failed portion of the exam.
Step 5: Send licensing fee and additional documents
You will have 90 days after passing your state licensing exam to send your licensing fee and other forms to the Arkansas Real Estate Commission. The licensing fee is $50 and the Recovery Fund fee is $25, for a total of $75 made payable to the AREC. You must also submit all pages of your score report and a signed post-license requirement notice.
If you fail to send your fees and paperwork within 90 days, you will be required to start the application process.
Step 6: Post-license education
Once you are an approved new salesperson, you must take 18 classroom hours of post-licensing education within six months of your licensing date. This post-license education requirement is independent of any continuing education requirements. You must take your course hours with EC approved course provider.
Congratulations, you are now a licensed Arkansas real estate salesperson!