What steps do I need to take to get my NC provisional broker license?

Before applying for your provisional broker license in North Carolina, you must meet the following requirements:

  1. Be age 18 or older
  2. Be a U.S. 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 here in the real estate brokerage field
  3. Have a Social Security number

If you meet the above three requirements, you will need to follow these steps to get your North Carolina provisional broker license:

1. Complete your 75-hour pre-license education requirement or qualify to waive the pre-license education requirement. You may complete this education requirement in a variety of formats, including:

  • In-person classroom learning
  • Synchronous distance, or “live online,” instruction via Zoom or similar technologies
  • Self-paced online courses, sometimes referred to as distance learning

Most applicants prefer the convenience of online courses and also find they can complete the courses more quickly at their own pace than if they attended class in-person.

The 75-hour North Carolina broker pre-licensing course must be completed with at least 80% class attendance and 75% minimum passing score on the end-of-course, proctored examination before submitting your application for a real estate license and applying to take the state licensing exam. You must make your application within three years of successfully completing the course. Your school should automatically provide the North Carolina Real Estate Commission with an Official Certificate of Course Completion, signed by the school’s director.

2. Submit a complete license application. You will need to submit a complete license application to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, along with the appropriate fee and all required documentation. Applicants are highly encouraged to make their application online. If you prefer to submit a paper application, you will need to send an email to publications@ncrec.gov or call 919-875-3700.

As part of your application, you will need to obtain, and pay for, a criminal history record report from CriminalRecordCheck.com. When you login to the license application on the Commission’s website,you will be able to choose to “apply for a background check,” as well as access your application.

If you choose to apply for a background check, you can make your request and pay the corresponding fee. Once the criminal background check is complete, the reporting agency will attach its report electronically to your application. You will also receive a copy via email.

The report must be prepared by the agency within six months prior to submitting your application to the Commission. The criminal report must include results from a criminal records search in the state and/or county of every location you have resided for the past seven years prior to making the application for license.

If you resided outside the country for any period of time, the background report must also include a search of criminal records from that particular country or countries.

Depending on the number of places you have resided and the number of names you have had in the past seven years, the cost of the criminal history report can be substantial. Since there are no refunds for the report, it is advised to successfully complete the required 75-hour pre-licensing coursework prior to requesting your criminal history report unless you anticipate an issue with your background check.

Reports involving only in-state searches are typically completed within two to four business days after placing your order, but those involving out-of-state records are likely to take five to seven business days. Searches outside of the U.S. often take two to three weeks to obtain.

If you answered “yes” to any of the three questions regarding criminal offenses, professional license disciplinary action and liens or unpaid judgments, you will need to provide additional documentation, including a detailed account of the action that led to each criminal offense, professional license disciplinary action, lien or unpaid judgment. You will find a drop down box on the online application that allows you to provide any needed explanations. You also have the ability to attach documents.

You will also need to provide a Certified Course Completion Certificate for the 75-hour broker pre-licensing course if your school did not electronically report your successful course completion to the Commission. In either instance, you will need to provide the name of your school, instructor and course information in the application.

You will need to enter your payment information for the non-refundable $100 application fee. Once successfully submitted, your application will enter the review process and you will no longer be able to edit or access it.

3. Schedule your exam. Unless you are exempt from licensure examination requirements, you will receive a notice of exam eligibility via email within two to three days after your application has been accepted. Your notice is valid for up to 180 days.

The Commission contracts with the professional testing service PSI Services LLC (PSI) to schedule and administer the real estate license state exam. Wait 24 hours after receiving your notice of exam eligibility before contacting PSI to schedule your exam. This gives PSI time to upload your information to its system.

You may schedule your exam either by going online at www.psiexams.com, available 24 hours a day, or by calling 800-733-9267, Monday through Friday, between 7:30 a.m. and 10 p.m., or Saturday and Sunday, between 9 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., ET.

In most cases, you will be able to take your exam at the center of your choice within seven days of contacting PSI with your request.

PSI also offers remote online proctoring for the state exam, which is a fast and convenient way to take your exam.

The cost of the state exam is $64 per attempt, paid directly to PSI. You will need to provide payment via Visa, Mastercard, cashier’s check or money order at the time of scheduling. Payment by personal check is not permitted.

4. Pass the state exam. The next step to getting your provisional broker’s license is to pass the state exam. You’ll find that the North Carolina broker’s state licensing exam includes two components: a national section and a state section.

The national portion of the test is made up of 80 multiple-choice questions. You will have a time limit of 120 minutes and must correctly answer 57 out of 80 questions correctly to pass.

There are 40 multiple-choice questions on the state portion of the exam. You will have 90 minutes to complete the 40 multiple-choice questions and must achieve 29 out of 40 questions correct.

If you pass the exam, you will be notified immediately. If you do not pass, you will receive a diagnostic report that shows your strengths and weaknesses, by section.

5. Receive your license and activate it. Your examination results will be reported to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, which will issue your license within approximately 10 business days as long as there are no character issues. If, however, there are character issues, issuance of your license will take considerably longer.

Your license will be issued as an inactive provisional broker license. You will need to have your chosen broker-in-charge complete a License Activation/Affiliation form and submit it online to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission. This will change your license status to active, but you will still need to be supervised at all times by a broker-in-charge when engaging in real estate brokerage activities.

Within 18 months of your license being issued, you will need to take the required 90 classroom hours of post-licensing required education. Once complete, your provisional status can be removed.