Alabama

The Alabama Real Estate Commission is at 1201 Carmichael Way, Montgomery, AL 36106. Phone (334) 242-5544. Email [email protected]. Fax (334) 270-9118. The governing law is Ala. Code § 34-27-1 et seq. Pearson VUE delivers the exam under Candidate Handbook #093300 (August 2024; fee updates August 1, 2025; rev 02/2026) at pearsonvue.com/us/en/al/realestate.html, (888) 926-9488. The 60-clock-hour salesperson prelicense requirement appears in the handbook, in Rule 790-X-1-.06, and in AREC's "Salesperson Prelicense - 60 Hours" course listing. You must be 19 and earn a 70% course grade. Finish within one year of the start date; credit is limited to six hours per day after the February/April 2025 amendments, and 90% attendance is required. The school reports your credit, Pearson emails your Authorization to Test, and you cannot book before that email arrives.

Pearson gives 80 national items in 2.5 hours and 40 Alabama items in 1 hour, scaled 70 to pass, for $73, with 10–15 pretest items and 3.5 hours total. If you fail the overall score, you retake the entire examination within a six-month authorization from course completion. A passing score is good for 90 days. The reciprocal path is six Alabama hours plus a $53 / 40-item / 1-hour state exam. Fieldprint Alabama is the fingerprint vendor; IdentoGO and Georgia GCIC prints are not accepted, and Pearson does not collect palm vein scans for Alabama (AREC opted out). The original license this cycle is $85 (10/01/2025–09/30/2026) plus $30 Recovery Fund if first-time active. New licensees receive a temporary salesperson license and must complete the 30-hour postlicense within six months to stay active and within twelve months, or the license lapses and they start over.

The broker license requires a second 60-hour prelicense course plus 24 of the last 36 months active in any state. The exam costs the same $73, but the state outline puts more weight on RECAD and qualifying broker duties (5 and 6 items). CE is 15 hours: salespersons take the required 3-hour Risk Management: Initial Contact to Accepted Offer plus 12 electives; brokers take that course and the Mandatory Broker CE Course plus 9 electives. All licenses expire September 30, and unrenewed licenses go inactive October 1. Florida's 63-hour Course I, Georgia's 75-hour PSI path, and Tennessee's affiliate broker title are useful comparisons, but none of them meets Alabama's requirements.