How much active time do I need before FREC II?

At least 24 months of active sales-associate licensure during the preceding five years, or the equivalent governmental / out-of-state broker experience in § 475.17(2)(b). A certification of license history is required if the months are from another state.

Is the broker exam a national-plus-state test?

No. It is a 100-question Florida exam through Pearson VUE. Mutual-recognition applicants sit 40 Florida law questions instead.

What happens if I skip the 60-hour broker post-license course?

The broker license reverts to a sales-associate license. That is a different penalty from the sales-associate 45-hour void, which erases the credential entirely.

Does a California or Texas broker license waive FREC II?

No. Those states are not on FREC's mutual-recognition list. You complete Course II and the 100-question exam, using out-of-state time only toward the 24-month experience test if the history letter supports it.

Florida Broker License Requirements

Required education: 72-hour FREC Course II
Exam fee: $36.75
Published fees: See fee table
Typical timeline: After 24 active months

What to know first

A Florida real estate broker license is a different legal object from the sales-associate license, not a membership upgrade and not a REALTOR® designation. Chapter 475.17(2)(b), Florida Statutes, and FREC Course II exist because the broker is the person DBPR holds responsible for escrow, office registration, and the sales associates hanging their licenses there. That is why the pipeline has two gates sales-associate applicants never see: 24 months of active licensure during the preceding five years, and a 72-hour pre-license course built on the FREC II syllabus rather than another lap around Course I.

The experience test is calendar math, not a Texas-style point chart. DBPR's own broker FAQ (updated September 12, 2025) and the licensing checklist require an active sales-associate license for at least 24 months during the preceding five years under one or more brokers — or equivalent governmental or out-of-state broker experience described in § 475.17. Out-of-state experience needs a current certification of license history showing initial exam type, current status, discipline, and how many active months fall inside those five years. You cannot "make up" inactive years with production. California wants two years full-time in five years documented on RE 226; Florida just counts active months. North Carolina does not run a second broker exam at all — you are already a broker on provisional status.

Education is FREC Course II: 72 hours of 50-minute periods, inclusive of examination, covering appraising, investment, financing, and brokerage and management operations (Rule 61J2-3.008, F.A.C.). The school end-of-course exam must be passed at 70 percent; the certificate is good for two years. A four-year degree in real estate can exempt the pre-license course if you submit an original transcript to the Division of Real Estate education section. You may file the DBPR application before the 72-hour course is finished; you still cannot sit Pearson VUE without a valid slip. Brokers who still owe the 45-hour sales-associate post-license course should finish it — FREC and DBPR both treat that first-renewal obligation as a condition of remaining licensed, and schools commonly refuse to treat a broker applicant as complete until it posts.

The state broker exam is a Florida exam delivered by Pearson VUE, not a national-plus-state split. The Candidate Information Booklet describes 100 multiple-choice questions in three and a half hours, twelve content areas, and a 75-point passing grade. Mutual-recognition applicants sit a 40-question law exam instead of the full 100. After you pass, the 60-hour broker post-license course (or two 30-hour courses) must be completed before the first renewal; miss it and the broker license reverts to a sales-associate license — FREC's education PDF is explicit. That is a different trap from the sales-associate 45-hour void. Application fee on the current DBPR FAQ is $91.75 ($14.75 application, $72 license, $5 unlicensed-activity). Fingerprints run through Pearson VUE's electronic process.

Your path to the license

Follow these steps in order. Deadlines and affiliation requirements can make a passed exam unusable if they are missed.

Confirm 24 active months in the last five years

Pull DBPR history or an out-of-state certification. Inactive months do not count.
Complete FREC Course II (72 hours) at 70% on the school exam

Keep the two-year completion slip. A four-year real-estate degree needs an original transcript sent to the Division education section.
File DBPR RE-2 and pay $91.75

Upgrade, out-of-state, or mutual-recognition tracks are separate options on MyFloridaLicense. Finish sales-associate post-license if it is still outstanding.
Electronic fingerprints

Pearson VUE / FDLE LiveScan with the current ORI.
Pass the 100-question Pearson VUE broker exam at 75

210 minutes. Mutual recognition: 40-question law exam.
Register the brokerage if you will operate independently

Hanging sales associates requires an office registration, not just the individual broker license.
Finish 60 hours of broker post-license before first renewal

Miss it and the broker license reverts to sales associate. This is not optional CE.

Education and eligibility

Minimum age: 18 years old
Identification: A Social Security number is required. An ITIN is not confirmed as a substitute.
Residency and identification: A U.S. Social Security number is required. Out-of-state broker applicants use the same 72-hour course and 100-question exam unless they qualify for mutual recognition (nonresident, listed state, 40-question law exam). Florida residency at application kills the mutual-recognition shortcut.
Qualifying education: Commission-prescribed Course II: 72 hours of 50-minute periods covering appraising, investment, financing, and brokerage and management operations, inclusive of a school end-of-course exam (pass 70%). Certificate valid two years. Four-year real-estate degree may exempt the course if an original transcript is reviewed by the Division.
Education or filing deadline: The 72-hour course completion slip is valid for two years. An expired slip will not be accepted at Pearson VUE.
Character review: Chapter 475 character review after electronic fingerprints. Convictions are disclosed on the RE-2; non-disclosure is its own problem.
Background process: Electronic fingerprints through Pearson VUE / FDLE LiveScan using the current DBPR ORI. Prints on file for a Florida sales-associate license are not automatically reused for a broker upgrade — follow the live fingerprint FAQ.
Experience: 24 months of active sales-associate licensure during the preceding five years, or equivalent governmental / out-of-state broker experience under § 475.17(2)(b)
Broker affiliation: A broker may operate a brokerage, register a trade name, and hang sales associates. Opening an office has its own DBPR registration; the individual broker license is not a firm license.

Documents to prepare

DBPR license history showing active months
Out-of-state certification of license history (initial exam type, status, discipline, active months in the last five years)

The licensing exam

The Florida broker licensure examination is 100 equally weighted multiple-choice questions in 210 minutes. Passing is 75 points. The Candidate Information Booklet organizes content around brokerage management, escrow and trust accounting, closing statements (candidates must be able to work a Closing Disclosure), and Florida license law under Chapter 475 and Rule 61J2. There is no separately scored national portion. Mutual-recognition candidates take a 40-question Florida law exam rather than the 100-question paper. Pearson VUE seats the exam after DBPR issues an Authorization to Test.

Pearson VUE, under contract to DBPR / FREC (Florida-written broker exam, not a national-plus-state split) · Fee: $36.75

Part	Questions	Minutes	Pass
Florida broker examination	100	210	75%

Fail and pay Pearson VUE again. Mutual-recognition candidates sit a 40-question law exam. Confirm the live Pearson VUE fee on the current DBPR CBT schedule — the hosted figure has been $36.75.

What to study

Florida Real Estate Broker Candidate Information Booklet

DBPR / Pearson VUE

100 questions, 210 minutes, 75 to pass, closing-statement content.
FREC education requirements PDF

DBPR Division of Real Estate

72 / 60 / 14 hour structure and the reversion sentence.

Application costs

These are commission or testing-vendor amounts we can cite. School tuition and optional preparation products are private-market prices.

Fee	Amount
Application	$91.75
Examination	$36.75
Initial license	$72

DBPR broker FAQ: $91.75 total ($14.75 application, $72 license, $5 unlicensed-activity). Pearson VUE exam fee on the currently hosted fact sheet has been $36.75 — confirm at scheduling. Fingerprints are vendor-priced. We do not invent an unverified renewal dollar amount.

Commission	Florida Real Estate Commission / DBPR Division of Real Estate 850.487.1395 Chapter 475, Florida Statutes; Rule 61J2, F.A.C.
Pre-licensing	72-hour FREC Course II Commission-prescribed Course II: 72 hours of 50-minute periods covering appraising, investment, financing, and brokerage and management operations, inclusive of a school end-of-course exam (pass 70%). Certificate valid two years. Four-year real-estate degree may exempt the course if an original transcript is reviewed by the Division. The 72-hour course completion slip is valid for two years. An expired slip will not be accepted at Pearson VUE.
Sponsoring broker	A broker may operate a brokerage, register a trade name, and hang sales associates. Opening an office has its own DBPR registration; the individual broker license is not a firm license.
Fingerprints	Electronic fingerprints through Pearson VUE as described on DBPR fingerprint FAQs. Required with the RE-2 even if you already hold a Florida sales-associate license.
CE / renewal	First renewal: 60 hours of broker post-license (or two 30-hour courses) with end-of-course exams. Subsequent renewals: 14 hours (8 specialty, 3 Florida law, 3 ethics and business practices). Missing first-renewal post-license reverts the broker license to sales associate.
Recovery fund	Florida Real Estate Recovery Fund, Chapter 475, Florida Statutes.

Mistakes that delay applicants

Counting inactive months as experience

The statute wants 24 months of active licensure in the preceding five years. A lapsed or involuntary-inactive sales-associate license does not accrue those months.
Expired Course II slip at Pearson VUE

The 72-hour certificate dies at two years. DBPR may have approved the RE-2; the test center will still turn you away.
60-hour post-license reversion

This is not the 45-hour sales-associate void. Miss broker post-license and you are a sales associate again, which means you cannot hang other associates or operate the firm you just registered.
Mutual recognition after you already moved to Florida

You must not be a Florida resident at application. The 40-question law exam is not available to someone who already lives in Orlando and wants to skip Course II.

Reciprocity and recognition

Partner / path	Accepted exam	Conditions
Georgia	—	Mutual recognition for nonresidents who hold an active Georgia license obtained by education and exam; 40-question Florida law exam.
Illinois	—	Mutual recognition for nonresidents; 40-question Florida law exam. Illinois itself now uses endorsement inbound, which is a different machine.

FREC mutual recognition is a nonresident, listed-state, law-exam path — not a national compact. California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina are not on the current list. Confirm the live list on FREC licensure information before you file.

Renewal and staying active

First renewal: 60 hours of broker post-license (or two 30-hour courses) with end-of-course exams. Subsequent renewals: 14 hours (8 specialty, 3 Florida law, 3 ethics and business practices). Missing first-renewal post-license reverts the broker license to sales associate.

First license period is 18–24 months. Subsequent periods are 24 months.

Applicant checklist

Print DBPR or out-of-state history showing 24 active months in five years
Finish FREC II at 70% and photograph the two-year slip
Clear any outstanding 45-hour sales-associate post-license
File RE-2, pay $91.75, LiveScan
Pass Pearson VUE at 75 (or 40-question law exam if mutual recognition)
Register the office if you will hang sales associates
Enroll in the 60-hour broker post-license course immediately

How Florida is different

Florida's broker experience floor is 24 active months in five years — shorter than Texas's 2026 four-year / 720-point rule and shorter than Pennsylvania's three years, comparable to California's two years full-time, and unlike North Carolina, where there is no second exam. Education is a 72-hour FREC II course, not California's eight college-level courses, not Georgia's 60-hour broker prelicense, not New York's 75-hour broker course on top of 77 salesperson hours. Reciprocity is mutual recognition for nonresidents from FREC's current list (Georgia and Illinois among the large destinations on this site). California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina are not on that list. The post-license trap is uniquely Floridian: 60 hours or the broker license reverts to sales associate.

Frequently asked questions

How much active time do I need before FREC II?: At least 24 months of active sales-associate licensure during the preceding five years, or the equivalent governmental / out-of-state broker experience in § 475.17(2)(b). A certification of license history is required if the months are from another state.
Is the broker exam a national-plus-state test?: No. It is a 100-question Florida exam through Pearson VUE. Mutual-recognition applicants sit 40 Florida law questions instead.
What happens if I skip the 60-hour broker post-license course?: The broker license reverts to a sales-associate license. That is a different penalty from the sales-associate 45-hour void, which erases the credential entirely.
Does a California or Texas broker license waive FREC II?: No. Those states are not on FREC's mutual-recognition list. You complete Course II and the 100-question exam, using out-of-state time only toward the 24-month experience test if the history letter supports it.

Primary Sources

Regulatory requirements on this page are drawn from the official board, statute, and exam-provider materials listed below.

Verified 2026-09-02 · Next scheduled review 2026-12-01

At a glance

Broker requirements

Pre-licensing: 72-hour FREC Course II
Verified state fees: About $130–$220 in DBPR, Pearson VUE, and LiveScan fees, plus 72-hour Course II tuition (confirm live checkout)
Time to license: After 24 active months, typically 2–4 months for Course II, DBPR, and Pearson VUE if the file is clean
Difficulty: 4 of 5
Exam provider: Pearson VUE, under contract to DBPR / FREC (Florida-written broker exam, not a national-plus-state split)
Experience: 2 years of 24 months of active sales-associate licensure during the preceding five years, or equivalent governmental / out-of-state broker experience under § 475.17(2)(b)

Quick jumps

What to know first
License roadmap
Education & eligibility
Licensing exam
Application costs
Common mistakes
Reciprocity
Renewal
FAQ

Open FREC →