Hawaii

The Hawaii Real Estate Commission is part of DCCA's Professional and Vocational Licensing Division, staffed by the Real Estate Branch at 335 Merchant Street. Unlike California's DRE, it does not write its own exam; PSI has had the contract since 2009. The Commission controls the deadlines around the exam, which is where most applications run into trouble: a School Completion Certificate that expires two years after class completion, a Broker Experience Certificate that must exist before a broker candidate is even allowed to schedule, and a two-year window after the last examination date to get a complete application onto the Commission's desk. Effective December 10, 2025, PSI reviews your uploaded certificate before it will let you schedule, so this requirement is enforced at the testing vendor.

Hawaii still issues a salesperson license after sixty class hours and a broker license after eighty more, each against a Commission-adopted curriculum. The salesperson outline in force since January 1, 2021 is 18 named sections. The posted broker outline is still the 2004 80-hour appendix, with a replacement announced for May 1, 2027. HAR §16-99-61 requires 80 percent attendance and a passing school final; HAR §16-99-29 sets the cuts at 70 percent (salesperson) and 75 percent (broker) on both the uniform and state portions. The PSI bulletin effective January 16, 2026 sets the item counts: salesperson 80/50, broker 75-items-for-80-points/50, $61 for one or both portions.

Because of the state portion, a California or Washington score report does not transfer. Hawaii records title two ways at the Bureau of Conveyances — Land Court (HRS 501) and the Regular System (HRS 502) — and it withholds on nonresident sellers under HARPTA. The Residential Landlord-Tenant Code is on the salesperson state outline. GENINFO states plainly that Hawaii does not reciprocate with any other state or country. Equivalency certificates exist for education, for the uniform exam section, and for broker experience. Each is valid for two years, and none is a reciprocity agreement.

Licenses expire December 31 of even-numbered years and should be renewed by November 30 so the pocket card exists on January 1. Active CE is 20 hours: Core A and Core B (both required for the six core hours) plus 14 electives. A salesperson first licensed in the even year who renews by November 30 is deemed complete for that cycle. Brokers are not. Original fees on the posted HAR 16-53 table are $282 in even years and $382 in odd years for the individual salesperson/broker-salesperson/PB/BIC line, plus $61 to PSI, plus — for brokers — $75 for the Experience Certificate. Fees are not prorated, so a license first issued in 2026 also owes the 2026 renewal.