Hawaii Real Estate Broker License requirements

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

1. 1

   Document 156 weeks at 40 hours before paying for school

   Get Experience Certification Statements from each PB/BIC in the five-year window. File the Experience Certificate application with $75. The certificate is valid two years. Bulletin 25-02: at a sole proprietorship, if the PB is unavailable and there is no BIC, you may be unable to take the exam.

2. 2

   Complete the 80-hour broker prelicense

   Not the salesperson 60. Certificate valid two years from class completion. Broker education equivalency, if you qualify, is a separate Commission certificate filed before PSI registration.

3. 3

   Upload both certificates to PSI; pass at 75 percent

   Experience Certificate plus school (or education-equivalency) certificate. Uniform 75 items / 80 points / 150 min / 75% and state 50 / 90 min / 75%, $61. Sitting without the BE invalidates the score (HAR §16-99-19.2).

4. 4

   File the individual broker application within two years of the exam

   Original certificates, original score report, even-year $282 or odd-year $382. Broker licensees must complete 20-hour CE to renew active; new brokers do not get the even-year CE exemption.

5. 5

   If you will operate a firm, file the entity or sole-proprietor application

   BREG registration, trade-name approval, Entity Resolution designating a principal broker, Hawaii place of business. Entity originals $486/$349; sole proprietor $65 then $298 to renew. Branch office on another island needs a BIC.

Minimum age

18 years old

Identification

A Social Security number is required. An ITIN is not confirmed as a substitute.

Residency and identification

Hawaii residency is not required. Must hold a current unencumbered Hawaii salesperson license, or a current unencumbered salesperson or broker license in an ARELLO jurisdiction with equivalent licensing law as determined by the Commission (BEINSTRUCT_230113; GENINFO). Same U.S. work-authorization and high-school rules as salesperson applicants, by the examination date.

Qualifying education

Commission-approved broker prelicense, not the salesperson 60. Currently posted Brokers' Curriculum (appendix 6/5/2004; replacement announced effective May 1, 2027) is 27 sections totaling 80 estimated hours, including Brokerage Administration 8, Hawaii Standard Forms 7, Closing 6, Licensing Laws 5, Condominiums/Co-ops/PUDs/Timeshare 4, Taxes 4, Agency 4, Valuation 4. Independent study must reasonably require 80 hours (HAR §16-99-52.1). HAR §16-99-61: 80 percent attendance and a passing school final. Broker education equivalency (HAR §16-99-37(b)) is limited to a current out-of-state broker license active within one year, or a U.S. law degree.

Education or filing deadline

School Completion Certificate valid two years from class completion (HAR §16-99-61). Experience Certificate valid two years from issuance (HAR §16-99-19.2(f); GENINFO). Education equivalency valid two years. License application within two years of the last examination date.

Character review

Same HRS Chapter 467 character standard. Request for Preliminary Decision remains available before you pay for the 80-hour course and the $75 Experience Certificate. A returned check on the Experience Certificate application voids the certificate and any exam score or broker license based on it, plus a $25 service charge.

Background process

Same disclosure-and-review file as salesperson. The broker exam and license pages list no Fieldprint code. The Experience Certification Statement is an additional document in which the PB or BIC certifies your weeks at 40 hours, not just dates on a W-2.

Experience

Full-time Hawaii-licensed salesperson associated with a Hawaii-licensed broker for at least three years of the five-year period immediately before the Experience Certificate application, averaging at least 40 hours a week, with practical salesperson experience. 156 weeks. No prorata part-time credit. No credit for inactive, forfeited, suspended, revoked, or terminated time (HAR §16-99-19.2; BEINSTRUCT_230113; Bulletin 25-02).

Broker affiliation

An individual Hawaii broker license is what lets you be designated principal broker or broker-in-charge of a brokerage. Operating through a corporation, partnership, LLC, LLP, or as a sole proprietor is a separate application (entity originals $486 odd / $349 even; sole proprietor $65 plus a $298 renewal). The firm must maintain a principal place of business in Hawaii. Branch offices on another island need registration and a broker-in-charge. Passing the broker exam does not automatically create a firm.

PSI Services LLC (https://test-takers.psiexams.com/hire). Same $61 bulletin as salesperson. Broker candidates must upload a valid Experience Certificate in addition to the school or education-equivalency certificate. · Fee: $61

Same $61 / one-year payment window / two-day cancel rule as salesperson. Pass one portion, retake only the failed portion within two years of the first passed portion, and only while both the school (or education-equivalency) certificate and the Experience Certificate are unexpired. HAR §16-99-19.2: testing without a current Experience Certificate invalidates the score. HAR §16-99-29: 75 percent broker cut, two years to pass both portions after the first examination date.

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

PSI bulletin 1/16/2026: $61 for one or both broker portions. Experience Certificate application $75 non-refundable (BEINSTRUCT_230113). DCCA posted table (HAR 16-53): individual salesperson/broker-salesperson/PB/BIC original $382 odd / $282 even, renewal $268; the individual broker license uses that fee. Broker corporation/partnership/LLC/LLP original $486 odd / $349 even, renewal $343 (entity instruction sheet even-year split includes application $50, license $84, recovery fund $84, CRF $63, education fund $68). Sole proprietor $65 original add-on, $298 renewal. The application and initial license amounts shown here are the individual combined original fee, not added to the entity fee. 2026 is even, so the individual original on the posted table is $282.

• !

  Sitting PSI before the Broker Experience Certificate exists

  HAR §16-99-19.2 and the Branch exam page: failure to obtain the Experience Certificate prior to examination invalidates the score. Uploading the 80-hour school certificate alone is not enough. The Commission issues the BE; it is not a school document, and it requires PB/BIC signatures plus a $75 filing.

• !

  Counting part-time or inactive years toward the three-of-five

  No prorata credit for part-time. No credit while inactive, forfeited, suspended, revoked, or terminated. The Commission's own bulletin does the math at 156 weeks of 40-hour activity. Holding a license for three years, two of them on inactive status, is not three years of experience.

• !

  Treating 75 percent as 70 percent

  Salesperson cut is 70. Broker cut is 75 on both portions, and the uniform portion is 75 items that score 80 points because some items are worth two. Candidates who just passed the salesperson exam at 70 sometimes assume the same passing score applies to the broker exam.

• !

  Using the even-year new-salesperson CE holiday on a new broker license

  February 2026 Informational Notice: the deeming applies to salespersons first licensed in 2026. Broker applicants and broker licensees must complete Core A, Core B, and 14 electives to renew active. Passing the broker exam in the fall does not exempt you from the November 30 deadline.

• !

  Opening a brokerage on the individual broker license alone

  The individual license covers you as a person. A sole proprietorship or entity is a second application with BREG papers, an Entity Resolution, a Hawaii place of business, and a different fee line ($65 sole proprietor; $349/$486 entity). Branch offices on another island need a registered BIC. Unlicensed brokerage activity is still unlicensed activity.

• !

  Letting the Experience Certificate or school certificate age out while you wait to test

  Both are two-year documents. PSI will deny the upload if either is expired. The two-year retake window on a passed portion also requires both certificates to still be unexpired. You are tracking three deadlines (BE, school certificate, post-exam application), and the first one to expire stops your application.

No reciprocity. Broker paths for out-of-state licensees are named equivalencies: education equivalency (out-of-state broker license active within one year, or U.S. law degree), experience equivalency (unencumbered out-of-state broker license, or three-of-five full-time out-of-state salesperson work), and uniform-section equivalency (still sit the 50-item Hawaii state section). Each certificate is valid two years. A California DRE broker exam or a Washington managing-broker credential does not replace the Hawaii state portion or, by itself, the Experience Certificate.

Hawaii vs other large markets

Hours are the pre-license total printed in each guide; states that count credits or named courses show “See guide.” Published state fees add the application, exam, initial-license, and fingerprint amounts the guide can cite — tuition is not included.

Does the salesperson 60 count as the broker 80?

No. HAR §16-99-36 is sixty class hours for salesperson and eighty for broker, each conforming to its own Commission curriculum. Broker education equivalency is also narrower: out-of-state broker license active within one year, or a U.S. law degree — a business bachelor's that worked for the salesperson equivalency does not work here.

What is the Broker Experience Certificate, and when do I need it?

Before PSI will seat you. HAR §16-99-19.2: apply, pay $75, get PB/BIC Experience Certification Statements covering 156 weeks at 40 hours inside the last five years, receive a certificate valid two years, upload it with the school certificate. Sitting without it invalidates the score. The Commission's Bulletin 25-02 warns that candidates can end up unable to obtain ECS signatures.

What is the broker exam shape and cut?

PSI bulletin 1/16/2026: $61. Uniform 75 items / 80 points / 150 minutes; state 50 items / 90 minutes; combo 125 items / 130 points / 240 minutes. Passing is 75 percent on each portion (HAR §16-99-29), not the salesperson's 70.

Can I use out-of-state broker experience instead of three Hawaii years?

The Commission may grant an equivalency for a current unencumbered out-of-state broker license in an ARELLO jurisdiction, or for three-of-five full-time out-of-state salesperson work, with a Verification of License issued within six months and the $75 fee. It is an equivalency, not reciprocity. You still sit at least the Hawaii state section unless you also hold uniform-section equivalency.

Do new brokers skip CE in the even year the way new salespersons do?

No. The February 2026 Informational Notice gives the even-year CE deeming only to salespersons first licensed in that even year. All broker applicants and broker licensees must complete the 20-hour core-plus-elective package to renew active.

Is the individual broker license enough to open a brokerage?

No. The individual license covers you as a person. A sole proprietorship, corporation, LLC, partnership, or LLP is a separate application with BREG papers, an Entity Resolution designating a principal broker, and a Hawaii place of business. Entity originals are $486/$349 on the posted table; sole proprietor is $65 plus a $298 renewal.

What happens if my former principal broker will not sign the Experience Certification Statement?

Bulletin 25-02: the PB or BIC at the time, or the firm's current PB or BIC, may complete the ECS. If the broker was a sole proprietor, is incapacitated, and there is no BIC, you may be unable to obtain an ECS and therefore unable to sit. The Commission's advice is to collect an ECS when you leave a firm, not years later.