IA real estate licensing guide
Iowa
Iowa is 60 hours of principles (online allowed) plus three 12-hour LIVE courses, a 12-month education fuse, an FBI packet that dies at 210 days, and a PSI score that dies the last working day of the sixth month.
Verified 2026-09-02
The Iowa Real Estate Commission sits inside the Department of Inspections, Appeals, & Licensing at 6200 Park Avenue, Suite 100, Des Moines, IA 50321. Phone (515) 725-9022 x7. Email RealEstateCommission@iowa.gov. It licenses salespersons and brokers under Iowa Code chapter 543B and IAC 193E (education in ch. 16, fees in ch. 9, E&O in ch. 19 / 481-2019). PSI Services LLC delivers the exam at test-takers.psiexams.com/iare, (855) 898-0712. Rice Insurance Services Center holds the Commission group E&O policy. There is no recovery fund; § 543B.47 makes errors-and-omissions the statutory instrument. Licensure requires U.S. citizenship or lawful-presence verification through SAVE.
The education object is the trap school blogs flatten into a single "96-hour Iowa course." 193E—16.2 and the live DIAL salesperson-by-exam page split it. Sixty live-or-distance hours of principles and practices — five named 12-hour blocks: Introduction to Real Estate and Iowa License Law; Ownership, Encumbrances, Legal Descriptions, Transfer of Title and Closing; Contracts, Agency and Antitrust; Valuation, Finance and Real Estate Math; Property Management/Leasing, Fair Housing, Environmental Risks and Health Issues — plus three additional 12-hour courses that must be live instruction: Buying Practices, Listing Practices, and Developing Professionalism and Ethical Practices. Live means classroom or electronic delivery with real-time visual and audio contact (193E—16.1). All of it, 96 hours, must be completed during the 12 months before the Commission receives the application. The 60 must also be under 12 months old when you sit PSI. An hour is 50 minutes. School finals count as hours. Substitution of substantially similar courses is written and dies at 12 months.
The DIAL-hosted PSI bulletin is the sitting: salesperson 80 national items in 120 minutes at 56 points and 40 state items in 60 minutes at 28 points, $95, five to ten experimental items, 90-day registration fuse. Broker is 75 items for 80 points at 60 (BEST-ANSWER scenarios scoring 0/1/2) and 40 state at 30, and brokers bring nine certificates. Scores die the last working day of the sixth month following the pass date. Fingerprints are a Commission packet requested in My Iowa PLB / DataPro as RE - Background Request, $51, 5–6 weeks after the card returns, valid 210 days under § 543B.15(9); do not mail the card to the FBI. Original salesperson cannot be issued inactive (193E—4.1(1)). License $125 salesperson / $170 broker (193E—9.1). Licenses run three years and expire December 31 of the third year with 36 hours of CE (8 Law Update, 4 Ethics, 24 electives, max 24 online, 18 elective hours may carry, Law Update and Ethics cannot). Nebraska's 96-hour 30+30+30+6 grid, Missouri's 48+MREP, Illinois's 75-plus-45, and Washington's broker-entry title are neighbor comparisons, not Iowa's thesis.
Licensing authority
Iowa Real Estate Commission (Department of Inspections, Appeals, & Licensing)
IREC / DIAL
Licenses salespersons and brokers, contracts PSI for the exam, runs FBI fingerprint checks that die at 210 days, requires mandatory E&O (Iowa Code § 543B.47; 193E ch. 19), and issues three-year licenses that expire December 31 of the third year. Email RealEstateCommission@iowa.gov.
Iowa Code Chapter 543B; Iowa Administrative Code 193E (esp. chs. 4, 9, 16, 19); IAC 481 as applicable 6200 Park Avenue, Suite 100, Des Moines, IA 50321 (515) 725-9022 x7
Official commission siteLicense types in Iowa
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Iowa Real Estate Salesperson License
60 hours principles (live or online) + 12 Buying + 12 Listing + 12 Developing Professionalism and Ethical Practices (live only) = 96 hours · PSI Services LLC (https://test-takers.psiexams.com/iare; (855) 898-0712). Bulletin effective 2/8/2024.
Verified 2026-09-02
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Iowa Real Estate Broker License
60 named hours within 24 months of passing the exams (6+6+6+6+6+6+12+6+6) · PSI Services LLC (https://test-takers.psiexams.com/iare; (855) 898-0712). Bulletin effective 2/8/2024.
Verified 2026-09-02
Next steps
Budget
Verified state fees
Application, exam, and fingerprint fees we could confirm. School tuition is not estimated.
Mobility
Reciprocity, endorsement, recognition
Mutual recognition, endorsement, Act 41, and the states that waive nothing.
Testing
National vs state portions
Pearson VUE, PSI, DRE, and DOS — and what actually fails people.