Maine Real Estate Sales Agent License requirements

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

1. 1

   Complete the 55-hour Sales Agent Course at 75%

   Commission outline: 3 quizzes (≥60 questions total) + ≥80-question final. Live 90% attendance. Not a 40-hour New Hampshire course with a new title. Calendar the one-year Pearson fuse from the certificate date.

2. 2

   Sit Pearson ($88): 80 national / 2.5 hr + 40 Maine law / 1.5 hr, scaled 75

   Bring the original course-completion certificate. Both parts inside one year of the course. Bangor / Presque Isle / Westbrook or a Massachusetts Pearson center. Not PSI.

3. 3

   Wait one day for scores to transmit, then apply ($100 + $21) under an agency

   Application within one year of passing the entire exam. Affiliation with a designated broker is required to practice. Non-renewable two-year credential.

4. 4

   Do not go inactive. Calendar the two-year associate-broker upgrade now

   60-hour Associate Broker Course at 75% + Documented Field Experience Form + core course. File no more than 30 days before the sales-agent license expires and within five years of original issuance. No second Pearson sitting on that upgrade.

Minimum age

18 years old

Identification

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

Residency and identification

Age 18 at the time of license application, not at course start (live OPOR page; handbook). High school diploma or equivalent. Maine residency is not independently required; a nonresident still affiliates with a Maine-licensed agency. Reciprocal applicants sit the Maine Law exam ($85, 50 scored, scaled 75) regardless of the level currently held elsewhere and furnish verification of licensure in good standing from every state, including disciplinary history. Inactive 6+ years later (associate broker / broker) requires the Maine Law exam at scaled 75 and a new application — that rule is written for associate broker / broker; sales agent is already non-renewable and is not eligible for the § 13194 reinstatement path.

Qualifying education

Commission Sales Agent qualifying education (QE overview PDF approved 8/15/2013, effective 1/1/2014; Minimum Guidelines approved 1/24/2013). At least 55 hours. Three quizzes totaling a minimum of 60 objective questions, administered at intervals, with explanations of wrong answers. Final exam at least 80 questions weighted to the outline percentages, administered at the end. Quiz/final time ≤ 10% of course length. Passing grade 75%. Live delivery: 90% attendance; grade weighting 50% final / 30% quizzes / 20% other (case studies, participation); no open-book quizzes or finals. Distance: ARELLO-certified or Commission distance guidelines (minimum two case studies). Instruction percentages exclude quiz/exam time: Introduction 1; Industry overview 1; Maine Real Estate Commission 13 (Ch. 400 90-day designated-broker rule, 5-business-day trust deposits, Ch. 410 advertising / net listing / disclosed dual agency / appointed agent / mandated disclosures); Agency relationships 13 (32 M.R.S. §§ 13271–13283, written brokerage agreement required to create agency under § 13177-A, Real Estate Brokerage Relationships Form); Product knowledge 28; Valuation 9; Financing 9; Contracts 14; Closings 8 (Maine transfer tax, nonresident withholding, TRID); Miscellaneous federal and state 4 (fair housing, ADA, antitrust, TILA, FIRPTA, $250k/$500k capital-gains). A New Hampshire 40 or a Massachusetts 40 is not this 55. Pearson sitting within one year of passing the course. Bring the original course-completion certificate to the center.

Education or filing deadline

Pearson: both parts of the sales-agent exam within one year of the course-completion date on the certificate. License application within one year of passing the entire exam. The sales-agent license itself is issued for two years and is non-renewable. Associate-broker application must be submitted no more than 30 days before the sales-agent license expires and within five years of the original sales-agent issuance (handbook).

Character review

Handbook: a reputation for honesty, truthfulness, fair-dealing, and competency. Criminal-records check plus Commission review. Disclose convictions. Reciprocal verification must indicate whether disciplinary action has been taken.

Background process

$21 criminal-records check on the live individual-licenses page, stacked with the $100 application/license. Confirm whether the live packet is a State Bureau name check or a print — this page does not freeze a fingerprint vendor the individual-licenses page did not name.

Experience

No licensed experience for sales agent. Agency affiliation under a designated broker is required to practice. Two years of practice as an actively licensed sales agent is the associate-broker experience clock — inactive time does not count.

Broker affiliation

A sales agent may perform brokerage only in the employ of or on behalf of a licensed real estate agency and under the supervision of that agency’s designated broker (32 M.R.S. § 13200; live individual-licenses page). Handbook: the candidate must have made arrangements to affiliate with a licensed real estate agency before applying. The two-year active affiliation is what the associate-broker license later requires — do not go inactive as a design. Chapter 400 90-day designated-broker supervisory rule and 5-business-day trust-deposit rule are designated-broker duties the sales agent still has to live under.

Pearson VUE, handbook #092000 (December 2025). pearsonvue.com/us/en/me/realestate.html; (877) 543-5220. $88 sales-agent sitting. Scaled 75. · Fee: $88

Handbook: $88 sales-agent sitting, $85 Maine Law (non-resident / renewal / reinstatement). Failures get a numeric scaled score and diagnostics; retake the failed portion under live Pearson rules. Both sales-agent parts must still be passed within one year of the course date. Apply within one year of passing the entire exam. The Maine Law exam is not a substitute for the sales-agent law portion. Online application cannot be filed the same day as the pass — wait for scores to transmit. ESL extra time is 30 minutes per part after Pearson approval of the ESL form.

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

Live individual-licenses page: application/license $100 plus $21 criminal-records check (sales agent, associate broker, designated broker, reciprocal, reinstatement). Application and initialLicense in this object are the same $100 original, not stacked. Pearson handbook December 2025: Sales Agent Exam $88; Maine Law Exam (non-resident/renewal) $85. The sales-agent credential is non-renewable — there is no renewal fee at this level; the next Commission payment is the associate-broker $100+$21. Associate-broker / broker biennial renewal is $100; $50 late fee inside 90 calendar days after expiration; after 90 days the file is a new application plus the Maine Law exam at scaled 75, not a late renewal. Inactive change-of-status $20, and the $100 renewal is still due if you go inactive on a renewal.

• !

  Calling it a salesperson license and expecting a renewal form

  Sales agent. Non-renewable. Upgrade to associate broker or you are done. § 13194 reinstatement after 90 days is written for associate broker / broker, not for expired sales agents.

• !

  Sitting Pearson 13 months after the course

  One-year course-to-exam fuse measured from the completion date on the certificate. Both parts. Miss it and the 55 hours are dead.

• !

  Passing Pearson and applying 13 months later

  One-year exam-to-application fuse. Separate from the course-to-exam fuse. Two clocks.

• !

  Applying the same day you pass

  Handbook: online application cannot be submitted sooner than the day after scores transmit. Same-day filing bounces.

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  Going inactive as a sales agent

  Commission: not recommended. Two years of active affiliation is the associate-broker requirement. Inactive time does not count.

• !

  Treating the $85 Maine Law exam as the sales-agent sitting

  Maine Law is 50 scored / $85 for reciprocity and reinstatement. Sales-agent law portion is 40 scored inside the $88 sitting. The handbook says they are not interchangeable.

• !

  Showing up at Pearson without the original course-completion certificate

  The handbook form is what the center staff collect. A phone photo of a school email is not that form. Missed appointment; $88 gone.

• !

  Banking a New Hampshire 40 or a Massachusetts 40 as Maine’s 55

  Different hour count, different 75% course pass, different Pearson (not PSI) sitting, different non-renewable design. Reciprocity is a Maine Law exam plus verification, not a transcript swap.

• !

  Reading scaled 75 as “75 of 80” or as Iowa’s 56/28

  Maine reports a scaled 0–100 score. 75 is the cut. It is not a raw item count. Failures see a numeric score; passes see Pass.

• !

  Letting the two-year sales-agent license die without filing associate broker

  Handbook: associate-broker application no more than 30 days before the sales-agent license expires and within five years of original issuance. Miss the window and the apprentice license is gone with no late-renewal row.

• !

  Skipping mandated Maine disclosures because the national paper already tested lead paint

  Maine wants water supply, heating, waste disposal, hazardous materials, and as of the September 1, 2026 outline flood risk and access. Shoreland transfers are a Title 30-A product. Fifteen of forty law items sit in “laws and rules governing licensees.”

Live OPOR Nonresident / Resident Reciprocal Licensing row: an equal license may be issued to a person who holds a current and active real estate license in another jurisdiction after meeting the requirements. All reciprocal candidates pass the Maine Law examination administered by Pearson VUE (50 scored, 1.5 hours, $85, scaled 75) regardless of the level of license currently held. Furnish verification of licensure in good standing from any state where a license is held or has been held, including whether disciplinary action was taken. $100 + $21. A non-resident licensee must be affiliated with a Maine-licensed agency. A New Hampshire salesperson certificate does not become a Maine sales agent by itself. The non-renewable sales-agent design still applies unless the live reciprocal form issues at associate-broker or broker level. This site does not copy a secondary-source compact list.

Does Maine issue a salesperson license?

No. The official entry title is sales agent (32 M.R.S. § 13200). This page uses the salesperson URL slot so the path matches the rest of the site; the credential name is not faked. New Hampshire and Massachusetts still say salesperson. Maine does not.

How many prelicense hours?

55-hour Sales Agent Course with a 75% course pass (QE overview PDF; Ch. 360). Then Pearson at scaled 75 within one year of the course, then application within one year of the exam. It is not a 40-hour New Hampshire or Massachusetts course.

What is the Pearson sitting?

Handbook #092000 (December 2025): $88. National/general 80 scored + 5 pretest in 2.5 hours; Maine law 40 scored + 5–15 pretest in 1.5 hours. Scaled 75 of 0–100, not a raw percent and not Iowa’s 56/28. Bring the original course-completion certificate. Both parts inside one year of the course date.

Can I renew a sales-agent license?

No. It is issued for two years and is non-renewable. Upgrade to associate broker (two years active plus 60-hour course plus Documented Field Experience Form plus core course) before it dies. Expired sales agents are not eligible for the Maine-Law-exam reinstatement that associate brokers and brokers use after 90 days.

What does the original cost?

OPOR: $100 application/license + $21 criminal-records check. Pearson: $88 sales-agent sitting (handbook December 2025). Application and initialLicense in this object are the same $100, not stacked. Tuition is extra.

Is there a second exam for associate broker?

Not on the live associate-broker row. 60-hour Associate Broker Course at 75% plus the Documented Field Experience Form plus a Commission-approved core course, after two years as a sales agent. File no more than 30 days before the sales-agent license expires and within five years of original issuance. The Maine Law exam returns only for reciprocal applicants, for files expired more than 90 days (associate/broker), and for 6+ years inactive.

Can I apply the same day I pass Pearson?

No. Handbook: an online license application cannot be submitted sooner than the day after the exam is passed and scores have been transmitted to the Commission. Then you still have a one-year fuse from the pass date.

What is the Maine Law exam versus the sales-agent law portion?

They are different papers. Sales-agent law portion: 40 scored, part of the $88 sitting, required of original sales-agent candidates. Maine Law exam: 50 scored, $85, used for reciprocity and for associate-broker / broker reinstatement after 90 days or 6+ years inactive. Handbook: the Maine Law Exam does not satisfy the law portion of the Sales Agent exam.

Do I have to live in Maine?

No independent residency requirement on the live page. Nonresidents still affiliate with a Maine-licensed agency. Reciprocal candidates still sit the Maine Law exam.

What CE applies to a sales agent?

None — the credential is non-renewable. Associate broker and broker: 21 hours of Commission-approved CE including the current core course, biennial, random monthly audit, certificates not submitted at renewal. $100 renewal; $50 late inside 90 days; after 90 days, Maine Law exam plus a new application. Inactive licensees have no CE while inactive; reactivation inside 6 years is a CE ladder (21 / 28 / 36 hours including the current core).

When am I 18?

At application, not at course start. You may finish the 55 hours before your birthday; you may not apply before it, and the one-year exam-to-application fuse still runs.

Can I warehouse the sales-agent license inactive while I shop brokerages?

The Commission’s own inactive row says inactive is not recommended at the sales-agent level because the license is non-renewable and two years of affiliation is the associate-broker requirement. Inactive time does not count toward those two years.

Where do I sit?

Pearson centers listed on the handbook back cover in circulation: Bangor, Presque Isle, Westbrook, plus Massachusetts sites (Boston, Concord, Woburn). Confirm live. Not a PSI center and not Vermont’s OPR state-paper link.

What mandated disclosures are Maine-specific?

Ch. 410 and the QE outline: private water supply, heating, waste disposal system, and known hazardous materials, plus federal lead-based paint. The September 1, 2026 law-outline restatement adds flood risk and access to property under mandated disclosures. Shoreland transfers (30-A M.R.S. § 4216) are a separate land-use bullet. Arsenic pamphlets, radon, asbestos, and farmland adjacency are in the 13% Commission / disclosure block of the 55-hour course.