Virginia 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

   Log 40 hours/week as a licensee during 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding application

   Experience Verification Form from each firm. Live form question 12 is the clock; the FAQ sentence omits the 40-hour-week clause.

2. 2

   Complete 180 hours including a 45-hour Real Estate Brokerage course; Principles does not count

   Three broker-specific courses minimum. Max 60 hours per broker-specific course / 45 per broker-related course. Monitored finals. Certified transcripts.

3. 3

   PSI $60 broker paper: 75 items/80 points/105 min pass 60 + 50/55 min pass 38 (combo 125/160 min)

   Do not sit the salesperson 80/40 paper. Cut is 60 of 80 points, not 56 of 75 items.

4. 4

   A490-0225BLIC: $299.50 by exam (includes Recovery Fund) or $134.50 Virginia salesperson upgrade, within 1 year of the initial examination date

   Associate vs Principal vs sole proprietorship is a form choice. Subsequent CE is 24 hours including 8 supervision (2 of which are broker-supervision overview) under 18VAC135-20-101.

Minimum age

18 years old

Identification

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

Residency and identification

Live broker form question 12: actively engaged as a real estate licensee for at least 40 hours per week during 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding the application, documented on Experience Verification Forms (a separate form from each firm). Live Board FAQ still prints 36 of 48 months as a salesperson without the 40-hour-week clause — follow the live form. Reciprocity brokers: current broker license in another state, 180 hours substantially equivalent, 36 of 48 months as salesperson or broker, state portion only.

Qualifying education

Live Pre-License page and Board FAQ (fetched 2026-09-02): 180 class/clock hours. At least three courses from the broker-specific list; one of the three must be a 45-classroom-hour real estate brokerage course. Remaining hours may be broker-related (abstracting, contract law, economics, feasibility, investments, math, property management, property law, CCIM/CRB/GRI/SIR-SIOR designations, business law, commercial mortgage lending, land planning and use, urban development). Maximum 60 hours for a single broker-specific course and 45 hours for a single broker-related course. Principles of Real Estate taken for the salesperson license is not acceptable. Equivalent accredited-institution courses of at least 45 class/clock hours or 3 semester hours; monitored final required. CE hours are not pre-license credit. Original or certified transcripts required.

Education or filing deadline

Apply within 1 year of the initial examination date. Experience must cover 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding the application, not a historical 36 somewhere in the file.

Character review

Same disclosure grid as salesperson plus the 40-hour-week experience affidavit. High school diploma or GED is statutory for brokers too (§54.1-2105.B.2.a).

Background process

Fingerprints for initial licensure; Virginia salesperson upgrade may be exempt from a new set (live form checkbox). 90-day clock if new prints.

Experience

Live broker form: actively engaged as a real estate licensee at least 40 hours per week during 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding the date of the application. Live Board FAQ: 36 of 48 months as a salesperson. This hub follows the live form's 40-hour-week clause and notes the FAQ wording. Reciprocity: 36 of 48 as salesperson or broker.

Broker affiliation

Live form: Associate Broker, Principal Broker, or broker-owned Sole Proprietorship. Principal Broker of an existing firm needs a Firm Principal Broker/Officer Change Form before the Board will issue. A new firm that is not a broker-owned sole proprietorship needs a complete Firm License Application. Associate brokers affiliating with a branch need the branch license number and supervising broker. 18VAC135-20-101 broker CE includes 8 hours of supervision and management, 2 of which must overview broker supervision requirements under Chapter 21.

PSI Services LLC (test-takers.psiexams.com/vare; (855) 340-3910; CIB Last Revised 2/18/2026, bulletin 466). $60. Independently scored portions. · Fee: $60

Same $60, not refundable or transferable. Retake only the failed portion. Apply within 1 year of the initial examination date. Reciprocity brokers book the state product, not the salesperson state product.

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

Live form A490-0225BLIC: Broker by examination $299.50 includes Real Estate Transaction Recovery Fund Assessment; reciprocity $299.50; VA Salesperson upgrading to Broker $134.50. Application and initialLicense in this object are the $299.50 by-exam row, not stacked with the $134.50 upgrade row. Concurrent broker is a different live form at $209.50 (A490-0225CONCUR-v10, 07/01/2026). PSI $60. HB 30 Technology Fee $7.25/year. 18VAC135-20-80/-120 repealed April 1, 2026 — confirm the live renewal cart. Fingerprint dollar not on the live pages.

• !

  Counting Principles of Real Estate toward the 180

  Live Pre-License NOTE is capitalized for a reason.

• !

  Sitting the salesperson 80-item national / 40-item state paper

  Broker national is 75 items carrying 80 points. State is 50 in 55 minutes. Cut is 60 of 80 points and 38 of 50.

• !

  Treating 56 of 75 items as the national cut

  60 of 80 points. Two-point items. Combo is 125 items carrying 130 points in 160 minutes.

• !

  Skipping the 45-hour Real Estate Brokerage course

  One of the three broker-specific courses must be that named 45-hour course. Max 60 hours per broker-specific course.

• !

  Counting a part-time year toward the 36 of 48

  Live form wants 40 hours per week. The FAQ sentence that omits that clause is not the form you sign.

• !

  Paying $299.50 when the live upgrade row is $134.50, or stacking them

  Virginia salesperson upgrading to broker is $134.50. By-exam / reciprocity is $299.50 including Recovery Fund. They are alternative rows, not a stack.

Live Board FAQ: reciprocity brokers must (1) pass the State portion, (2) submit verification of experience (actively engaged as a salesperson or broker for 36 out of 48 months preceding application), (3) submit original or certified transcripts of 180 classroom hours of broker pre-licensing courses substantially equivalent to Virginia's, and (4) submit letters of certification from other jurisdictions, and MUST hold a current broker license in another state. Universal License Recognition is a separate live broker form (A490-0225B-ULR) at the same $299.50 / $134.50 split. This hub does not copy a school-blog compact list.

Does the salesperson 60 count as the 180?

No. Live Pre-License NOTE: any Principles of Real Estate course taken for licensure as a salesperson is not acceptable as a broker pre-license education course.

How much experience, and is it 36 months calendar?

Live broker form: 40 hours per week during 36 of the 48 months immediately preceding the application, on Experience Verification Forms. Live FAQ omits the 40-hour-week clause. Follow the form.

Is the national paper still 80 items?

No. Broker national is 75 items carrying 80 points in 105 minutes. Cut is 60 of 80 points, not 56 of 75 items and not the salesperson 56. State is 50 items / 55 minutes, pass 38.

What does the upgrade cost?

Live form: $134.50 if you are a Virginia salesperson upgrading to broker. $299.50 by examination or reciprocity, and that $299.50 includes the Recovery Fund assessment. PSI is still $60. Concurrent broker is $209.50 on a different form.

What CE do brokers take?

18VAC135-20-101: 24 hours, of which 19 are mandatory — 8 supervision and management (2 of which overview broker supervision requirements under Chapter 21), Fair Housing 2, Ethics 3, Agency 2, Contracts/escrow 2, legal updates including flood/NFIP 2 — plus 5 electives. Not the salesperson 16-hour grid.

Associate broker vs principal broker?

Same 180 hours, same 36-of-48 / 40 hr/wk clock, same PSI broker paper. The live form asks which hanging you want. Principal Broker of an existing firm needs the Firm Principal Broker/Officer Change Form. A new non-sole-proprietor firm needs a Firm License Application.