WA real estate licensing guide
Washington
Washington does not issue a salesperson license. Entry is already a broker after 90 clock hours (60 Fundamentals including 3 hours fair housing + 30 Practices), PSI at a scaled 70, IdentoGO after you pass, and a different 90-hour CE event at first renewal.
Verified 2026-09-02
The Washington State Department of Licensing Real Estate Program does not have a salesperson application. RCW 18.85.101 is the entry statute: age 18, high-school diploma or equivalent, 90 hours of director-approved instruction — Fundamentals, which shall include three hours of fair housing and consumer-protection issues, and Practices — each course finished within two years before the exam application, a course exam on each, and the broker license examination. DOL's live page names the split 60-hour Real Estate Fundamentals plus 30-hour Real Estate Practices. The school posts completions to PSI Testing Excellence. You pass the national and Washington state portions within six months of each other at a minimum scaled score of 70 (WAC 308-124A-760), fingerprint after passing at IdentoGO ($51 on the live Real Estate Broker table), and apply for the license within one year of passing. Original broker is $233 including a mandatory $20 real estate research assessment; the exam is a separate $210 (WAC 308-124A-775).
Managing broker is a different legal object (RCW 18.85.111): three years full-time as a broker inside the last five, or named alternate qualifications, plus 30-hour Brokerage Management, 30-hour Business Management, and 30-hour Advanced Real Estate Law inside three years, and a managing-broker examination that WAC scores at scaled 75 on simulation portions — information gathering and decision making each at 75 on the national side, Washington licensing law and closing/settlement on the state side. That sitting is not the entry broker's 100+30 multiple-choice paper. Original managing broker is $330 including the same $20 research fee. Reciprocity, for either credential, is an active-in-the-last-six-months license-history path that sits only the Washington state exam; pocket-card photos are denied.
First active broker renewal is a third 90-hour pile (WAC 308-124A-785): Advanced Practices, Real Estate Law including three hours fair housing, Current Issues, and 27 other hours, all started after first licensure. Later cycles are 30 hours. Fingerprint results expire in six years and will block renewal if you ignore the SAW to-do. Oregon principal-broker, Idaho salesperson, and California DRE broker are neighboring products, not this file.
Licensing authority
Washington State Department of Licensing, Real Estate Program
WA DOL
Washington does not issue a salesperson license. DOL licenses brokers (the entry credential) and managing brokers, contracts PSI Testing Excellence for the exam, fingerprints after passing via IdentoGO, and bakes a $20 real estate research assessment into original and renewal individual fees. Designated-broker and firm objects are separate from the individual broker license.
RCW 18.85 (Real Estate Brokers and Managing Brokers Act); WAC 308-124, 308-124A (licensing, exams, fees, first-renewal and subsequent CE), 308-124H (education); RCW 18.85.101 (broker), 18.85.111 (managing broker), 18.85.141 (reciprocity), 18.85.211 (CE) Real Estate Licensing, Department of Licensing, PO Box 3856, Seattle, WA 98124-3856 (360) 664-6488
Official commission siteLicense types in Washington
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Washington Real Estate Broker License
90 clock hours (60-hour Real Estate Fundamentals + 30-hour Real Estate Practices) · PSI Testing Excellence, under contract to the Washington State Department of Licensing (https://test-takers.psiexams.com/ware; (855) 746-8168). School posts completions; PSI emails the registration link (up to 7 days).
Verified 2026-09-02
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Washington Real Estate Managing Broker License
90 clock hours within 3 years (30 Brokerage Management + 30 Business Management + 30 Advanced Real Estate Law) · PSI Testing Excellence after DOL SAW approval (wait 4 business days). Same $210 bulletin family as the entry broker exam, different sitting.
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.