Renewing your DRE license

The DRE sends out renewal notices 90 days prior to the expiration date of your license. But this doesn’t mean that you have to wait until then to take your continuing education courses. You may take the required continuing education courses any time during the four-year period prior to your license expiration date. In fact, by completing your courses in advance, you eliminate the rush, and avoid crises like a computer crash, DRE late fees – and worse – a suspended license.

To renew a license with the DRE, brokers and agents are required to complete 45 hours of
DRE-approved continuing education consisting of:

  • six mandatory, three-hour courses (18 hours) in the following subjects:
    • office management and supervision;
    • agency;
    • fair housing;
    • trust funds;
    • ethics; and
    • risk management;
  • a minimum of 18 hours of consumer protection courses; and
  • the remaining hours in your choice of consumer protection or consumer service courses.

To simplify the process and make it more engaging, firsttuesday offers the first ever DRE-approved, video-based renewal course to meet your 45-hour requirement: the Video Renewal Course: Real Estate Made Reel™. Brokers and agents can complete their education in as little as six days with this interactive video-based experience which brings California real estate fundamentals to vivid life.

Nine other topic-specific packages covering different areas of real estate expertise are also available – don’t waste your time studying generic material that isn’t engineered around your practice. More about firsttuesday continuing education courses is available here.

The 70/30 CE Exemption

However, a 70/30 CE Exemption rule, sometimes referred to as the senility statute, allows a licensee to avoid renewal CE education when:

  • the licensee is aged 70 or more on or before the expiration date of their license; and
  • their license has been in continuous good standing for at least 30 years. [Bus P & C §10170.8]

A license is in continuous good standing if it has:

  • not been suspended, restricted or revoked by disciplinary action within 30 years prior to its expiration date; and
  • always been renewed on-time or within a two-year grace period following the license expiration date. [DRE Regs. §3012.3]

Editor’s note — A licensee may still qualify for the 70/30 CE Exemption when they delay their renewal submission to during their two-year grace period when they reach the age of 70 after their license expires.

For example, consider a sales agent who has been licensed in good standing for 30 years. Their license expires on March 10, 2020, at which time the sales agent will be 69 years of age. The sales agent’s birthday is July 1. If the sales agent does not renew their license by March 10, they can wait until July 1 — when they reach age 70 — to qualify for the 70/30 CE Exemption. Thus, they submitted their renewal within the remainder of the two-year grace period ending March 10, 2022.

However, a licensee is not permitted to perform real estate services requiring a real estate license after their license expires and before it is renewed. Further, they will need to pay the higher late renewal fee.

More about the exemption can be found here.

Renewing your MLO endorsement or license

Additionally, if you are a mortgage loan originator (MLO) under the California DRE and/or the California Department of Business Oversight (DBO), you are required to renew your endorsement annually through the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System & Registry (NMLS).

This renewal requires an additional eight hours of MLO continuing education.

The on-time renewal period for the MLO endorsements or licenses is November 1st through December 31st. Though you may complete your continuing education any time in the calendar year, you may only process an on-time renewal with the NMLS during the renewal period.

Related article:

Painless renewals for mortgage loan originators

firsttuesday also offers the 8-hour MLO/NMLS endorsement continuing education. Our course is revised annually to comply with the NMLS successive years rule and includes helpful explainer videos.

Topics include:

  • 3 hours of federal law and regulations (HMDA and ECOA);
  • 2 hours of ethics and consumer protection (mortgage fraud, red flags rules and more);
  • 2 hours of nontraditional lending (ARMs and reverse mortgages); and
  • a 1 hour California elective (CRMLA, CFL and the Homeowner Bill of Rights).

Don’t wait until the last minute to renew your license — it’s not worth the stress.