Prospective brokers seeking to be licensed for the first time will now need to take an extra step to ensure they meet the experience requirements.

Beginning January 1, 2023, Assembly Bill (AB) 2745 requires non-licensees applying for a broker’s license to show the required two years of general real estate experience accumulated within the five-year period prior to the exam application date.

Along with broker licensing education, broker applicants need to show a minimum two years of full-time salesperson employment within the five years immediately preceding the application date. Qualified licensed experience is defined as:

  • full-time salesperson employment of at least 40 hours per week devoted to activities requiring a real estate license; or
  • part-time employment as a real estate salesperson, credited on a prorated basis (e.g. 20 hours of activity per week for four years).

To provide proof of this experience, applicants need to certify their employment through their current and/or previous employing broker. [RE 226]

However, the DRE also accepts applications from non-licensee applicants — who this new law addresses. Like the licensee applicants, this new law now requires the non-licensee’s experience also takes place within the five years preceding the application date. [RE 227]

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Equivalent experience for non-licensee applicants needs to be full-time for at least two of the previous five years, or its part-time equivalent. Acceptable experience includes real estate activity which does not require a salesperson license. This includes, but is not limited to experience as:

  • an escrow, title or loan officer directly related to the financing or conveying of real estate;
  • subdivider, contractor or speculative builder, which include duties relating to the purchase, finance, development and sale or lease of real estate; and
  • property appraiser.

The DRE considers other real estate-related activities as equivalent experience, provided they satisfy the intent of the law. For example, experience as a property manager is also likely to fulfill the requirements.

Equivalent experience in lieu of the two years of full-time salesperson employment may also be based on a combination of salesperson employment and real estate related experience.

Separately, an applicant may bypass the experience requirement when they have a degree from a four-year accredited college or university with a major or minor in real estate. [Calif. Business and Professions Code §10150.6(c)]

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