North Carolina Real Estate Classes

Real Estate CE Classes

North Carolina Real Estate Education

The flexibility to choose your working hours coupled with the rise of the real estate market has led many people to pursue a career in this field.

In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has predicted a 6 percent increase in the employment of real estate brokers and sale agents from 2016 to 2026 – about as fast as the national average for our entire economy.

An improving job market, and rising consumer spending is also set to drive demand for brokers and agents to handle commercial, retail, and industrial real estate transactions.

The Growing Real Estate Market In North Carolina

The real estate market of North Carolina has appreciated by nearly 6 percent over the past 12 months, signaling a potential rise in careers in the domain.

Specifically, North Carolinian real estate has appreciated by 12.05 percent since Q4 2015 – almost double of the national average of 5.86 percent.

A strong market, and increasing demand, has drawn interest from many people looking to enter the real estate market.

However, North Carolina has a defined educational pathway that needs to be completed before you can become a professional and certified real-estate agent.

Unlike traditional careers, real estate is governed by complex and ever changing regulations and laws that affect any dealings in the industry. This means that even when you have received your license, you will require continuous education.

Sounds a bit confusing? Let’s walk you through the various stages of becoming a certified and licensed real estate agent in North Carolina.

Requirements For Becoming A North Carolina Real Estate Broker

First and foremost, there are certain prerequisites that need to be met to qualify for the pre-licensing stage of becoming a real estate agent.

Real estate agents or salespersons are traditionally called brokers in North Carolina. Similarly, the person who oversees different agents (or brokers) is called broker-in-charge (BIC) in North Carolina, as opposed to being called a broker in other states.

Here are the fundamental pre-requisites that need to be met:

• The person must be 18 years or older to be eligible to apply for the state license exam
• The person is required to be a United States citizen. In case of a non-citizen, they must be nationalized
• In case of a non-national, the person must be a qualified alien under the definition specified by federal law

In any of the three cases, there is no requirement for the applicant to be a resident of the state of North Carolina.

In addition to these requirements, applicants must also undergo a background check to assess their eligibility, and previous record before being approved. A criminal record check must be obtained and submitted before you can apply for a license.

The Pre-Licensing Stage

Any person or entity who wishes to engage in real estate brokerage is required, by law, to have a real-estate license. Without the license, any compensation from brokerage activities would be deemed illegal.

The State of North Carolina has two major requirements that applicants have to achieve before they can become a licensed agent:

Complete The Pre Licensing Course

Firstly, applicants interested in pursuing a real estate career are required to complete a 75-hour broker prelicensing course with an approved real estate school.

There is an approved list of schools that are registered with the North Carolina Real Estate Commission in North Carolina to offer real estate classes and prelicense courses, follow this link to see it. Due to the nature of the study, the State doesn’t allow online education or eLearning. The course is offered through live classroom instruction across North Carolina.

As one of the cornerstones of knowledge and learning of the real estate business, there are strict attendance rules associated with this course. Applicants are required to attend a minimum of 80% of the classes, or 60 hours out of the designated 75.

The North Carolina State Licensing Examination

The second requirement to get your real estate agent license is to pass the North Carolina State Licensing Examination with a score of at least 75%.

Once you have completed the extensive 75-hour course, it’s time to put your knowledge to test. The North Carolina real estate exam is computerized, and divided into two different sections – the national portion, and the state portion.

The time allocated for both sections is 2.5 hours and 1.5 hours, respectively. To pass the licensing examination, applicants must correctly answer at least 71 questions from the national portion, and 29 questions from the state portion. The real estate license exam can be difficult, and it’s certainly reccomended to invest in exam prep to help assure you’ll have a good outcome.

Once you have passed the test, make sure to send your license application to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission.

Your application should include:

• Application
• Criminal Record Report
• Course Completion Certificate
• Any other applicable information requested in the pamphlet
• $100 Application Fee (in a cashier’s/certified check or money order)

The Post Licensing Stage

Once you have passed The North Carolina State Licensing Examination, your newly-allocated license is labeled as ‘provisional.’

New agents are allowed to partake in brokerage activities, and can earn commission and other income. However, they still require more refined knowledge that can help establish them as subject-matter experts.

Post License Education

North Carolina Real Estate laws require agents to complete 90 hours’ worth of additional post license education over the span of three years; this is the only way to remove the ‘provisional’ status from your license.

The attendance requirement for post license education is considerably strict, with students expected to maintain at least 90% attendance in each course.

While there is no pre-defined sequence for taking these three courses, the North Carolina Real Estate Commission recommends taking the courses in this order; 301, 302 and 303.

However, the rule states that the broker should complete the first course within the 1st year of the ‘initial licensure date,’ or the date when your provisional real estate broker license was issued.

Likewise, by the end of the 2nd year of the initial licensure date, the agent must have 2 courses completed to maintain their ‘active’ status.

As per the law, agents can even undertake multiple courses at the same time to remove the provisional status from their license.

Although the deadline for the entire course completion is three years, agents can complete the process by undertaking multiple courses at the same time, granted that the instructional hours do not exceed 30 hours a week.

According to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission (NCREC) in Raleigh, a Provisional Broker can be denied the credit hours of their post-licensing education in case they are taking classes for more than 30 hours.

Post Licensing Education Examination

One of the biggest misconceptions regarding North Carolina Brokers Post Licensing Education is that after completing the courses, agents have to appear for another set of state exams by the NC Real ESTATE Commission. This simply isn’t true.

The exam for post-licensing education is conducted by the educational institute you have applied to.

The course exam (one for each of the three) for post-licensing education consists of a short exam which is comprised of 24 to 32 questions. Like the state-held broker licensing exam, agents are required to obtain at least 75% of the total marks in order to qualify.

Once an agent has cleared the exam, your school will report your successful completion directly to the North Carolina Real Estate Commission. Once all three courses are completed, the North Carolina Real Estate Commission will remove the ‘provisional’ status from your broker’s license.

What If You Fail?

State law allows agents who have failed their course exam to sit for one retake. However, since this is not a state-held examination, the retake exam’s date can vary in different institutions.

It’s important to note that North Carolina Real Estate laws bind students to complete their education bindings under 21 days of course completion.

Failure to complete the Broker Post Licensing course in the first or second year following initial licensure changes your license status from ‘active’ to ’inactive.’

‘Inactive’ brokers cannot partake in brokerage activities, nor earn commissions. In case a Provisional Broker is unsuccessful in completing all three post-licensing courses toward the end of the three-year limit, their license will be duly canceled.

Continuing Education Courses

Once you’ve made your way through to becoming a certified and licensed Broker, you are free to pursue your brokerage profession throughout North Carolina.

However, due to the volatile nature of the industry, real estate professionals must submit to CE courses as it helps them stay abreast of current developments affecting their profession as a realtor.

Hence, North Carolina real estate professionals are required to complete 8 hours of continuing education real estate courses on a state-approved syllabus. The deadline of completing this 8 hours of education falls every year on June 10th.

As a result of coronavirus / COVID-19 the North Carolina Real Estate Commission has allowed GENUP and BICUP courses to be completed via distance-learning (Zoom video conferences etc) for the first time.

As licenses are renewed annually, failure to comply with continuous education may render the license ‘inactive,’ and leave the broker unable to pursue brokerage activities.

It must be noted that you are not required to complete your continuing education prior to your first license renewal.

Also, the required courses and completion procedures vary by person and their professional status. Let’s take a deeper look.

You Are A North Carolina Resident, But Not BIC/BIC Eligible

For the purpose of continuous education, being a North Carolinian resident means you have a home, office, or mailing address in the state.

In such a case, people are required to take the 4 hour ‘General Real Estate Update Course.’ This course is only conducted in a live classroom.

In addition to the general course, there is a 4 hour elective course that encompasses different subjects and aspects of real estate, such as Ethics and Etiquette.

Elective courses can be completed online – the only condition is that work related to such a course should be completed within 30 days of purchasing/subscribing to the course.

You Are A North Carolina Resident And BIC/BIC Eligible

If you are a broker-in-charge, or broker-in-charge eligible, the ‘Broker-In-Charge Update Course’ (BICUC) replaces the ‘General Real Estate Update Course.’

The condition of selecting an approved elective course remains the same for BIC Eligible, and BIC non-eligible agents.

You Are A Non-Resident With A North Carolina Real Estate License

For the purpose of continuous education, if you don’t have a home, office or mailing address in the state, you are not a resident of North Carolina.

For such real estate professionals, the required course depends upon their eligibility level for either the ‘General Real Estate Update Course’ or ‘Broker-In-Charge Update Course.’

Non-electives also have more options that can help them gain exemptions from the elective course.

They can gain exemptions from the elective course by verifying that they hold an ‘active’ status license in another state.

Even if you hold an ‘inactive’ license in another state, you may complete 8 hours of continuous education through the real estate licensing authority in your resident jurisdiction; this exempts you from having to complete North Carolina’s continuous education elective course.

This course can only be studied at continuing education sponsor schools that are approved by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, like BrightPath.

At BrightPath, we have been providing high quality continuing education to real estate professionals for almost 3 decades. We take pride in our ability to provide education that builds professional competency through accurate, timely, and engaging instructions and curriculum. View our upcoming real estate CE class schedule, including online courses, and distance-learning courses to see if we have a class that meets your needs.