Virginia Real Estate Education Requirements

This information is intended to provide answers to commonly asked questions by real estate agents. It is not intended to replace detailed information found in your state's statutes and regulations. Though we have made reasonable efforts to ensure that the information given is reliable and current, we cannot make any guarantees. For more information, please contact DPOR (contact information is at the bottom of this page).

Sales Prelicensing
Broker Prelicensing
Sales/Broker Continuing Education
Sales Post Licensing

IMPORTANT
New salespersons must complete a 30 hour post license education curriculum within one year from the last day of the month in which the license was issued. Failure to complete this 30 hour post license education requirement within one year of initial licensure will result in the license being placed on inactive status.
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Sales Prelicensing

Hours Required: 60 hours of Principles of Real Estate

Approved Course Delivery Methods:
- Independent self-study courses (passing grade of 75% required on state portion of final exam, 70% on national portion of final exam)
- Classroom (passing grade of 75% required on state portion of final exam, 70% on national portion of final exam)

Exam Requirements: Prelicense courses require a proctored final exam. The proctor must be a disinterested third party. Exams may be taken online, or an exam packet may be mailed to your proctor.

Course Subject Requirements: Salespersons must complete 60 hours in the principles of real estate and pass the state and national portions of the salesperson examination.

Credit Reporting: Successful completion of Prelicensing Sales courses are reported to PSI daily.

For more information regarding Virginia Regulations:
Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation
9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 400
Richmond, VA 23233
http://www.dpor.virginia.gov
Phone: 804-367-8526
Email: REBoard@dpor.virginia.gov

For more information regarding Virginia Real Estate Exams
PSI Examination Services
PSI Candidate Information 

You can also contact PSI by calling (855) 340-3910. Their call center is available Monday through Friday from 8:00am - 10:00pm Eastern time as well as on Saturday and Sunday from 8:30am - 6:00pm Eastern time.
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Broker Prelicensing

Hours Required: A total of 180 hours of Board approved courses are required. You must complete four courses from the below listed broker specific courses.
Real Estate Brokerage (mandatory)
Broker Business and Investment
Real Estate Law
Real Estate Finance
Real Estate Appraisal

Note: The maximum allowable credit for a single broker-specific course is 60 hours and 45 hours for single broker-related course. Any principles of real estate course taken to meet the salesperson education requirement is not acceptable to meet the broker education requirement.

Approved Course Delivery Methods:
- Independent self-study courses
- Classroom

Exam Requirements: Prelicense courses require a proctored final exam. The proctor must be a disinterested third party. Exams may be taken online, or an exam packet may be mailed to your proctor.

Credit Reporting: An original certificate of completion will be provided to the student upon completion of a broker prelicensing course.

For more information regarding the Virginia Real Estate Exams
PSI Examination Services
PSI Candidate Information
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Sales/Broker Continuing Education

Hours Required:

For Virginia Real Estate licensees whose renewal is BEFORE June 30, 2026 - requirements are the same.

Salespersons - Required to complete 16 hours of continuing education every two years. Active license renewals for Continuing Education must take these mandatory topics: 3 hours of Ethics, 2 hours of Fair Housing, 1 hour Legal Updates, 1 hour Agency, 1 hour Contracts, and 8 hours of elective topics (extra mandatory topics will count towards electives).

Brokers - Required to complete 24 hours of CE every two years. The 24 hours consists of the 16 hours as described above plus 8 hours of Broker CE that includes 2 hours on Virginia specific broker supervision requirements.

For licensees whose renewal is ON or AFTER June 30, 2026 - the below requirements will need to be satisfied prior to your June 30, 2026 or later renewal.

Salespersons: Required to complete 16 hours of continuing education every two years. Active license renewals for Continuing Education must take these mandatory topics: Three (3) hours in Ethics & Standards of Conduct, Two (2) hours in Fair Housing, Two (2) hours in Legal Updates and Emerging Trends, Two (2) hours in Real Estate Agency, and Two (2) hours in Real Estate Contracts. The remaining 5 credits may be Real Estate Related Subjects (electives).

Brokers: Required to complete 24 hours of continuing education to renew their licenses. The 24 hours consists of the 16 hours as described above for Salespersons, plus: Six (6) hours in Broker Management and Two (2) hours in Broker Supervision

If you need more information on the upcoming changes to the subject requirements, please click here to visit: dpor.virginia.gov
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Compliance Date: Last day of the month every two years from month of licensure.

Approved Course Delivery Methods:
Independent self-study course (passing grade of 70% required on final exam)
Classroom

Exam Requirements: Self-study courses require a final exam, however they do not require a monitor to be present while the exam is given.
An affidavit of course completion must be completed with notarized signature and kept on file. You may download a sample affidavit here.

Course Subject Requirements: Active license renewals for Continuing Education must take these mandatory topics: 3 hours Ethics, 2 hours Fair Housing, 1 hour Legal Updates, 1 hour Agency, 1 hour Contracts, and 8 hours of elective topics (extra mandatory topics will count towards electives).
Please see above or click here for information on upcoming changes

Carryover Credits: Real Estate licensees who have completed all of their required Continuing Education (CE) credit hours (16 for salespersons, 24 for brokers) in the previous licensure term and who have completed extra credit hours in the last 6 months of that same licensure period may qualify to carry over extra CE credit hours and apply them to their current licensure period. Click here to see if you qualify.

Course Repetition: Credit will not be given for courses that are repeated within the same compliance period.

Credit Reporting: Moseley Flint will report your continuing education credits to the Real Estate Board the next business day following course completion. Licensees will receive a certificate of course completion from Moseley Flint which they should keep for their permanent records.
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Sales Post Licensing Education

Section 54.1-2105.01 of the Code of Virginia requires all active new salesperson licensees to complete a Board-approved 30-hour post license education (PLE) curriculum within one year from the last day of the month in which the license was issued in order to remain on active status. For example, if your salesperson license was issued on January 18, 2019, you must complete all 30 hours no later than January 31, 2020.
Failure to complete these 30 hours of PLE within one year from the last day of the month in which your license was issued will result in automatic placement of your license on inactive status.

Hours Required: 30 hours

The 30-hour PLE program consists of nine courses:
Fair Housing, ADA and Civil Rights (2 hours)
Real Estate Law and Regulations (8 hours)
Ethics and Standards of Conduct (3 hours)
Current Industry Issues and Trends (2 hours)
Agency Law ( 3 hours)
Contract Writing (6 hours)
Risk Management (3 hours)
Escrow Requirements (3 hours)
Real Estate Related Finance (2 hours)

Compliance Date: Due within one year from the last day of the month in which the license was issued.

Approved Course Delivery Methods:
- Independent Self-Study courses (passing grade of 70% required on final exam)
- Classroom

Exam Requirements: Self-study courses require a final exam, however, they do not require a monitor be present at the time the exam is taken.

Other Important Information
Active new salespersons who fail to complete the 30-hour PLE requirement within one year from the last day of the month in which their license was issued will be placed on inactive status. For example, if your salesperson license was issued on January 18, 2023, you must complete all 30 hours no later than January 31, 2024.

Failure to complete these 30 hours of PLE within one year from the last day of the month in which your license was issued will result in automatic placement of your license on inactive status. You cannot practice real estate in Virginia with an inactive license. You may reactivate your license by completing the 30-hour post-license education requirement and completing and submitting an "Activate/Transfer Application" - Salesperson form with the required fee.

You may renew or reinstate an inactive new salesperson license for up to one year after the license expiration date by completing the 30-hour post-license education requirement and meeting all other renewal or reinstatement requirements.

New Salespersons must complete the 30-hour Post-License Education requirement. They do not need to complete the 16-hour Continuing Education curriculum required of other salespersons.

Post-License Education and Continuing Education are two completely different types of Board-approved education. Post-License Education courses will not be accepted as Continuing Education courses and vice-versa. (Visit the Continuing Education page to learn more about those requirements.)

All Virginia Real Estate Salespersons Licenses - including those issues to new licensees - are valid for two years. Although New Salespersons must complete Post-License Education within one year of initial licensure to remain on active status, their license term is for two years.

New Salespersons will not receive any credit from the board for any continuing education courses they complete before their first two-year licensure term ends. Some New Salesperson licensees may mistakenly assume that because they completed their 30-hour Post-License Education requirement, they should then immediately get started on completing the 16-hour Continuing Education hours required of them during their second two-year licensure term. This assumption is incorrect.
New Salespersons must wait until their first two-year licensure term ends, then they can begin to take Continuing Education courses for license renewal credit. Please refer to 18 VAC 135-20-101 of the Real Estate Board Regulations, which states: "All active salespersons...shall be required to complete a total of 16 instruction hours DURING EACH LICENSING TERM." The licensee must complete the Continuing Education hours DURING the licensing term, not BEFORE the licensing term begins.

Please contact the Real Estate Board Education Section at 804-367-2406 or reschool@dpor.virginia.gov with questions about the PLE program.

CONTACT INFORMATION: If you have any questions, or need further information, please contact
Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation Real Estate Board (DPOR REB)
Web: http://www.dpor.virginia.gov/Boards/Real-Estate/
9960 Mayland Drive
Suite 400
Richmond, Virginia 23233-1463
Phone: 804-367-8526
Email: REBoard@dpor.virginia.gov

If you have any questions regarding our courses, please contact Moseley Flint.
Moseley Flint Schools of Real Estate
PO Box 228
Buckingham, Virginia 23921
Phone: 800-729-4292
Fax: 434-969-4391
Email: info@moseleyflint.com