How to get a
New York real estate license

Step one: 77 hours of qualifying education

The salesperson course is 77 hours at an approved school, and there is no experience requirement in front of it. This is the door everyone goes through. It is also where the second exam lives, because the school sets a proctored examination of its own.

Step two: the school's proctored exam

New York requires a school-administered proctored examination in addition to the Department's own. Most people only find out about this when their school tells them. It is set from the same curriculum, so preparing for one prepares you for the other, but it is a separate sitting with a separate result.

Step three: the state exam

You book it yourself through an eAccessNY account on the Department's site: Main Menu, then Apply to Take an Exam, then pick a site and date and pay $15. There is no phone booking and no walk-in. The Department lists sites in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Franklin Square, Hauppauge, New York City, Plattsburgh, Pomona, Rochester, Syracuse and Utica, and which are running changes through the year.

Step four: a sponsoring broker and the application

Passing does not make you licensed. The application is a separate step and a separate $65, and a salesperson needs a sponsoring broker to authorize it. Line the broker up before you pass rather than after; the license cannot be issued without one.

What it costs, end to end

The course is whatever your school charges. After that the state takes $15 for each attempt at the exam and $65 for the salesperson application. A broker application is $185 instead. Renewal is the same as the application fee in each case.

On the day

Bring current government-issued photo identification carrying your signature, not expired. And be early: nobody is admitted after the starting time. The Department states that in capital letters, and it costs the whole fee and the whole trip.

Sections can be sat one at a time, so you can practice a subject the week your course covers it rather than waiting for the end. Ten questions are free on the samples page; the forms are on the real estate page.