Requirements to get your Georgia Real Estate License

An individual must be at least 18 to be licensed as a salesperson. Applicants may take the salesperson's examination at age 17, but cannot activate the license until they are 18.

General Education

In order to become licensed, an individual must be a high school graduate or the holder of a certificate of equivalency.

Each applicant for the SALESPERSON'S EXAMINATION must:

     a.       complete the 75 hour prelicensing salesperson's course approved by the Georgia Real Estate Commission; OR   

b.      complete 10 quarter hours or 6 semester hours in real estate courses at an accredited college or university (usually only real estate department or law school courses will meet this qualification). College credits to meet this education requirement must meet normal degree requirements. Special short courses or adult education courses will not meet the education requirement unless the college or university gives full academic credit for the course or the course is a Commission approved course.

Salespersons must take a 25 hour Salespersons postlicense course in their first year of licensure. The course taken must be one specifically approved by the Commission. Failure to complete a postlicense course during the first year of being licensed will cause the license to lapse.  EXIT Team Realty offers this class online.

All active licensees licensed after January 1, 1980, must complete at least twenty-four (24) hours of approved continuing education course work during each four year renewal period.  Continuing Education (CE) can also be purchased online at www.myexitteam.com. 

III.  Experience Requirements

There are no experience requirements for a GA Real Estate Salesperson's license.

The Georgia Real Estate Salesperson, examination is administered via computer by Applied Measurement Professionals (AMP) at four test centers throughout the state of Georgia. The examinations are offered five days a week in Marietta and Lilburn, and Thursday through Saturday in Macon and Savannah.

Persons currently enrolled in a Commission approved pre-license real estate course apply for the Georgia Real Estate License Examinations using the REAL computer application system. Persons not currently enrolled in a Commission approved prelicense real estate course should contact AMP for a Candidate Handbook. The handbook which contains information on fees and locations of test sites can be obtained by writing to Applied Measurement Professionals, Georgia Real Estate Examinations, 8310 Nieman Road, Lenexa, KS, 66214, by calling 1-800-345-6559, or from the link below.

* Obtain a Candidate handbook

Persons applying for a salesperson's license must apply within twelve months of the date they took the examination; or after twelve months have passed, they must retake the examination.

          V.  GCIC Requirement for ALL Applicants

Such reports must not be more than 60 days old. The applicant can obtain a GCIC Report from any local sheriff’s office or police department. (Depending on the law enforcement agency’s policy, there may be a waiting period to obtain the report.)  Generally i f the applicant is aware of any conviction, nolo contendere plea, or first offender sentence that is not on the GCIC report, the applicant must disclose such conviction(s).

The license will not be issued to the applicant without a GCIC report.


          VI.  Required Reporting of Convictions/Sanctions

Any applicant who has been convicted of a crime or sanctioned by any licensing or regulatory agency of any kind must reveal that fact on his or her application. The Commission will then conduct an investigation and review the application thoroughly before deciding whether to issue the license.

Preliminary Decision Applications

Applicants having prior criminal convictions and/or disciplinary actions may wish to apply for a preliminary decision from the Commission. Upon receiving a preliminary decision application, the Commission will conduct an investigation and then decide whether it would issue a license if the applicant fulfilled all the requirements for licensure. Thus a potential licensee can receive an indication of whether a license would be issued before incurring the time and expense of meeting the licensing requirements. There is no fee for this application.

Inactive Status

Any person making application for a salesperson's license more than three months but less than twelve months from the date of taking the examination must pay an original license fee of $340.00, and an examination fee.

The examination fee is $91.00.  Retake fees are $91.00, and the individual may retake the test as many times as necessary to pass.

These fees cover all fees due for the first four years of licensure with the State.

IX.  PROCESSING OF LICENSE APPLICATIONS REPORTING CONVICTIONS

Click Here to Print the Application for Persons with Prior Criminial Convictions
 

(only applicable if the applicant has a conviction or sanction falling under paragraph VI. of this page)

Brokers considering hiring an applicant with a criminal conviction or convictions (and the applicant as well) frequently ask the Commission's staff: What are the chances of a person who has a criminal conviction or a sanction on another professional license getting a real estate license?

The best answer is "It depends."

Meeting the age, education, examination, and experience requirements of the law qualifies most applicants for a license. Meeting those requirements reflects minimum competence. The absence of any prior criminal conviction or prior disciplinary action on another professional; license (hereinafter "prior record") gives the applicant a presumption of a good reputation for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity (hereinafter "good reputation").

However, when an applicant has a prior record, he or she must provide additional proof that he or she currently possesses the requisite good reputation since the prior record is proof that at least at one time the applicant lacked that good reputation. The law provides that the Commission shall grant licenses:

. . . only to persons who bear a good reputation for honesty, trustworthiness, integrity, and competence to transact the business of a licensee in such manner as to safeguard the interest of the public and only after satisfactory proof of such qualifications has been presented to the Commission.

Applicants with prior convictions begin that proof process by submitting a variety of additional documents with their applications. Each year 10-15% of all applicants report (or the Commission discovers) a criminal conviction or a licensing disciplinary action. For about 85% of such applicants the documentation that they provide and the Commission's background investigation generally produce sufficient evidence to satisfy the Commission that despite the prior record, the applicant possesses the requisite good reputation. In those cases, it issues a license.

In most of those cases the applicant reported a single conviction or disciplinary action that the Commission could classify under one or more of such categories as: a misdemeanor, a relatively minor disciplinary action, a violation that posed little harm to the public, a youthful indiscretion, or an offense occurring so long ago that the applicant's subsequent behavior makes it unlikely it will recur.

In most years the Commission's completion and review of its background investigations lead it to deny issuing a license to about 15% of applicants who report a prior record. These cases lead to denials of applications for a variety of reasons. Those reasons include, but are not limited to:

1. the nature of the offense:

a. Almost all felony convictions will result in a denial by the Commission. The courts have held that all felonies are crimes of moral turpitude. (While most so-called sex crimes are "crimes of moral turpitude," the phrase includes a far broader range of crimes. Thus, for licensing purposes the phrase "crimes of moral turpitude" is often defined as any crime that shocks the conscience).

b. The Commission will likewise deny many applicants who report misdemeanor convictions that are crimes of moral turpitude or that involve such offenses as forgery, embezzlement, obtaining money under false pretenses, theft, extortion, or conspiracy to defraud. The courts have deemed a number of misdemeanor offenses (that some applicants argue are minor) to be crimes of moral turpitude. For example, a good number of applicants report misdemeanor convictions for writing bad checks and shoplifting. The courts have found such crimes may be "crimes of moral turpitude."

c. Most DUI offenses are misdemeanors that are not crimes of moral turpitude. Thus, an isolated DUI offense will not lead to a license denial. However, repeated DUIs may lead to a conviction as an habitual violator, a felony. Similarly, DUIs many times are coupled with other charges that make them felonies, for example, fleeing the scene of an accident or homicide or feticide by automobile.

2. the failure of the applicant to have completed a sentence imposed by the courts or another licensing agency or being on parole or probation regularly leads to a denial of a license until the applicant fully completes the sentence. Similarly, failure to make all required restitution regularly leads to a denial. Of course, even if the applicant has completed all conditions of the sentence, the underlying conviction may still lead to a denial.

3. inadequate character reference letters or inappropriate character references. All applicants with prior records must submit letters from at least three character references. Those letters must demonstrate that the writer is aware of the details of the conviction or sanction listed on the application. Effective character references often come from persons who know of the applicant's prior record but whose business activity with the applicant nevertheless lead them to believe that the applicant's reputation is good and that his or her practice will pose no danger to the public. Character references from family members and medical, legal, or pastoral counselors are often less effective because such references usually lack "arm's length" experience with the applicant in business transactions.

4. the lack of the passage of time since the violation. The more time that has past since the applicant's conviction the more likely the Commission can view the conviction as an aberration in the applicant's past behavior and unlikely to recur. There is no magic time period. (However, applicants for a broker's license must have completed all incarceration for a felony or crime of moral turpitude at least ten years prior to applying).

5. the applicant's failure to reveal all criminal offenses on the application. For example, while the Commission may not deny a license to an applicant with two DUIs, it may deny the license for falsifying the application if the applicant reveals only one of the DUIs on the application.

Similarly, many applicants mistakenly assume that they need not report criminal actions that did not involve a guilty plea or a finding of guilt. For example, a licensee who pleads nolo contendere to a charge or who is sentenced as a first offender often believes that they need not report such pleas. However, the license law defines the word "conviction" to include not only guilty pleas, but nolo contendere pleas and first offender sentencing. In addition, a pardon does not remove the requirement for reporting a conviction.

Denial of license can be a two stage process. The Commission initiates stage one. After its investigation, the Commission votes to issue or deny based on those findings. All but 3 or 4% of application cases end at this stage.

The applicant initiates stage two. In that stage the applicant requests a formal hearing before the Office of the State Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). At that time the applicant must present evidence and testimony to support why the Commission should grant a license in spite of the prior record. Applicants should note that the law permits denial of a license based solely on the basis of certain convictions (felonies and crimes of moral turpitude). Over 90% of the time the ALJ has affirmed the Commission's initial denial.

Applicants and others often make the mistaken assumption that completion of the rehabilitation process of serving a criminal sentence or of obtaining a pardon entitles one to a license. Successful rehabilitation does not entitle one to a license. Sometimes the crime committed is itself such that it permanently disqualifies the applicant from holding a license. Thus, even though a licensee and his or her witnesses may believe that the applicant has succeeded in the rehabilitation process, the criminal conviction alone authorizes the Commission and the ALJ to deny the license.

Thus, most brokers interviewing applicants with prior records will find a fairly high likelihood of the applicant's obtaining a license unless he or she falls into one of the five categories above. Yet, brokers should conduct their own background checks on such applicants. The broker's particular business needs may make an applicant with some types of convictions a poor risk even though the Commission found no basis to deny a license.

The information contained in this article is believed to be current and accurate as of September 2006