What Happens After Taking an Indiana Real Estate Pre-Licensing Course?

The 2021 census showed that the population of Indiana has grown by around 5% to nearly 6.8 million residents. This is one of the key driving factors behind Indiana’s growing real estate market. Becoming a real estate agent can change your life, launching you into a lucrative career that also provides work/life balance and flexibility. One of the first steps that every aspiring real estate agent must take is completing a 90-hour pre-licensing course which concludes with the Indiana Real Estate Pre-Licencing course. If you have completed this course and the exam, you may be wondering what happens next. Completing the pre-licensing course is a major milestone, but there are several steps to complete before you can start brokering real estate in the state of Indiana.

Did I Pass The Pre-Licensing Exam?

If you took the course from an approved provider, you should be presented with a score immediately after completing the exam. You will need a minimum of 75% from all tests in order to move forward successfully with the next steps in your real estate career. If you did not reach this score, or you took a pre-licensing exam from an unapproved provider, you will need to retake the exam. It is important to be wary of different online and in-person programs and courses that may not be accredited. If you did get 75% or higher, congratulations! You are ready to move to the next step, the full state-mandated exam.

The Next Step – Passing The Indiana Real Estate Examination

In order to get your real estate license, you’ll need to pass the full Indiana Real Estate Exam. This examination is administered by PSI, a private company that works with the state to provide highly secure exams with both in-person and online options. You can get registered and schedule your exam by logging into the PSI website or by calling (855) 746-8172. The fee to take the exam is $53 per attempt.

The test itself is broken up into two sections covering national and state-wide real estate topics, respectively. There are 80 questions within the national section and 50 within the state section, for a total of 130 exam questions. You will have 4 hours (240 minutes) to complete the entire exam. Specifically, you are given 2.5 hours to complete the national section and 1.5 hours to complete the state section. The major topics covered in the national section include:

• Property ownership
• Land use controls and regulations
• Valuation and market analysis
• Financing
• Principles of agency
• Property disclosures
• Contracts
• Transfer of title
• Leasing and property management

In the state-specific section, some of the major topics covered include:

• The Indiana Real Estate Commission
• Licensing
• Statutes and Regulations
• Statues and Rules around licensees
• Real estate office procedures

How hard is the exam? The passing rate for the Indiana Real Estate Broker Exam is 75%. It is designed to be challenging. The goal of the exam is to determine whether or not you have the knowledge required to broker real estate legally and effectively in the state of Indiana. Consequently, it is vital that you pay attention to all the material you study during your 90-hour course. Furthermore, the overall quality and depth of your pre-licensing course will be a major factor in determining your performance on the full exam. If your pre-licensing course didn’t prepare you properly, you may want to look into taking classes from another provider before attempting the actual exam.

Finding A Sponsor

Once you complete your Indiana Real Estate Broker Exam, your score will be directly reported to you immediately. If your score is higher than 75%, you will be one step closer to getting your real estate license. After passing, you’ll need to find a current, active broker who will agree to sponsor you on your application for your license. Be careful when choosing your sponsoring broker, as they can either help or hinder your fledgling career as an Indiana real estate agent. We recommend getting to know your sponsor. What is this person’s reputation? Does their brokerage provide leads and marketing assistance to their agents? Do you feel like you will be able to grow within their brokerage? These are the kinds of questions you should be asking before you request the person to become your sponsor.

One of the ways you can network and find a sponsor is by taking in-person classes as you prepare for your real estate exam. By meeting and working with other aspiring agents, you can get connected to brokers who may be able to help you get started.

Make It Official – Send In Your Application

Once you’ve found a managing broker who has agreed to be your sponsor, you are then ready to complete your Real Estate Broker License application. In order to complete this application, follow the steps on the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency website. You will need to pay a $60 fee which can be paid via credit or debit card online. If you prefer to make your application by mail, it is possible to pay the fee via check. Once your license application is approved and your license is activated, the process is complete. You’ve done it! You can now get started building experience and growing your career as a real estate agent in Indiana.

Continuing Education Requirements

Within 2 years of your real estate license being issued, you are required to complete a 30-hour post-licensing course. Fortunately, this course is shorter and can be taken completely online. The goal of this course is simply to refresh your memory about the topics you studied previously as well as introduce you to new state-required information.

Once you have completed that course, you will only need to complete 12 hours of continuing education (CE) classes each year. You won’t need to report to the commission each year but will need to maintain records of your CE certificates so that you can demonstrate compliance in the event of an audit. Furthermore, these CE classes are also required for renewing your real estate license, which you will need to do every 3 years in Indiana.

Depending on what direction you go in your career, there may be other continuing education requirements. Completing your pre-licensing course and passing that first exam is a great first step. By completing the next steps outlined here, you will set yourself up for a successful career as a real estate agent in Indiana. Contact us today to see how we can support you.