You are of legal age, aren’t you? And you have a high school diploma?
You’ve just completed the first step!
The Kansas Real Estate Commission (KREC) requires applicants to be at least 18 years old in order to get licensed.
You can’t begin a Kansas practice as a minor (below 18) even if you are precocious and already have a high school diploma.
Now, if those two minimum requirements are all sorted, we can get started.
Step 1: Complete Your Pre-Licensing Education
The first thing you should do to begin your real estate career in Kansas is to invest 60 hours of your time getting an education.
These two courses are the most basic requirements for a Kansas real estate license: a 30-hour Principles of Real Estate course and a 30-hour Practice Course.
Note the required hours you have to complete for these courses, alright?
Principles of Real Estate Course
Everyone who wants a Kansas real estate license must take a 30-hour Principles of Real Estate course approved by the Kansas Real Estate Commission.
That last part is important so choose well where you’ll get the course book and complete this course.
Practice Course
Just as you did for the principles course, make sure to sign up for a course from an accredited school in Kansas. Otherwise, the completion certificate you obtain will be useless.
Also, take note the Kansas Practice Course certificate is valid ONLY for 6 months.
What does this mean for you? It means you should reach the step for applying for a Kansas real estate license within 6 months after receiving your certificate. (That’s Step 4 in this guide by the way.)
Thinking About Also Becoming a Licensed Broker?
To get this license, you need to complete a different set of courses. Prospective licensed brokers need 3 hours of the Broker Core course and 6 hours of electives for a total of 12 hours.
Step 2: Submit Fingerprinting and Background Check
First, download and sign the WAIVER from the KREC website. Make sure to get Form RE-150.
Then, get a FINGERPRINTS CARD from any police station, sheriff’s office, or even the Kansas Real Estate Commission (KREC) office itself.
The criminal background check can be done either by the Kansas Bureau of Investigation (KBI) or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
Now, remember:
The criminal history report from your background check is also valid only for 6 months after the date of issue.
At this point, you have two options:
- You can submit the fee ($60), waiver, and fingerprints card to the KREC before your application for a Kansas real estate license.
- Or, you can do the two (that is, Steps 2 and 4 of this guide) simultaneously.
Meaning, you’ll defer payment for this part and you’ll keep your waiver, fingerprints card, and criminal history report for now.
Step 3: Pass the Licensing Exam
The Real Estate Course Final Exam
The Kansas real estate licensure exam comes in two sections. Needless to say, you need to pass both to get a Kansas real estate license.
As in other states, Pearson VUE administers the Kansas real estate licensure exam. (Don’t forget our top rated real estate exam prep to ensure you pass). It can be challenging to pass your test!
You should know though that Pearson VUE only has practice sets for the national section. Apparently, they’re still working on those for state sections.
Wondering how long you’ll be given to complete the exam for your real estate license?
You’ll get 2.5 hours to complete the national portion and 1.5 hours for the Kansas portion. That’s 4 hours all in all that you have to budget at your own pace.
Finally, do make time to read up on Pearson VUE’s candidate handbook and outline for the national section for more information, including the topics to be covered and what to do on exam day.
Score Reports
The Kansas real estate final exams each have their own score reports.
Just as with the other documents in Steps 1 and 2, these two reports are each valid only for six months from the date you pass.
Did you pass the exam portions on different dates? The six-month period begins from the earlier exam date.
Your exam pass date must not be more than a year after your pre-license course completion. What does that mean for you?
It means you need to pass both portions of the Kansas real estate exam within a year after completing your pre-licensing education. See how important planning is?
Exam Reservation
Because walk-in exams ARE NOT AVAILABLE in Kansas, see to it that you make your online reservation at least 24 hours before your desired exam date.
Exam Fee
First-time applicants will have to pay $82 to reserve a slot for the exam. Retakers get to pay a little less at $75.
You can do so by credit card, debit card, voucher, or electronic check but you cannot pay at the test center. Make a note of that common mistake.
Already a License-Holder From Another State?
If you’re a candidate for a real estate license in Kansas but you also have a current real estate license in another state, you need to request a Client Exam Waiver for the national portion BEFORE MAKING AN EXAM RESERVATION.
The reason? Because the national portion of the exam may be waived for you and you’d only have to take the state exam.
Step 4: Apply for a License
Within six months after passing the exam, candidates must submit to the Kansas Real Estate Commission a complete application and fees along with supporting documentation.
Yes, we’ll say it again just to drive home our point: certain supporting documentation is only valid for six months and may not be valid at the time of application.
Documents to be Submitted to KREC:
#1 Education Certificate and Kansas Practice Course Certificate
Remember the two courses that began your Kansas real estate license journey back in Step 1?
Finishing each of these courses (Principles of Real Estate and Practice Course) should have given you completion certificates.
#2 KBI/FBI Criminal Background Report
You only need this document at this point if you opted to have your KBI/FBI background check done at the same time as your license application.
And just to reiterate, you also have to pay the 60-dollar fee and submit your filled-out waiver and fingerprints card.
Also, prepare supporting documentation for certain felonies for which you may have been convicted.
#3 Pearson VUE score reports
You need to pass TWO COPIES of your real estate licensing exam score reports. Don’t forget that’s TWO copies for each portion of the two-part exam.
#4 Complete License Application
The final document to get a real estate license in Kansas? A complete license application. Of course, there’s also the $15 non-refundable application fee and $125 license fee.
Step 5: Affiliate With a Sponsoring Broker
Lastly, the Kansas Real Estate Commission (KREC) requires you to work under a broker for at least 2 years as a form of continuing education.
The real estate broker Kansas requires you to be affiliated with a current and active broker license. KREC can’t issue your license if your sponsoring broker’s license is inactive.
Not familiar with any real estate brokers? One good option is finding and contacting a Kansas association of realtors. This should help you out with this step, especially if you’re new to Kansas.
We’ll emphasize now that you need to choose this person well because a licensed Kansas real estate broker will supervise you until you get issued your own license.
Again, it’s all part of fulfilling the continuing education requirements for a real estate license.
Final Words
It’s essential that you plan out your application for a real estate license and complete the steps one right after the other. Why? Because documents and certificates expire!
Always keep the earliest document date you have in the back of your mind.
That said, we hope you get your real estate license in Kansas soon. Good luck with your new career!
