How to Get a Broker License in Delaware

Obtaining a Delaware Real Estate Broker License is crucial if you’re looking to advance your real estate career. Despite the streamlined online application process, many aspiring real estate brokers find the requirements and procedures complex and challenging.

This How to Get a Broker License in Delaware article will guide you through each step of the process, ensuring you have a clear understanding of what it takes to achieve this license and elevate your real estate career as quickly as possible.

Delaware Real Estate Broker License

In order to get your Delaware real estate broker license and take your career to the next level, there are several key steps you’ll need to complete. These include:

1. Ensuring You Meet the Eligibility and Experience Requirements
2. Completing the Mandatory Pre-Licensing Education
3. Passing the Delaware Broker Licensing Exam
4. Submitting a License Application

In the sections below, we’ve explored each of these steps in more detail.

Note: If you’re just starting out, you’ll need to check out our Delaware Real Estate License guide instead.

Step 1: Meet the Delaware Eligibility and Experience Requirements

Before proceeding with the application process for your Delaware real estate broker license, you’ll need to first make sure that you meet the general prerequisites outlined under the Delaware Administrative Code, Title 24 § 2907(a):

• You must be at least 23 years old
• You must be deemed competent to carry out real estate services by the Delaware Real Estate Commission (the Commission)
• You can’t have received any administrative penalties pertaining to the provision of real estate services (e.g., fines, license suspensions/revocations, and formal warnings)
• You must not have a drug, alcohol, or mental impairment that could prevent you from being able to safely practice this profession
• You must not have a criminal record (or any pending charges that “substantially relate” to the practice of real estate)

If you have a criminal record or any pending charges, you’ll need to have the appropriate authorities directly provide the Commission with the details. It’s then up to the Commission’s discretion to determine whether or not you would represent an “unreasonable risk to public safety” if you assumed this responsibility.

In addition to the general eligibility requirements outlined above, you’ll also be expected to satisfy the following experience requirements under Delaware Administrative Code, Title 24 § 2907(d):

• You must have held an active salesperson or broker license (or a combination of the two) in any jurisdiction(s) for a continuous five-year period immediately prior to applying
• You must have spent at least three of these five years actively practicing as a licensed real estate salesperson or broker
• During these five years, you also must have completed a minimum of 30 real estate transactions (e.g., property sales or lease transactions)

For the purposes of the regulations above, any periods in which you practiced as a Delaware real estate agent or broker in any other state also may count toward this total experience requirement. The Commission will begin to measure this five-year time period from your initial licensure date.

Note: You’ll need to submit documentary proof of your experience by filling out the Sales or Lease Transaction Listing Form and filing it along with the rest of your application (see Step 4).

Step 2: Complete the Mandatory Pre-Licensing Education

Beyond the general requirements mentioned earlier, you must also fulfill specific educational prerequisites under Delaware Administrative Code, Title 24 § 2925(6.0) to be able to apply for a Delaware real estate broker license.

In particular, this will involve completing a total of 99 hours of broker pre-licensing education that must include the following mandatory courses:

• Brokerage: Sales Management and Business Management (30 Hours)
• Real Estate Documents (6 Hours)
• Valuing Real Property (6 Hours)
• Financing (9 Hours)
• Landlord Tenant Code/Property Management/Condominiums (9 Hours)
• Legal and Governmental Aspects of Real Estate (15 Hours)
• Real Estate Investment (12 Hours)
• Ethics (6 Hours)
• Math: Review of Basic Real Estate Math (3 Hours)

While taking this course material in a classroom setting is strongly recommended, Delaware statutes do permit you to complete the total 99 required pre-licensing hours through distance learning.

Importantly, according to § 2925(6.6-6.6.1), you must successfully pass an end-of-course exam written by your course provider with a score of at least 75%. You may only retake this exam once if you fail before you’ll have to complete your pre-licensing education again.

After finishing all these hours and passing this final exam, you should receive a Certificate of Completion from your course provider. You’ll need to present this at the exam site in order to take the state licensing exam within one year of the date you finished your pre-licensing education.

Step 3: Pass the Broker Licensing Exam

In Delaware, this four-hour exam is administered by Pearson VUE and includes 130 questions divided across two parts: a national/general portion (80 questions) and a state-specific portion (50 questions).

In order to schedule your real estate broker exam, you’ll need to make an online reservation using the Pearson VUE website. Note that you’ll need to create an account for this service if this is your first time using it, after which you’ll be shown step-by-step instructions on how to complete your reservation.

Keep in mind that you’ll be required to pay a non-refundable $85 fee at the time of reservation because you can’t pay this at the exam center. 

In order to pass, you’ll need to obtain a minimum scaled score of at least 70. This scaled score is adjusted to the difficulty of each real estate exam, meaning it’s not necessarily equivalent to a score of 70%. As such, the exact score out of 130 you’ll need to obtain to pass can fluctuate.

All real estate licensees will learn how they performed on this exam immediately after finishing and will leave the test center with an official passing score report in hand. This score report also should contain more information on how to finish the rest of the application process.

Note: You’ll only have three attempts to pass the examination. If you need more than this, or if you take longer than the one-year application period, you’ll have to retake your pre-licensing education.

Step 4: Submit a License Application 

After passing the broker licensing exam and ensuring you satisfy all other eligibility requirements, you’ll be ready to move on to submitting your license application.

Because the Commission no longer accepts paper applications, you must submit your application electronically through the state’s DELPROS system and pay the $248 fee. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to create an account for this platform before you can begin to use it.

You must submit all of the following documents alongside your application:

• A completed and signed Sales or Lease Transaction Listing Form
• A copy of your 99-hour, pre-licensing course completion certificate
• Depending on the office for which you’ll be responsible, one of the following:
• Real Estate Office application (if a new Delaware office)
• A signed letter from the current broker appointing you as their replacement (if an established Delaware office)
• No additional documentation is needed if it’s a new or established office in another state

In addition to the items above, you’ll need to ask Pearson VUE to send your official passing score report for both portions of the Delaware broker exam directly to the Commission.

Note: While the DELPROS system will allow you to save an incomplete application and return to it at a later date, you’ll only have up to six months to finish the entire process.

Step 5: Application Review

If you’ve managed to get this far, congratulations!

Once the Commission reviews and approves your application and its accompanying documentation, you should shortly receive an email letting you know there’s been an update regarding your license’s status.

Importantly, this email won’t contain the license itself. It’s just a notification that you’ll now be able to download and print your license from the DELPROS system.

Be sure to take some time to celebrate your accomplishment. You’ve put in a lot of work and effort and deserve a celebration!

Note: If you’re not sure what’s happening with your license and it’s been longer than expected, contact the Commission directly by phone or email.

Delaware Real Estate License Renewal

In order to keep your real estate broker license valid, you’ll need to renew it every two years. In Delaware, you must do this by April 30 of each even-numbered year through the DELPROS system.

In order to renew your license, you must first complete a minimum of 21 hours of continuing education (CE) as part of each two-year renewal period per the Delaware Administrative Code, Title 24 § 2925(7.0).

Similarly, per Delaware Administrative Code, Title 24, § 14.13, you’ll also need to complete an additional 12 hours of training within 90 days of your license issue date.

These additional hours must be broken down as follows:

• Professional Standards for New Licensees (3 Hours)
• Agreement of Sale and Buyer Representation for New Licensees (3 Hours)
• Real Estate Documents and Seller Representation for New Licensees (3 Hours)
• Real Estate Professionalism for New Licensees (3 Hours)

We always encourage our readers to think of the post licensing course they take as an investment in their future career — higher quality, more reliable course content is a central part of ensuring you continue to grow professionally.

Note: If you fail to renew your license by the above deadline, you’ll have an additional 30 days in which to submit a late renewal before your license expires. This must be accompanied by a late fee equivalent to 50% of the renewal fee.

Delaware Division of Professional Regulation

Mailing Address:
Real Estate Commission
Cannon Building, Suite 203
861 Silver Lake Blvd.
Dover, DE 19904

Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:15am – 4:15pm

Phone: (302) 744-4500

Email: customerservice.dpr@delaware.gov 

Website: https://dpr.delaware.gov/boards/realestate/