How to Become a Real Estate Agent in Virginia (2026)
Aug 04, 2026
Virginia has one of the more straightforward licensing paths in the country. It is also one of the easiest to stall out on. The requirements come from the Virginia Real Estate Board under DPOR, and they are specific. You need 60 hours of pre-license education, a two part exam through PSI, fingerprints, and an application filed under a broker. What actually trips people up is rarely the coursework. It is the 45 day fingerprint clock, the brokerage decision, and the money nobody warns them about after the license arrives. I have been licensed and producing in Northern Virginia since 2007. This is the version of the process I walk through with every agent who joins our real estate coaching in Northern Virginia.
Quick answer
To become a real estate agent in Virginia you complete a 60 hour Principles of Real Estate course from a Board approved school. Then you pass the state and national portions of the PSI salesperson examination and submit fingerprints for a background check. The final step is filing a salesperson license application with the Virginia Real Estate Board under a sponsoring broker. You must be at least 18 years old and hold a high school diploma or its equivalent. The state fees are fixed and small: 60 dollars for the exam, 52 dollars for fingerprinting, and 150 dollars for the license application. The course itself typically runs 300 to 700 dollars. Most people go from first class to active license in two to four months. The larger expense arrives after licensure, when REALTOR membership, MLS access, and lockbox fees land in the same month.
In this guide
Virginia license requirements at a glance
Virginia sets its real estate licensing rules through the Real Estate Board, which sits inside the Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation. Agents and schools both refer to it simply as DPOR. The governing rules live in Chapter 21 of Title 54.1 of the Code of Virginia and in the Board regulations at 18 VAC 135-20.
The eligibility bar itself is low. The Board regulations state that an applicant "shall be at least 18 years old" and "shall have a high school diploma or its equivalent." There is no college requirement, no prior sales experience requirement, and no residency requirement. Everything else is process.
| Requirement | Virginia salesperson standard | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum age | 18 years old | 18 VAC 135-20-30 |
| Education | High school diploma or equivalent | 18 VAC 135-20-30 |
| Pre-license course | 60 class or clock hours, Principles of Real Estate | Virginia Real Estate Board |
| Exam | State and national portions, administered by PSI | Virginia Real Estate Board |
| Background check | Fingerprints submitted through PSI or Fieldprint | DPOR application process |
| Sponsoring broker | Required for the license to be active | Virginia Real Estate Board |
| Application fee | 150 dollars, non-refundable | 18 VAC 135-20-80 |
| License term | Two years | Code of Virginia 54.1-2105.03 |
| Post-license education | 30 hours within the first year | Virginia Real Estate Board |
Two of those lines deserve early attention because they cost people the most time and money. The first is the background check, which expires quickly and forces a repeat fee if your application is late. The second is the 30 hour post-license education requirement, which is not optional and quietly puts new licenses on inactive status when it is missed.
Notice what is not on the list. Virginia does not require a degree, a sponsor letter before you start the course, or any prior work in the industry. It also does not require you to live in the Commonwealth. Out of state applicants simply agree that the Director of the Department acts as their legal agent for service of process.
The seven steps, in order
Here is the whole process in sequence. The order matters more than most people realize, because two of these steps have expiration dates attached to them and doing them too early wastes money.
- Confirm you meet the basics. You need to be 18 or older with a high school diploma or equivalent. That is the entire eligibility test in Virginia.
- Complete the 60 hour Principles of Real Estate course. Pick a school on the Board approved list. Online and classroom formats both count. The course ends with a monitored final exam that you must pass to receive your certificate.
- Register with PSI and schedule your exam. Download the Virginia Candidate Information Bulletin, register online, and pay the 60 dollar exam fee. Exams run on most business days at Virginia test centers, and remote proctored testing is also available.
- Pass both portions of the salesperson exam. The national portion has 80 questions with a passing score of 56. The state portion has 40 questions with a passing score of 30. Scores are valid for one year.
- Get fingerprinted. Virginia residents have their fingerprints taken at a PSI testing location in Virginia. Fieldprint is now available as a second option. The fee is 52 dollars.
- Line up a sponsoring broker. Your license lives under a firm. Interview brokerages while you are still in the course rather than after, so you are not stalled at the finish line.
- File the salesperson application with DPOR. Submit online for faster processing or mail the form to the Real Estate Board in Richmond with the 150 dollar fee. It must be on file within 45 days of your background check.
The estimator below turns those steps into your own numbers. Pick a course package, choose the pace you can actually keep, and add the memberships you plan to join. It returns an upfront cost and a realistic week count for how long the whole thing takes.
Interactive tool
Virginia License Cost and Timeline Estimator
Choose your course package, your study pace, and the memberships you expect to join in your first month. The tool adds the fixed Virginia state fees, estimates your total upfront cost, and projects how many weeks the process is likely to take from first class to active license.
Course prices and association dues are illustrative and change. State fees are the published Virginia amounts as of August 2026.
Step 1: the 60 hour pre-license course
Virginia requires 60 class or clock hours of a Board approved pre-license course. The course has a name, and it matters when you are comparing schools: Principles of Real Estate. If a school is selling you something else, it does not count toward the salesperson requirement.
The Board is explicit on one point that catches career changers off guard. Courses taken to satisfy continuing education requirements are not acceptable for pre-license credit in Virginia. Continuing education and pre-license education are separate categories, and only the latter gets you to the exam.
Online or in a classroom
Both formats satisfy the requirement as long as the provider appears on the Board approved list. Most people in Northern Virginia take the course online because the schedule is theirs. The tradeoff is that self-paced courses have the highest abandonment rate of anything in this process.
Every approved course ends with a monitored final examination. You must pass that final to receive the completion certificate PSI wants before it will seat you for the state licensing exam. The school handles the monitoring, whether that means a proctored session or a remote webcam setup.
What the course costs
Virginia pre-license packages generally run between 300 and 700 dollars depending on the school and the tier. The difference between tiers is almost never the 60 hours themselves. It is the exam prep, the practice question bank, and whatever pass guarantee the provider attaches.
My honest read after watching a lot of new agents go through this: the cheapest package is a false economy if you have been out of school for a while. The practice question banks are what get people through the national portion on the first try, and a retake costs another 60 dollars plus weeks of delay.
What I tell people picking a school
Ignore the marketing and check three things. Is the provider on the Virginia Real Estate Board approved list. Does the package include a national exam question bank, not just chapter quizzes. And how long is your access window, because a 6 month window with a 5 hour a week pace is tighter than it sounds.
How long the 60 hours really take
The hours are clock hours, so the math is honest. At 25 hours a week you are done in under three weeks. At 12 hours a week you are looking at five weeks. At 5 hours a week, which is what most people with a full time job actually manage, you are at twelve weeks.
Be realistic here rather than optimistic. The single most common reason a Virginia licensing timeline slips from three months to nine is not difficulty. It is a course purchased at a full time pace and consumed at a weekend pace. If you are keeping a job while you do this, the honest read in our breakdown of the part-time real estate agent path is worth reading before you buy.
Step 2: passing the PSI Virginia exam
Virginia contracts its licensing examination to PSI. You register directly with PSI rather than through DPOR, using the Virginia Candidate Information Bulletin as your instruction manual. The bulletin is the document to read, because it governs everything from identification rules to break policy.
The salesperson exam comes in two portions and you can think of them as two separate tests scored separately.
| Exam detail | National portion | State portion |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 80 questions, 80 points | 40 questions, 40 points |
| Time allowed | 105 minutes | 45 minutes |
| Passing score | 56 | 30 |
| Effective percentage | 70 percent | 75 percent |
| Content | General real estate principles and practice | Virginia law, Board regulations, and agency rules |
The exam fee is 60 dollars. That fee is non-refundable, and it stays valid for one year. If you pass one portion and fail the other, you retake only the portion you failed, which is the single most useful fact in this section.
Retakes and the one year window
PSI allows candidates to retake within roughly two business days depending on seat availability, so a failed attempt does not have to cost you a month. The harder deadline is that passing scores expire after one year. Pass the exam and then take fourteen months to file your application, and you are back at the test center.
Test center or remote proctored
PSI offers both. Test centers are spread across Virginia, and remote proctored testing lets you sit the exam at home on an approved machine. Note that breaks are not permitted during remote online proctored examinations, which matters more than it sounds when you are 105 minutes into the national portion.
PSI also enforces current operating system requirements for remote testing and has retired support for older versions over time. Check the bulletin before you commit to remote testing on an aging laptop, because a failed system check on exam day is a wasted fee.
What to bring
One valid, non-expired, signature bearing photo identification. A driver license, passport, or military identification all qualify. Names must match your registration exactly, which is a real problem for candidates who recently married and have a half updated set of documents.
Step 3: fingerprints and the 45 day clock
This is the step that costs Virginia candidates the most avoidable money, so it gets its own section.
Virginia requires a fingerprint based background check. If you live in Virginia, you must have your fingerprints taken at a PSI testing location in Virginia. DPOR has since added Fieldprint as a second option. The fee is 52 dollars, which breaks down as a 27 dollar state processing fee and a 25 dollar PSI processing fee.
Here is the part people miss. Background check results expire after 45 days. DPOR states it plainly: a complete application must be on file with the Board within 45 days, or you will have to get your fingerprints taken again for an additional fee.
The sequencing mistake I see constantly
Someone gets fingerprinted on exam day because they are already at the PSI center, then spends six weeks interviewing brokerages before filing. The background check expires, the application comes back incomplete, and they pay 52 dollars a second time. Pick your brokerage first, then start the 45 day clock.
The practical rule is simple. Do not start the 45 day clock until you have a broker who has agreed to sponsor you and you can file a complete application inside six weeks. If you are still shopping firms, wait.
Step 4: choosing a sponsoring broker
A Virginia salesperson license does not stand alone. You practice under a licensed broker or firm, and your license is affiliated with that firm on the Board record. Choosing where to hang it is the highest stakes decision in this entire process, and it is the one people spend the least time on.
New agents in Northern Virginia usually compare four or five firms and pick based on split. That is the wrong lead variable in your first year. A 70 percent split on zero transactions pays less than a 50 percent split on six, and the firms that produce six often have the lower split.
| What to compare | Why it matters in year one | Question to ask directly |
|---|---|---|
| Training structure | Determines whether you get productive in months or years | What does week one look like for a brand new agent |
| Mentorship | Your first contract will have a problem you cannot solve alone | Who specifically answers my questions at 8pm on a Sunday |
| Lead access | The difference between prospecting cold and warm | What leads, if any, come to new agents and on what terms |
| Monthly fees | Fixed costs hit before your first commission does | What will I owe every month if I close nothing |
| Commission split | Matters enormously later, much less at the start | What is the cap and what happens after I hit it |
| Broker availability | Compliance questions are time sensitive | How many agents does the principal broker supervise |
Interview firms while you are still working through the 60 hours. Brokerages are used to talking with unlicensed candidates, and having the conversation early means you are not sitting on an expiring background check while you make up your mind. Our full brokerage decision framework walks through the tradeoffs in more detail.
Step 5: filing the DPOR application
With a passing exam score, current fingerprints, and a broker lined up, the application is the easy part. DPOR accepts salesperson license applications three ways: through Online Services, as an interactive fillable PDF, or as a printed static form.
Use Online Services if you have the option. DPOR itself recommends it for expedited processing, and mailed paper applications sit in a queue. Mailed forms go to the Real Estate Board at DPOR, 9960 Mayland Drive, Suite 400, Richmond, VA 23233.
The salesperson application fee is 150 dollars under 18 VAC 135-20-80. Application fees are not refundable, so a form that arrives incomplete is not a free do over on the fee front for anything you have to repeat. Checks are made payable to the Treasurer of Virginia with your registration number written on them.
What DPOR is checking
- That your 60 hour Principles of Real Estate course completion is documented and from an approved provider.
- That you have passed both portions of the salesperson examination within the last year.
- That your fingerprint based background check is current and within the 45 day window.
- That you have disclosed any criminal history, disciplinary action, or unresolved complaints from any jurisdiction.
- That the firm you are affiliating with is properly licensed in Virginia.
Disclosure is where applications actually get delayed. The Board is far more forgiving of a disclosed issue than of an undisclosed one it finds on its own. If you have anything on your record, disclose it fully and attach the documentation the first time rather than answering follow up letters for three months.
What a Virginia license actually costs
Most articles about this stop at the state fees and leave you thinking a Virginia real estate license costs about 260 dollars. The state portion is genuinely cheap. What nobody tells new agents is what lands in the month after the license arrives, and in Northern Virginia those numbers are not small.
Getting licensed
| Item | Cost | Paid to |
|---|---|---|
| 60 hour pre-license course | About 300 to 700 dollars | Your approved school |
| PSI examination fee | 60 dollars | PSI |
| Fingerprints and background check | 52 dollars | PSI and the Commonwealth |
| Salesperson license application | 150 dollars | Virginia Real Estate Board |
| Typical total to licensure | About 560 to 960 dollars |
The month after, in Northern Virginia
This is the part that surprises people. The published 2026 schedule for the Northern Virginia Association of REALTORS puts a new primary member joining in the January to March quarter at 821.75 dollars. That figure covers a 175 dollar application fee, 258.75 dollars in NVAR dues, 175 dollars in NAR dues, 203 dollars in Virginia REALTORS dues, and a 10 dollar key service fee.
Two costs sit outside that total and both are effectively mandatory if you intend to actually work. SentriLock runs a 75 dollar application fee plus a 160 dollar annual lease. Bright MLS runs a 250 dollar application fee plus 120 dollars per quarter.
| Post-license item | Published cost | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| NVAR application fee | 175 dollars | One time |
| NVAR dues | 258.75 dollars | Annual, prorated by quarter |
| NAR dues | 175 dollars | Annual |
| Virginia REALTORS dues | 203 dollars | Annual |
| Key service fee | 10 dollars | Annual |
| SentriLock | 75 dollar application, 160 dollar annual lease | Setup plus annual |
| Bright MLS | 250 dollar application, 120 dollars quarterly | Setup plus quarterly |
Add it up honestly. A new Northern Virginia agent who gets licensed and then fully equips themselves to work is looking at roughly 2,000 dollars before their first commission check. Brokerage fees, business cards, and a lockbox supply sit on top of that.
Proration helps. NVAR runs an October through September fiscal year and prorates dues quarterly. Someone joining in the July to September quarter pays 86.25 dollars in NVAR dues rather than 345 dollars. Timing your join date to the start of a quarter is a small, real savings.
None of this should scare you off. It should change how you plan. The agents who wash out in year one are almost never the ones who lacked talent. They are the ones who budgeted 300 dollars for a career and ran out of runway in month four, which is exactly the pattern our breakdown of what agents actually earn is meant to correct.
How long it really takes
There is no fixed answer, because the 60 hour course is the only variable that moves much and it is entirely under your control. Every other step has a fairly predictable turnaround. Here is what the pieces add up to.
| Stage | Typical time | What controls it |
|---|---|---|
| 60 hour course | 3 to 12 weeks | Your weekly study pace, nothing else |
| Exam scheduling | Days to 2 weeks | Seat availability at your preferred center |
| Exam and any retake | 1 day to 2 weeks | Whether you pass both portions first time |
| Fingerprints | Same day, results in days | PSI or Fieldprint turnaround |
| Brokerage decision | 1 to 6 weeks | How early you started interviewing |
| Board processing | 2 to 4 weeks | Online versus mailed, and file completeness |
The realistic range for someone working a full time job while they do this is ten to sixteen weeks. Someone treating the course as a full time project can be licensed in six to eight weeks. Nine months happens too, and it is almost always a stalled course rather than a stalled Board.
DPOR advises allowing roughly two weeks of processing when you apply for the exam, and applications submitted through Online Services move faster than mailed paper. Build both facts into your plan rather than assuming a same week turnaround at either step.
Virginia vs Maryland vs DC
If you live anywhere in the DMV, this question arrives early. Someone in Arlington can drive to three jurisdictions in twenty minutes, and clients do not respect state lines. Virginia, Maryland, and the District are three separate licensing authorities with three separate licenses, three separate applications, and three separate state exams.
| Requirement | Virginia | Maryland | Washington DC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regulator | Real Estate Board, DPOR | Maryland Real Estate Commission | DC Real Estate Commission, DLCP |
| Pre-license hours | 60 hours | 60 hours plus a 3 hour ethics course | 60 hours |
| Minimum age | 18 | 18 | Set by the Commission |
| Application fee | 150 dollars | 90 dollars | 65 dollars |
| License term | 2 years | 2 years | 2 years, expiring in odd years |
| Continuing education | 16 hours per cycle | 15 hours per cycle | Set by the Commission |
Which one to get first
Get licensed where you will actually work, which for most people means where they live and where their sphere of influence lives. A license in a jurisdiction where you know nobody is an expense, not an asset.
My honest recommendation for someone starting in Northern Virginia is simple. Get the Virginia license, work it for a full year, and only add Maryland or DC when a specific client relationship forces the question. Three licenses means three sets of dues, three continuing education cycles, and three sets of contracts to actually know well.
The part nobody says out loud
Holding a license in a jurisdiction is not the same as being competent in it. DC contracts, Maryland disclosure rules, and Virginia agency law are meaningfully different. An agent who dabbles in all three and masters none is a liability claim waiting to happen. Depth first, then breadth.
Already licensed in another state
Virginia has two separate paths for existing licensees, and they are frequently confused with each other. Both still require you to pass a Virginia examination component, which surprises people who expect a pure paperwork transfer.
Reciprocity
Under the reciprocity path, an applicant holds a current salesperson license in another state and passes the state portion of the Virginia examination. They also submit verification of a 60 hour Principles of Real Estate course and letters of certification from each jurisdiction where they hold a license.
Universal license recognition
Virginia also offers a Salesperson Universal License Recognition path. It applies to someone holding a current non-Virginia salesperson license issued by a regulatory board or government entity. It works two ways depending on where that license came from.
- If your license is from a neighboring jurisdiction, meaning DC, Maryland, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, or West Virginia, you qualify without the multi year seasoning requirement.
- If your license is from anywhere else, you generally need to have held it for at least three years.
- You must still pass the Virginia Real Estate Board examination before applying under this path.
- You submit a certification of licensure or letter of good standing dated within the last 60 days from every jurisdiction where you are licensed.
- You disclose any unresolved complaints or disciplinary actions from any regulatory body.
- The fee for this application is 230 dollars rather than the standard 150 dollars.
Non-Virginia residents applying under either path sign a written power of attorney. It appoints the Director of the Department as their legal agent for service of process. That is standard language, not a trap, but read it rather than initialing past it.
Military spouses and veterans
This section exists because of where I work. Northern Virginia sits next to the Pentagon, Fort Belvoir, Quantico, and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling. A meaningful share of the people who ask me about licensing are military connected. Virginia has real provisions for them that most licensing guides skip entirely.
- Expedited processing for military spouses. DPOR offers a Military Spouse Expedited License Application that moves your file ahead of the standard queue.
- A temporary license for spouses licensed elsewhere. A military spouse who holds a license in another state can obtain a temporary 12 month non-renewable Virginia license, which buys time to complete the full process after a move.
- Renewal extensions for active duty. Active duty military members and their spouses may receive an extension of up to five years to meet renewal requirements.
- Credit for military training. Honorably discharged veterans may have relevant military training and experience credited toward licensing requirements.
If you are PCSing into the DMV and plan to sell real estate here, start the licensing conversation before you arrive rather than after. The temporary license path in particular is far more useful in month one than in month eight, and it is not well advertised.
There is a business case here too, not just a personal one. Military relocation is one of the most reliable and least contested niches in this market, and an agent who has lived a PCS understands it in a way no course teaches. Our PCS season playbook for DMV agents covers how that niche actually works.
After you pass: the 30 hour rule
Getting the license is the administrative half. The part that catches new Virginia agents by surprise is a requirement that arrives quietly and has real teeth.
Every salesperson renewing a license for the first time, whether active or inactive, must complete 30 hours of post-license education. The deadline is within one year from the last day of the month in which the license was issued. Miss it and DPOR states the consequence plainly: your license goes on inactive status automatically.
An inactive license means you cannot practice real estate in Virginia. Reactivating requires completing the 30 hours anyway and filing an activation application with the appropriate fees. There is no version of this where skipping the requirement saves you anything.
| Post-license course | Hours |
|---|---|
| Real Estate Law and Regulations | 6 |
| Contract Writing | 6 |
| Ethics and Standards of Conduct | 3 |
| Agency Law | 3 |
| Risk Management | 3 |
| Escrow Requirements | 3 |
| Fair Housing, ADA and Civil Rights | 2 |
| Current Industry Issues and Trends | 2 |
| Real Estate-Related Finance | 2 |
| Total | 30 |
Continuing education after the first renewal
Once you are past that first renewal you move onto the standard continuing education cycle. Virginia licenses run two years under Code of Virginia 54.1-2105.03, and experienced salespersons complete 16 hours per cycle.
The topic breakdown changed for licenses expiring on or after June 30, 2026, so check which version applies to you. Under the current breakdown, experienced salespersons take 3 hours of Ethics and Standards of Conduct and 2 hours of Fair Housing. They add 2 hours each of Legal Updates and Emerging Trends, Real Estate Agency, and Real Estate Contracts, plus 5 elective hours.
Brokers carry 24 hours per cycle instead, adding 6 hours of Broker Management and 2 hours of Broker Supervision on top of a similar core. That difference matters if you are already thinking about a broker license, which requires 180 classroom hours and 36 months of active salesperson experience out of the preceding 48.
What actually determines your first year
None of the compliance above will make you money. It keeps you legal, and legal is the floor rather than the goal. What determines whether you are still in this business in eighteen months is whether you built a lead source in your first ninety days. That is the entire premise behind our real estate agent training programs.
The Virginia licensing process teaches you law, agency, and contracts. It teaches you nothing about where clients come from. That gap is the single biggest reason new agent attrition is what it is, and closing it is a separate project you start the week your license activates.
Mistakes I watch new agents make
I have been licensed in Virginia since 2007 and have watched a lot of people go through this process. The failures cluster into the same handful of patterns.
- Getting fingerprinted before choosing a brokerage. The 45 day clock starts, the brokerage search drags, and the background check expires. This is the most common and most expensive sequencing error in Virginia.
- Buying the cheapest course package. Saving 200 dollars on exam prep and then failing the national portion twice costs more in fees and far more in delay.
- Treating the course as homework. A 60 hour course with no scheduled study blocks becomes a 60 hour course you abandon at hour 22. Put it on a calendar like a job.
- Picking a brokerage on split alone. The split matters in year three. Training, mentorship, and lead access determine whether you reach year three.
- Budgeting only the state fees. A Virginia license costs a few hundred dollars. Being equipped to work in Northern Virginia costs closer to two thousand. Plan for the second number.
- Ignoring the 30 hour post-license requirement. It arrives during the exact months you are busiest and least profitable, and missing it deactivates your license.
- Waiting for the license to start building a database. Nothing stops you from telling people what you are doing while you are still in the course. The agents who start early close their first deal months sooner.
- Assuming the license is the hard part. It is the easiest part. Getting a stranger to trust you with the largest transaction of their life is the hard part.
If you want the version of this that covers what happens after activation rather than before it, our first 90 days checklist picks up exactly where this guide ends.
Frequently asked questions
How do I become a real estate agent in Virginia?
Complete a 60 hour Principles of Real Estate course from a school approved by the Virginia Real Estate Board. Then pass the state and national portions of the PSI salesperson exam, get fingerprinted, and file a salesperson license application with DPOR under a sponsoring broker. You must be at least 18 with a high school diploma or equivalent. Applications go to the Real Estate Board in Richmond, and Online Services is the faster route.
How much does it cost to get a real estate license in Virginia?
Budget roughly 600 to 1,000 dollars to get licensed. The fixed state costs are a 60 dollar exam fee, a 52 dollar fingerprint fee, and a 150 dollar application fee, with the 60 hour course typically running 300 to 700 dollars. The larger expense comes after. In Northern Virginia, REALTOR membership, MLS access, and lockbox service push the real first year figure closer to 2,000 dollars.
How long does it take to get a real estate license in Virginia?
Most people finish in two to four months. The 60 hour course is the only step that varies much, since a full time pace clears it in under three weeks while five hours a week stretches it past twelve. Exam scheduling, fingerprint turnaround, and Board processing add roughly three to seven weeks on top. Applying through Online Services is faster than mailing paper forms.
Can you take the Virginia real estate course online?
Yes. The 60 hours can be completed online or in a classroom as long as the provider appears on the Virginia Real Estate Board approved list. Online courses still require a monitored final examination before the school issues your completion certificate. PSI also offers remote proctored testing for the licensing exam itself, though breaks are not permitted during remote sessions.
How hard is the Virginia real estate exam?
It is passable with real preparation and unforgiving without it. The national portion is 80 questions in 105 minutes with a passing score of 56, and the state portion is 40 questions in 45 minutes with a passing score of 30. You retake only the portion you failed. Most people who struggle do so on the national portion, which is why exam prep question banks matter more than course price.
Do I need a broker before I get my Virginia real estate license?
You need one before the license can be active. Virginia salespersons practice under a licensed broker or firm, and your license is affiliated with that firm on the Board record. Practically, you should have the brokerage decision made before you get fingerprinted. The background check expires in 45 days, and a slow brokerage search is what causes people to pay that fee twice.
Can I use my Virginia real estate license in Maryland or Washington DC?
Not directly. Virginia, Maryland, and the District are three separate jurisdictions with three separate licenses and three separate regulators. Many DMV agents eventually hold two or three, but each requires its own application, its own fees, and its own state exam content. Get licensed where you actually work first, then add a second jurisdiction when a real client relationship demands it.
Do you need a college degree to become a real estate agent in Virginia?
No. Board regulations require only that you be at least 18 years old and hold a high school diploma or its equivalent. There is no college requirement and no real estate specific degree that brokerages expect. What actually predicts success in this business is consistency in prospecting and follow up, neither of which any degree program teaches.
About the Author
Written by Saad Jamil, founder of Jamil Academy and a currently producing Top 1% Realtor in Northern Virginia, with $500M+ in career sales and 800+ homes closed. Saad has been licensed in Virginia since 2007 and holds licenses in VA, DC, MD, and WV. He has walked new agents through the DPOR process, the brokerage decision, and the first ninety days after activation for most of two decades. View Saad’s Zillow profile.
Educational content only, and not legal advice. Fees, hours, and procedures described here were verified as of August 2026. Sources include Virginia DPOR, the Board regulations at 18 VAC 135-20, the PSI Virginia Candidate Information Bulletin, and published association schedules. Licensing requirements and fees change. Confirm current requirements directly with DPOR at (804) 367-8526 or [email protected] before making decisions or payments. Maryland and DC figures are provided for comparison and are governed by those jurisdictions, not Virginia.
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