What Do I Need? - Brilliant Education

So, which class should you take? Do you need more than one? That depends on what you need to accomplish… Are you trying to earn your Real Estate Broker license, to help people buy and sell properties? Do you already have your license, and you need to renew it? Are you trying to earn your Real Estate Managing Broker license, so you can manage/start your own real estate office or company? Let’s explore these scenarios below, including the state requirements for each.

First Things First

To qualify for a Real Estate Broker license or a Residential Leasing Agent license in Illinois, you must be at least 18 years of age and be a high school graduate or equivalent (G.E.D.). To qualify for a Real Estate Managing Broker license in Illinois, you must be at least 21 years of age and be a high school graduate or equivalent (G.E.D.).

Earning Your Broker License

Earning your Real Estate Broker license in Illinois requires a minimum of 75 hours of education. You must complete all 75 hours, before you will be allowed to sit for the state’s licensure exam. Hence, the term “pre-license” education. The state also requires that at least 15 of those hours must be “interactive” learning, taught live by a licensed instructor. The remaining 60 hours of education may be taken in a home-study or even an on-line learning format, if the student chooses.

It is important to note that most students taking online and home-study courses have a lack-luster pass-rate on the state exams. Not surprisingly, students that take the entire course in a LIVE format historically perform far better on the state exams.

At BRILLIANT Education, our instructors have found that most students prefer to get ALL of their required hours of education in a live format. As of the date of this posting, BRILLIANT Education has the ONLY instructors offering the FULL 75-HOUR LIVE-INSTRUCTION program through licensed real estate schools and their respective branches in the central Illinois area. Of course, for those that are comfortable with the home-study courses, our instructors also teach the 15-hour courses for various schools and their branches, throughout the state.

Once a student has successfully completed the required 75-hours of education, he or she will then be allowed to sit for the Illinois Real Estate Broker license exam, administered by AMP/PSI. AMP/PSI has been contracted by the State of Illinois to administer all real estate license exams.

Renewing Your Broker License for the First Time

In Illinois, Real Estate Brokers must renew their licenses by April 30th of even-numbered years. After obtaining an Illinois Real Estate Broker license, before renewing it for the very first time, license holders must successfully complete a 45-hour post-license course. The state requires that at least 15 hours of the post-license course must be “interactive” learning, taught live by a licensed instructor. The remaining 30 hours of education may be taken in a home-study or even an on-line learning format, if the student chooses.

At BRILLIANT Education, our instructors have found that most students prefer to get ALL of their required hours of education in a live format. As of the date of this posting, BRILLIANT Education has the ONLY instructors offering the FULL 45-HOUR LIVE-INSTRUCTION program through licensed real estate schools and their respective branches in the central Illinois area. Of course, for those that are comfortable with the home-study courses, our instructors also teach the single 15-hour course for various schools and their branches, throughout the state.

Once a student has successfully completed the required 45-hours of post-license education (including the final exam(s) for the actual course), he or she will then be allowed to renew his or her Real Estate Broker license without needing any other continuing education credits.

It is important to note that the state of Illinois does make a special exception for those licensees that obtained their licenses within 180 days before April 30th of an even-numbered year. If your license was issued within 180 days (on or after November 1st of an odd-numbered year) before April 30th of an even-numbered year, your license will NOT expire that year, but will instead be extended through April 30th of the NEXT even-numbered year. However, you WILL be required to complete the 45-hours of post-license education before your first renewal (two years later). Be sure to carefully check the expiration date on your license when it arrives!

Maintaining Your Broker License

This section covers the requirements to renew your Broker license AFTER your first renewal, which involved the 45-hour post-license education requirement.

In Illinois, Real Estate Brokers must renew their licenses by April 30th of even-numbered years. The 45-hour post-license education requirement is ONLY for your first renewal. After that, you only need 12 hours of Continuing Education (CE) credit to renew your license each time. The 12 hours must consist of the following: 4 hours must be what is referred to as “Core” course credit, and the remaining 8 hours can be what is referred to as “elective” course credit. Once the 12-hour education requirement has been met, the licensee will be eligible for license renewal.

It is important to note that Illinois also requires Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for ALL licensees, before EVERY license renewal. It would be prudent to make sure that one of your elective courses is a Sexual Harassment Prevention course that has been approved for elective course credit by the State.

Earning Your Managing Broker License

Earning your Real Estate Managing Broker license in Illinois involves meeting some strict requirements. First, you must have been an ACTIVE Real Estate Broker for at least 2 out of the last 3 years. Second, you must meet the minimum education requirement of 165 hours. While that may seem like quite a lot, keep in mind that the 75 hours of pre-license education that were required to obtain your Broker license, AND the 45 hours of post-license education that were required to renew your Broker license for the first time all add up to 120 hours. Any CE courses taken after that do not count as license-earning credit, but the 120 hours of pre and post-license education do count toward the 165-hour requirement for your Managing Broker license. That leaves only 45 hours of additional education required. Of those additional 45 hours of education, the state of Illinois requires that at least 15 hours must be “interactive” learning, taught live by a licensed instructor. The remaining 30 hours of education may be taken in a home-study or even an on-line learning format, if the student chooses.

As of the date of this posting, BRILLIANT Education has the ONLY instructors offering the FULL 45-HOUR LIVE-INSTRUCTION Managing Broker program through licensed real estate schools and their respective branches in the central Illinois area. Of course, for those that are comfortable with the home-study courses, our instructors also teach the single 15-hour course for various schools and their branches, throughout the state.

Once a licensed Real Estate Broker has successfully completed the required 45-hours of additional education , AND meets the requirement of being an ACTIVE Real Estate Broker for 2 out of the last 3 years, he or she will then be allowed to sit for the Illinois Real Estate Managing Broker license exam. Just like the licensure exam that was taken to earn the original Broker license, the Managing Broker licensure exam is administered by AMP/PSI.

Renewing Your Managing Broker License for the First Time

In Illinois, Real Estate Managing Brokers must renew their licenses by April 30th of odd-numbered years. After obtaining an Illinois Real Estate Managing Broker license, before renewing it for the very first time, license holders must successfully complete 12 hours of Continuing Education (CE) credit. The 12 hours must consist of the following: 4 hours must be what is referred to as “Core” course credit, and the remaining 8 hours can be what is referred to as “elective” course credit. Once the 12-hour education requirement has been met, the licensee will be eligible for license renewal.

Maintaining Your Managing Broker License

This section covers the requirements to renew your Managing Broker license AFTER your first renewal, which only involved a 12-hour continuing education (CE) requirement.

In Illinois, Real Estate Managing Brokers must renew their licenses by April 30th of odd-numbered years. The 12-hour CE requirement is ONLY for your first renewal. After that, you need 24 hours of Continuing Education (CE) credit to renew your license each time. The 24 hours must consist of the following: 12 hours must be what is referred to as “Broker Management” CE, 4 hours must be what is referred to as “Core” course credit, and the remaining 8 hours can be what is referred to as “elective” course credit. Once the 24-hour education requirement has been met, the licensee will be eligible for license renewal.

Earning Your Residential Leasing Agent License

Earning your Residential Leasing Agent license in Illinois requires a minimum of 15 hours of education.

Once a student has successfully completed the required 15-hours of education, he or she will then be allowed to sit for the Illinois Residential Leasing Agent license exam, administered by AMP/PSI. AMP/PSI has been contracted by the State of Illinois to administer all real estate license exams.

Maintaining Your Residential Leasing Agent License

In Illinois, Residential Leasing Agents must renew their licenses by July 31st of even-numbered years. The state requires 6 hours of Continuing Education (CE) credit to renew your license each time. Once the 6-hour CE requirement has been met, the licensee will be eligible for license renewal.

At BRILLIANT Education, our instructors have found that most students prefer to get ALL of their required hours of education in a live format. BRILLIANT Education offers LIVE-INSTRUCTION programs through licensed real estate schools and their respective branches throughout the state.

It is important to note that Residential Leasing Agents are NOT permitted to engage in any commercial leasing activities in the State of Illinois. The State of Illinois requires a full Real Estate Broker license or a Real Estate Managing Broker license for anyone wishing to engage in commercial leasing activities.