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Updated for 2026
To get a Louisiana real estate license you must be 18 with a high school diploma or GED, complete 90 hours of LREC-approved education, apply to the LREC, pass the state exam with Pearson VUE, carry errors and omissions insurance, and activate under a sponsoring broker. Most students finish in two to four months.
First: do you qualify?
Louisiana keeps the entry rules simple. Per the Louisiana Real Estate Commission, you need two things before the education even starts and college is not a requirement. The basics · Be at least 18 years old and hold a high school diploma or equivalency certificate (GED). That's the entire prerequisite list. The commitment · From there it's earned, not given: 90 hours of LREC-approved education, a passing exam score, and a sponsoring broker to activate you.
This is the full online 90-hour course that is required to become a licensed real estate agent in the state of Louisiana. Take anywhere, anytime.
Same course but with the help of a licensed Louisiana Instructor to assist you in the most difficult areas of the course.
Every new Louisiana agent walks the same four moves. None of them is hard to understand; the work is in doing them in order and not stalling between steps.
The road map
Complete the state-required education at an LREC-approved school; online, on Zoom, or live in Lafayette.
Submit the state application and background requirements, then receive your authorization to test.
Sit the licensing exam through the LREC's testing provider; practice tests make this a rehearsal, not a gamble.
Choose a sponsoring broker, show errors & omissions insurance, and the LREC issues your license.
Money, honestly
Though the price is very affordable considering that you are basically starting a new business, we want you well informed.
From $150 self-paced to $600 live at EXCEL; the only cost you fully control by choosing your format.
$90 to apply with the LREC, plus $60.75 for the fingerprint background check.
$81 for both portions in one sitting through Pearson VUE. Pass the first time and you pay it once.
E&O coverage is required before your license issues, and group plans keep it modest, then the one-time $130 post-license course. And the big one: $1,000 to $1,500 a year by a local MLS. It comes later, it's optional, and if used well, it pays for itself and then some.
Before you start
Short, straight answers, checked against the LREC and Pearson VUE on 19 September 2026. For anything specific to your situation, we are here and can be reached at: (337) 522-3334. We may be in class so don't hesitate to leave a message.
Most students finish the 90 hours in a few weeks to a few months depending on format and pace, then move through the application, exam, and broker steps. Self-paced students control the timeline entirely.
No. Louisiana requires a high school diploma or GED, a minimum age of 18, and the 90 hours of approved education. College is not a requirement.
A national real estate portion and a Louisiana-specific portion. Our course includes practice tests and flashcards, so the format feels familiar before exam day.
The education, yes. The full 90 hours is available self-paced online or live on Zoom statewide. The exam itself is taken through the LREC's testing provider.
You choose a sponsoring broker, show proof of errors & omissions insurance, and the LREC issues your license. Then the real career starts.
A one-time post-license course new licensees complete from an LREC-approved school, separate from the 12 hours of annual CE. EXCEL teaches it online for $130.
Pearson VUE administers the Louisiana salesperson exam. It has two portions, a national portion and a Louisiana state portion. If you sit both in the same session the fee is $81. If you split them across separate sittings the fee is $39 per portion. Be careful with older guides on this. Louisiana used PSI several years ago, and a number of national sites still name PSI as the provider. That information is out of date.
Not automatically disqualifying, and you can find out where you stand before spending money. The Louisiana Real Estate Commission allows a prospective applicant with one or more felony convictions to request a pre-application eligibility determination, meaning a decision before you complete your education or submit an application and fees. You submit a Felony Review Hearing Request form to the Commission at [email protected], or by mail to 9071 Interline Avenue, Baton Rouge, LA 70809. The authority for this sits in La. R.S. 37:33-36 and 2950. If a record is the reason you have been putting this off, start with the determination rather than the coursework.
Yes. A fingerprint based criminal history review is part of the licensing process, and Louisiana runs fingerprinting through IdentoGO. Your fingerprints go to the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information within the Department of Public Safety, and the Commission reviews the results as part of your application. Budget for this as a separate cost from your course and your exam.
You do. Every active licensee in Louisiana is required to carry errors and omissions insurance, and the Commission will not issue your license until you show proof of it. That requirement sits in R.S. 37:1466. You have two routes. You can join the Louisiana group errors and omissions program, where premiums are prorated depending on when in the year you are licensed, or you can buy equivalent coverage independently and file the Commission's Independent Errors and Omissions form along with a copy of your policy declaration page. Either way, it has to be in place before the license issues, not after.
No. You can complete all ninety hours without one. A supervising broker is required at the end, not the beginning. Louisiana's requirement is that you be supervised by a licensed real estate broker and show proof of errors and omissions insurance prior to license issuance. Plenty of students use the months they spend in the course to interview brokerages, which is a better way to choose than picking one under time pressure the week you pass.
The Commission's published requirements for a salesperson license are age eighteen or older, a high school diploma or equivalency certificate, ninety hours of approved education, compliance with application procedures, passing the exam, and broker supervision with errors and omissions coverage. State residency is not among them. The education itself is fully online, so people relocating to Louisiana and people stationed out of state routinely complete the coursework from wherever they are.
Three different things, and people mix them up constantly. The ninety hours is pre-license education, taken before you can sit the exam, and you do it once. The forty five hours is post-license education, taken after you are licensed, due within 180 days of your initial license date, and you also do that once. Continuing education is twelve hours every year for as long as you hold an active license. Missing the post-license deadline carries the same kind of penalty as missing continuing education, so the 180 day clock is the one new licensees most need on their calendar.
Your ninety hour course is the piece you choose. On top of that, plan for the Pearson VUE exam at $81 for both portions in one sitting, the Commission's license application fee, fingerprinting and the criminal history review, and errors and omissions insurance before the license issues. Those state and third party costs are the same regardless of which school you attend, so when you compare schools you are really only comparing tuition and what you get for it.
The exam is split into two portions and each is scored separately. The national portion is 80 questions and you need 56 correct. The Louisiana state portion is 55 questions and you need 40 correct. Both portions are graded on a scaled score, and 70 is passing on each. If you pass one portion and not the other, you retake only the portion you missed, and a single portion is $39 rather than the full $81.
Your move
Enroll online for $150, join the live class, or call (337) 522-3334 and we'll map your path together.
