How to Become a Real Estate Agent in Minnesota (2026 Guide)
Ready to get your real estate license in Minnesota?
Excellent choice. This is an incredible opportunity for entrepreneurs, offering almost unlimited growth potential. So whether you are planning to do real estate part-time or are making it your new full-time career, we are going to guide you through the process and share everything you need to know to become a real estate agent in Minnesota.
We’ll cover:
Steps to Get a Real Estate License in Minnesota
The Minnesota Department of Commerce requires that, in order to become a licensed real estate agent in the state, you must be at least 18 years old and complete the following steps:
- STEP 1: Complete three (3) courses for a total of 90 hours of the real estate pre-licensing course
- STEP 2: Sign up and pass the Minnnesota state real estate exam with a score of at least 75%
- STEP 3: Select a sponsoring brokerage
- STEP 4: Submit an application to the Real Estate Commission
Please note that your sponsoring brokerage is required to submit the real estate license request on your behalf through the MCD online PULSE Portal. The application fee is $110.
For more information, download the Guide to Real Estate Licensing, brought to you by the Minnesota Commerce Department.
Understand How Long it Takes to Get a Real Estate License
If you do the online pre-licensing course, you can go at your own pace and potentially finish in about 3 weeks. It typically takes a few weeks to get your appointment for the state exam. Then, the last thing to do in becoming a licensed real estate agent is to wait for approval from the Commerce Department. Although the approval process for renewals tends to take only seven days, new application processing can take much longer. Demand on the department greatly impacts processing time, so it might be best to expect approval to take several weeks. All in all, you could potentially get your license within 8 weeks, but for most aspiring agents it will take three to six months.
Cost to Get a Real Estate License in Minnesota
There are several expenses involved in getting your Minnesota real estate license. Here’s a quick look at what you’ll need to budget for:
| Licensing Expense | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
| Required 90 hours of prelicensing education | $300 to $900 |
| Minnesota real estate exam | $65 |
| Salesperson license application | $110 |
| Exam-prep course or study materials | $199 to $250 (optional) |
Minnesota’s education requirement consists of three 30-hour courses known as Course I, Course II, and Course III. You must complete Course I before taking the licensing exam, followed by Courses II and III before submitting your license application.
The $110 salesperson application fee includes the state’s licensing fee, Real Estate Education, Research and Recovery Fund fee, and technology surcharge.
Estimated Minnesota Licensing Costs
| Cost Estimate | Total |
|---|---|
| Required licensing expenses | $525 to $1,075 |
| Estimated total with optional exam prep | $724 to $1,325 |
Your sponsoring broker submits your salesperson license application after you’ve completed the required education and passed both portions of the Minnesota real estate exam.
More Expenses to Expect as a Brand-New Real Estate Agent
Getting your license is a huge accomplishment—but it’s also just the beginning! As a new agent, you’re essentially opening your own small business, which means there are a few additional startup and ongoing expenses to plan for.
Knowing about these costs ahead of time can help you compare brokerages, create a realistic budget, and begin your new career with fewer financial surprises.
| Common Expenses | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
| Continuing education | Approximately $100 to $200 every 2 years |
| Minnesota license renewal | $70 every 2 years |
| REALTOR® association membership | Varies by location; see examples below |
| Multiple Listing Service (MLS) | Approximately $150 to $175 quarterly |
| SentriLock or Supra eKey | $100 to $150 annually |
| Brokerage joining fee | $0 to $500; approximately $250 on average |
| Monthly brokerage fee | $0 to $350 per month |
| Business cards and signage | Varies |
| Marketing and advertising | Varies |
Minnesota real estate salespersons generally complete 30 hours of approved continuing education during each two-year licensing period. At least 15 hours must be completed during each license year, with education due by June 30.
Newly licensed agents are exempt from continuing education on the first June 30 following initial licensure. Required annual modules count toward the 30-hour total.
Examples of Minnesota REALTOR® Association Dues
REALTOR® association dues can vary depending on when you join, which local association serves your market, and whether MLS or lockbox access is included.
| REALTOR® Association | Estimated Dues |
|---|---|
| Minneapolis Area REALTORS® | $651 in annual dues for 2026; a new member joining in January pays $901 with new-member fees |
| Lake Superior Area REALTORS® | Contact the association for current dues |
| REALTOR® Association of Southern Minnesota | Approximately $1,125 annually; confirm which services are included |
| Grand Forks Area Association of REALTORS® | Approximately $1,219 annually; serves the Grand Forks and East Grand Forks region |
| Saint Paul Area Association of REALTORS® | Approximately $630 in annual local, state, and national dues for 2026; new-member fees may apply |
Before paying for association membership, MLS access, or an electronic lockbox service, check with your sponsoring broker. Some associations and brokerages bundle these services, while others charge for each one separately.
Total Cost to Become a Real Estate Agent in Minnesota
When you combine the cost of getting licensed with the common expenses involved in launching your business, you should plan to spend approximately $1,640 to $3,180 or more.
Your actual first-year costs will depend heavily on your brokerage, local REALTOR® association, MLS, and marketing choices. Monthly brokerage fees and optional advertising expenses can push your first-year total above this general planning range.
Learn more about costs to become a real estate agent in Minnesota (there are a few more!):
Find the Top Minnesota Real Estate Schools
To get your real estate license, you’ll have to attend a school that’s approved by the Minnesota Real Estate Commission. There are at least a dozen approved real estate schools throughout the state. Some are online, others in person, and a few do a combination of the two.
Here are a few of the most popular:
- Colibri Real Estate (online with exam prep options)
- Kaplan Education (online with instructor support)
- The CE Shop
- McKissock Learning
- Minnesota Realty School
- PrepAgent (popular mobile option for exam prep)
When shopping for the top online real estate schools, you’ll want to compare pricing, but there are a few other things you will need to consider:
- Do they share their “pass rate”? This will tell you what percentage of their students passed the state exam on the first try.
- Does the school offer any guarantees if you don’t pass? For example, one school will pay the fee for you to retake the state exam.
- Are practice tests given to the students or is there any additional charge?
- Do they offer a separate exam prep course or a weekend cram course?
How to Select a Real Estate Broker
In Minnesota, you must affiliate with a real estate brokerage in order actively help home buyers and sellers. This is often referred to as the “sponsoring broker” or “managing broker.” Picking the right brokerage to work with can be key to your success as a newly licensed agent.
We would recommend shopping for the best broker once you’ve completed the pre-licensing course and are waiting to take your state exam or while Minnesota is processing your application. There are a few ways to do this:
- Ask around. Find out which brokerages your friends and family have worked with in the past and see what they liked most about them. Don’t hesitate to reach out to local agents in your area to see what they like most about their broker.
- Research online. Once you’ve narrowed down your choices to 3 to 5 companies, do some research online. There are always dozens if not hundreds of YouTube testimonials and feedback from real estate agents.
- Check out Facebook/Meta. There are quite a few Facebook groups for aspiring agents and you’ll get lots of (honest) feedback from agents at different brokerages.
- Schedule interviews. We highly recommend meeting (in person, phone or a zoom) with two or three brokerages, because the benefits and commission splits can be dramatically different from one firm to the next.
When researching and meeting with different brokerages, keep in mind that many are independently owned franchises. So one Century 21 or Keller Williams office could be completely different from another that’s just 10 minutes away. The culture, training, support team, and sometimes even the fees and commission splits can vary from franchise to franchise.
Don’t miss our latest article…
Is it Easy to Become a Real Estate Agent in Minnesota… and Succeed in the 1st Year?
You made it through 90 hours of classes, passed the state exam, and selected a great broker — congrats! The next step is getting you mentally prepared to build a successful, thriving new business.
As a new REALTOR, you need to have a fire in your belly! Your motivation and desire to learn everything you can be critical to your success – especially in your first year in real estate. Many of you may be used to working for someone and being told what to do at work each day, but that isn’t the case in real estate.
You are officially a business owner, so it’s key that you start focusing on:
- Building your personal network. Being a successful real estate professional means having a large network of people that like and trust you. If you don’t already have a network or sphere of influence, you’ll need to regularly get out, socialize, network and meet new people. Once you’ve built up a substantial network, you have to find ways to stay top of mind with your network. This could include things like sending out a monthly newsletter, birthday cards, and connecting on social media.
- Becoming a neighborhood expert. If you want to be the go-to REALTOR in your area, you need to know your local market. This could include touring homes in the area, researching new developments, studying the real estate sales statistics, and letting as many people as possible know that you are here to serve them.
- Marketing and promoting yourself online. From blogging on your website to running Facebook ads, posting on social media and networking in local online groups
- Understanding how to talk to potential clients. It’s so important that you learn how to connect and communicate with people about real estate and how to overcome objections.
Kerry Lucasse and the Building Better Agents team talk with hundreds of newly licensed real estate agents each year. Most have no idea how challenging the first year or two can be and how much you need to learn to be successful. This business is not as easy as it looks on TV! Real estate can be a rewarding and profitable business if you are a self-starter who is 110% committed to being successful and you have the support of a great mentor and brokerage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Minnesota breaks its 90 hours into three separate 30-hour courses, but many candidates do not realize they can take the state exam before finishing all 90 hours.
Answer: Yes, you can take the licensing exam as soon as you finish Course I. The Minnesota Department of Commerce requires 90 total pre-licensing hours split into three 30-hour modules:
Course I (30 hours): Real Estate Principles, Contracts, and Agency. Passing this course qualifies you to take the state licensing exam immediately.
Course II (30 hours): Valuation, Finance, and Fair Housing.
Course III (30 hours): Specialized elective (such as Real Estate Appraisal, Closing Procedures, or Commercial Real Estate).
While you can sit for your exam after completing Course I, you must finish Courses II and III before your sponsoring broker submits your final license application. All 90 hours can be taken online via self-paced or live webinar formats.
The Minnesota Salesperson Licensing Exam consists of 130 total questions (plus unscored pre-test items) with a 4-hour time limit:
National Section: 80 questions (2.5-hour time limit).
State Section: 50 questions (1.5-hour time limit).
You must achieve a score of at least 75% on both sections independently to pass. The state portion focuses heavily on Minnesota Commerce Department licensing laws, subdivision regulations, trust account rules, and Minnesota-specific disclosure requirements. If you pass one section but fail the other, you only need to re-test on the failed section.
Most agents will describe the real estate licensing exam as “not easy.” It’s important that you take lots (and lots!) of practice tests to prepare for the exam. If you still aren’t feeling 100% comfortable about passing, we highly recommend taking an exam cram course online. Many of the top real estate schools offer an exam prep course for less than $150.
You need a minimum score 75% to pass the Minnesota Real Estate Salesperson Exam, with (at least 60/80 on the national portion and 30/40 on the state portion).
The Minnesota salesperson exam consists of 80 national questions and 40 questions that are state-specific. All are multiple choice and you’ll have 4 hours to complete the exam.
If you fail all or part of the exam, you only need to retake the failed portion of the exam. Reservations for reexamination may not be made at the test center, and candidates must wait 24 hours before scheduling to ensure previous exam results are processed. The fee is $65 per attempt.
Minnesota handles application submissions differently than most states:
Broker-Only Submission: Individual candidates cannot submit their own license applications. Once you pass your exam and complete all 90 hours, your primary Sponsoring Broker must submit your license application electronically via the state’s PULSE Portal.
Background Check: You must submit to a criminal background check and fingerprinting process coordinated through the Department of Commerce.
12-Month Rule: Your passing exam score is valid for exactly 12 months. If your broker does not submit your application within 1 year of your exam date, your test scores expire completely.
All Minnesota real estate licenses renew every two years by June 30th. During each 2-year cycle, agents must complete 30 hours of approved Continuing Education (CE). However, Minnesota enforces a strict annual split:
You must complete at least 15 CE hours during the first 12 months of your 2-year cycle.
Required courses include mandatory annual modules designated by the Minnesota Department of Commerce, along with required updates on Fair Housing and Agency Representation.
Having a criminal record doesn’t automatically disqualify you. The Commerce Department requires applicants to disclose any criminal history as part of the application, and reviews each situation individually rather than applying a fixed list of disqualifying offenses. If you have concerns about your background, it’s worth contacting the Commerce Department directly before investing in the 90-hour course.
According to Indeed.com and ZipRecruiter, the average Minnesota real estate agent earns around $84,000 a year, with most agents falling somewhere between $58,800 and $97,900 depending on experience and effort. As with any commission-based role, your actual earnings depend heavily on how many homes you sell and the price points in your market — the Twin Cities metro tends to offer the strongest opportunities, though top producers in smaller markets can still do very well.
To become a broker, you must have a minimum of three years of active licensed real estate experience (within five (5) years of applying for the brokers exam). The experience must be obtained in Minnesota or another state with comparable requirements. A 30-hour Broker’s course is required before you sit for the broker exam. After passing the exam, apply for license as either a primary broker or become associated with a licensed primary broker. If you choose the latter route, the primary broker must submit the application for your license. The fee is $190.00 ($150 plus a $30 for the real estate education, research and recovery fund and a $10.00 technology surcharge.
If you are a licensed agent in Florida or Michigan, for example, and would like to get your license in another state, many US states have a “reciprocity agreement” with one another. This means that you don’t have to attend any additional classes, you just have to pass the state portion of the exam to hold an active real estate license in that state.
In Minnesota, the applicant must reside in and hold an active real estate license in one of the following reciprocal States: Colorado, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Oklahoma. A Minnesota licensed primary broker must submit the application on the behalf of the non-resident. The fee is $130.00 and you can apply on the PULSE Portal.
Wisconsin gets its own separate arrangement: rather than the standard reciprocal pathway above, Wisconsin licensees complete a 13-hour Wisconsin-to-Minnesota Reciprocal Prelicense course (no more than a year old at the time of application) and then pass just the state portion of the exam.
Other Articles + Resources You Might Like:
Let's Work Together
I’ve helped hundreds of agents build successful businesses, generate more leads, and expand their teams into multiple states.
Receive exclusive monthly training emails
DMCA Notice