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How do I get a real estate license in Mississippi?

If you live in Mississippi, have never held a real estate license and want a salesperson license, you must be 18 or older, complete a minimum of 60 hours of real estate courses and pass the salesperson exam. You also clear a background check that includes fingerprints.

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The rule, fact by fact

Course hours
A minimum of 60 hours in real estate courses, as the law specifiesThe law sets the age and residency rules in that same sentence.
Verified. www.mrec.ms.gov (opens state website) · checked Nov 13, 2026
Who needs it
Resident applicants are 18 or over and bona fide Mississippi residents before filingThe law words this rule for resident salesperson applicants.
Same source and date as above
Rule
No acting as a salesperson until qualified by examination, with exceptionsIf you fail the salesperson exam twice, you wait three months from your last attempt.
Same source and date as above
Valid for
A temporary license follows the exam and other conditions, valid for one yearThe year runs from the first day of the month after the license is issued.
Same source and date as above

How to get it done

  1. Step 1. Be 18 or older and a bona fide Mississippi resident before you file. You must also be cleared through a background investigation. You submit a full set of fingerprints, in the form the Commission prescribes, for a criminal history records check.

  2. Step 2. Complete a minimum of 60 hours of real estate courses. No more than eight pre-license hours may be earned in a single day.

  3. Step 3. Apply in writing on the forms the Commission prepares. Attach two photographs of yourself, in the form the Commission prescribes.

  4. Step 4. Successfully complete the real estate salesperson's exam.

  5. Step 5. After you pass the exam and satisfy everything else the law asks, a temporary license is issued. You get a permanent license only after a thirty-hour post-license course from a provider the Commission certifies.

Before you pay

This page rests on one source, the Mississippi Real Estate License Law as the Mississippi Real Estate Commission posts it. It sets hours and rules, not school prices, and we haven't confirmed what any school charges or which schools hold the Commission's approval today.

Before you pay a school, ask whether the Commission has approved the course as a pre-license course, and how long your access lasts.

Questions

I hold a real estate license in another state. Do I still take the pre-license courses?

Maybe not. The law lets the Commission exempt a licensee of another state from some or all of the pre-license courses. It needs two things: the Commission finds that state's requirements equivalent, and that state extends the same privilege to Mississippi licensees. The same two terms apply if the Commission exempts you from the exam.

Does the residency rule apply if I hold a license in another state?

Not if you get a nonresident license. The law says the residency rule does not apply to licensees of other states who qualify for nonresident licenses in Mississippi.

Can I take the pre-license courses online?

A distance learning course is any approved course in which you are not in a classroom with the instructor, online electronic courses among them. The Commission may approve such courses for pre-license education.

Does a Mississippi college count as a pre-license provider?

Yes. A Mississippi college or university holding accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or the comparable regional accrediting authority, is an approved provider of pre-license courses for both salesperson and broker licenses.

What happens if I don't finish the post-license course?

You have twelve months from the issue of the temporary license. If you miss that, the Mississippi Real Estate Commission places the license on inactive status. If your permanent license is not issued within one year after the first day of the month after the temporary one was issued, the temporary license lapses. It cannot be renewed.

What to do next

Start with the Commission's Mississippi Real Estate License Law. It holds every rule on this page.

www.mrec.ms.gov

Sources we read