Where to take the 60-hour Alabama course
Your course has to be approved by the Alabama Real Estate Commission. Both schools below appear in AREC's own school directory, and both sell the 30-hour post-license course you will need within six months of getting licensed.
The CE Shop
- Carries all three Alabama courses at the exact hour counts the law sets — 60, 30 and 6 — so whichever route applies to you is covered by one provider
- The 6-hour reciprocal course matters if you already hold a licence in another state, because Alabama makes you take that route rather than the 60 hours
- Sold in tiers, so you can leave out exam prep if you do not want it
- Self-paced online, which is permitted in Alabama only because the distance courses are ARELLO-certified — an ordinary online course would still owe 80% live instruction
Colibri Real Estate
- Also sells both required Alabama courses, so it is a complete alternative for the standard route
- Its Alabama post-license page states the six-month active-status deadline correctly, which is the deadline that actually catches people out
- Self-paced online, and it carries Alabama CE for the renewals that follow
- Worth knowing: its Alabama pages do not name the exam vendor or mention that you cannot enrol in the post-license course until your temporary licence is issued
How to get your Alabama licence
Six steps, two applications and two separate fee payments — and the clock that matters starts after you are licensed.
Pre-register with AREC
You need an AREC-assigned ID number before anything else, including before your school can report your course completion.
Complete the 60-hour course
Sixty clock hours at an AREC-approved school, finished within a year of starting, at no more than eight hours' credit a day. You need 70% overall and a proctored final exam at 70%.
Pass the Pearson VUE exam within six months
Your exam eligibility runs six months from the date you complete the course. Miss it and you retake the whole 60 hours.
Apply for the temporary licence within 90 days
Ninety days from passing the exam to get the application, materials and fees in. AREC states in writing that deadlines cannot be waived because the law contains no hardship provision.
Complete the 30-hour post-license course
You cannot enrol until the temporary licence has been issued — schools are required to collect your temporary licence number first. Finish it and get the permanent licence issued within six months to stay active.
File for the original licence before twelve months
At twelve months the temporary licence expires and lapses automatically. It is not renewable, and there is no reinstatement route in the statute.
From the Alabama Real Estate Commission, Ala. Code § 34-27-32, § 34-27-33 and § 34-27-35, Ala. Admin. Code r. 790-X-1-.06, r. 790-X-1-.11, r. 790-X-1-.21 and r. 790-X-2-.03, and the Pearson VUE Alabama candidate handbook, verified August 2026. The fingerprint fee is paid to AREC's vendor rather than to the Commission and is not published on AREC's own pages, so we have not printed a figure. The first-renewal CE exemption applies to holders of an original licence who completed the post-license course — it does not rescue a temporary licence that lapsed.
Alabama FAQs
Does Alabama require errors and omissions insurance?
No — and this is one of the most commonly repeated errors about Alabama. The state did once mandate it, but Ala. Code § 34-27-35.1, the errors and omissions section, was repealed by Act 2003-298 effective 18 June 2003, and the two implementing rules were repealed effective 5 October 2004. Insurance-industry roundups and comparison pages still list Alabama among mandatory-E&O states. Your brokerage may well require cover as a condition of joining, but the state does not.
What actually happens at six months and at twelve?
They are two different consequences and only the second is final. Ala. Code § 34-27-33(c)(2) says that if you have not completed the 30-hour post-license course and had the original licence issued within six months, the temporary licence "shall automatically be placed on inactive status by the commission" — you stop being able to practise, with no notice and no discretion. You then have the remaining six months to fix it. At twelve months the licence "shall automatically expire and lapse," and it "may not be renewed." AREC's own consumer page describes the requirement as due within twelve months, which read alone will have you go inactive in month seven without realising.
Can I buy the 60-hour and 30-hour courses together?
You can buy them together, but you cannot use the second one yet. Ala. Admin. Code r. 790-X-1-.06(5)(l) says a person "shall be required to have a temporary license issued prior to beginning a post license course to earn post license credit," and requires schools to collect your temporary licence number before letting you enrol. Bundles are sold, and they are fine — just do not expect to work ahead, and note that the six-month clock only starts once AREC issues the licence.
If I fail one part of the exam, do I retake just that part?
No. Alabama scores the salesperson exam as a single overall result. The Pearson VUE Alabama candidate handbook states it plainly: candidates receive an overall score, and "if you fail the overall exam, you must retake the entire test." Most states let you bank a passed portion; Alabama does not, and comparison pages routinely describe it as if it does. You also have to fit every attempt inside the six-month eligibility window that started when you finished your course.
I am already licensed in another state — do I need the 60 hours?
Almost certainly not, and buying them would be a mistake. Ala. Code § 34-27-32(c)(1) says a person holding a current salesperson licence in another state "shall apply for a reciprocal salesperson license" — and it applies even to people who move to Alabama and become residents. Reciprocal applicants take six hours of approved Alabama coursework and a 40-question Alabama-law exam at $53, and are expressly not subject to the full exam or the temporary licence requirements, which means no 30-hour post-license course either. Check your situation with AREC before you buy anything.
Is a fully self-paced online course allowed in Alabama?
Yes, but only through a certified distance course. Ala. Admin. Code r. 790-X-1-.06(5)(f) requires at least 80% of pre-license and post-license hours to be delivered by live instruction "unless the course is an ARELLO certified distance education course." Certified courses are exempt from that, which is how the national schools operate in Alabama. Either way you finish with a proctored final exam at 70% under r. 790-X-1-.21(9), and you cannot claim more than eight hours of credit in a day.