Where to take the 40-hour Michigan course
All three national schools sell Michigan pre-licensing and all three state the requirement correctly at 40 hours. That makes this a genuine three-way choice rather than a question of who is approved.
AceableAgent
- States the 40-hour requirement correctly and describes its course as LARA-approved, so what you are buying lines up with what the statute asks for
- Built mobile-first, which is the practical differentiator in a 40-hour state — the whole requirement is realistically doable in evenings and commutes
- Three package tiers, so you can take the hours alone or add exam prep
- Its description of the Michigan process — MiPLUS application, broker sponsorship — matched LARA's own guidance when we checked it, which is not true of every school in every state
The CE Shop
- Four tiers from course-only upward, so you can buy just the hours if you already have study materials
- Every Michigan product is titled and priced as 40 hours, with no stale hour counts left in its catalogue — worth noting, because that is not the case in every state
- Runs a free trial of the Michigan course before you commit
- Sells a separate broker track too, useful later if you upgrade
Colibri Real Estate
- Four packages with an entry tier that covers the 40 hours and nothing else, which is the cheapest honest route if you only need the requirement
- States Michigan's requirement correctly at 40 hours on both its course and requirements pages
- Careful with the naming: two of its packages are called Exam Preparation and Exam Preparation Plus but are full pre-licensing packages with prep bundled, not standalone exam prep
- Publishes a student-outcome disclosure, which is more than most schools volunteer
How to get your Michigan licence
Five steps, and the sequencing is simpler than most states — the trap here is on the far side, at renewal.
Complete 40 hours, including 4 on civil rights
The statute requires "at least 40 clock hours of approved prelicensure classroom courses in principles of real estate, including at least 4 clock hours of instruction on civil rights law and equal opportunity in housing." You must attend all of it — Michigan gives no partial credit.
Apply through MiPLUS with your completion certificate
Michigan's licensing portal is MiPLUS, and the prelicensure completion certificate is required from every applicant. The new application fee is $88.
Wait for your exam eligibility email
LARA emails you a Candidate ID after the application clears, and you need it before PSI will let you register. You cannot book the exam yourself beforehand.
Pass the PSI exam
One 115-question paper in 180 minutes, passing at 70%. Michigan does not publish a national/state question split, so treat any figure you see for that as unsourced. Your result stays valid for one year.
Attach to an employing broker
This is where Michigan's own sources disagree — see the FAQ below. Either way you cannot practise without a broker, so line one up while you are studying.
From Michigan LARA, MCL § 339.2504 and § 339.2504a, Mich. Admin. Code R. 339.22111, R. 339.22152, R. 339.22157, R. 339.22161 and R. 339.1003a, and the PSI Michigan candidate bulletin, verified August 2026. The national/state question split and any retake fee are omitted because PSI publishes a combined 115-question paper and no separate retake price. Michigan does not publish exam pass rates by school, so any pass rate a school advertises is its own marketing figure.
Michigan FAQs
How many hours does Michigan require?
Forty clock hours, of which at least four must cover civil rights law and equal opportunity in housing. That is set by statute at MCL § 339.2504(2). Michigan is at the lighter end nationally — Ohio next door requires 100 and Texas requires 180.
When does my Michigan licence actually expire?
On the anniversary of the date your licence was issued, every three years. Michigan's rule schedules broker and salesperson licences to expire on the "Issue date", not on a fixed statewide date. A number of comparison sites publish a fixed 31 October deadline for Michigan; that is not what the rule says, and working to the wrong date is how licences lapse.
Does Michigan require fingerprints?
No. We checked the statute, the administrative rules, LARA's own licensing guide and application walkthrough, and the PSI candidate bulletin — the word does not appear in any of them. Michigan uses a good-moral-character self-disclosure instead. Several roundups list fingerprinting for Michigan; it is not required.
Do I need my broker before or after the exam?
Michigan's own sources disagree, and we are reporting that rather than picking one. The statute says an application "shall be signed by the real estate broker that will employ the applicant" — which puts the broker at the application. LARA's own licensing guide says that after you pass the exam you will be emailed instructions to provide your employing broker information. The safe course is to have a brokerage lined up before you apply.
How long is my coursework good for?
Thirty-six months from completion, for an initial licence. There is a cliff worth knowing about: if your licence lapses and you are relicensing after more than three years, LARA states course certificates are valid for only one year — the window collapses from 36 months to 12, and the fee steps up from $88 to $108.
Is there a post-licensing requirement in Michigan?
No. The word does not appear anywhere in Michigan's real estate rules, its statute, or LARA's licensing guide. Your first ongoing obligation is continuing education at renewal — 18 hours per three-year cycle, including two hours of legal topics and one hour of fair housing in each year of the cycle rather than all at the end.