Where to take the 100-hour Ohio course
Ohio requires the coursework at an institution of higher education, which narrows the field more than most states. We list a school here only where we can confirm it sells the Ohio pre-license course.
AceableAgent
- Built to the current 100-hour requirement and publishes the 40 / 40 / 10 / 10 subject split, so you can check what you are buying against the statute before you pay
- Describes its Ohio course as approved by the Ohio State Board of Career Colleges and Schools — confirm the provider on the Division's own list before enrolling, since Ohio requires an institution of higher education
- Self-paced online across three package tiers, so you can skip exam prep if you would rather not pay for it
- Offers instalment financing at checkout, which matters here because Ohio is one of the more expensive states to qualify in
The CE Shop
- Sells Ohio pre-licensing in four tiers from course-only upward, so you can buy just the hours if you already have study materials
- Runs a free trial of the Ohio course, which lets you see the platform before committing
- ⚠️ Check the hour count on the product page before you pay: its Ohio pricing page is titled 100-Hr while several live package titles still read 120-Hr. Ohio requires 100 — buying against the old figure means paying for hours you do not need
- Self-paced online, which matters because 100 hours is a lot to fit around a job
How to get your Ohio licence
Six steps — and the one that catches people is the broker, who has to sign your application before you ever sit the exam.
Line up a sponsoring broker first
Ohio puts this at the front, not the end. The application requires "the recommendation of the real estate broker with whom the applicant is associated or with whom the applicant intends to be associated." If you were planning to pass the exam and find a brokerage afterwards, Ohio will stop you at the application.
Complete 100 hours at an institution of higher education
Forty hours of real estate practice, forty of Ohio real estate law and civil rights, ten of appraisal and ten of finance. The provider must be an institution of higher education — and since 9 April 2025, if it teaches only by distance education its courses must be certified by ARELLO or IDECC to be eligible.
File the application with the $81 fee
The fee covers the initial year of the licensing period. A repeat application costs another $81, which is what makes a failed exam more expensive here than the retake price suggests.
Get fingerprinted
Prints go through Ohio's Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation. The rule sets no fee, and the Division does not publish one — budget for whatever your prints provider charges.
Pass both portions with PSI within twelve months
You need a scaled score of at least 70 on each portion. Your eligibility runs twelve months from the date the Division notifies PSI. Miss it and a portion you already passed "shall be considered invalid and the applicant's file shall be closed."
Then do 20 more hours within a year of licensure
This one cannot be taken in advance — the rule says not earlier than the date your licence is issued. Miss the twelve-month deadline and your licence "is suspended automatically without the taking of any action by the superintendent."
From the Ohio Division of Real Estate & Professional Licensing, ORC § 4735.09 (current version effective 30 September 2025), § 4735.011, § 4735.141, and Ohio Admin. Code 1301:5-1-05, 1301:5-1-22 and 1301:5-7-02, verified August 2026. No exam question count, time limit or exam fee appears here: PSI's Ohio bulletin is a JavaScript application that returned no readable text, and the only copy we could open was last revised in 2016. Ohio does not publish exam pass rates by school, so any pass rate a school advertises is its own marketing figure.
Ohio FAQs
How many hours of pre-licensing does Ohio require?
One hundred, since the 2025 licensing reform. ORC § 4735.09 breaks them into forty hours of real estate practice, forty hours covering Ohio real estate law and civil rights law, ten hours of appraisal and ten hours of finance. The previous figure was 120 — appraisal and finance were each halved from twenty hours. Two of the three national schools still advertise 120 somewhere on their Ohio pages, so check the hour count on the product page before you pay.
Do I need a broker before I apply?
Yes, and this is the step that catches people. The application itself requires the recommendation of the broker you are working with or intend to work with, so the sponsorship attaches before you sit the exam rather than after you pass it. Find the brokerage while you are still doing the coursework.
Can I take the whole Ohio course online?
Yes. The statute allows the coursework "by either classroom instruction or distance education." There is a catch competitors omit: Ohio requires the provider to be an institution of higher education, and since 9 April 2025 a distance-only institution's courses must be certified by ARELLO or IDECC to count as eligible courses. It is worth confirming that certification before you enrol, because uncertified hours will not satisfy the requirement.
What happens if I fail one portion of the exam?
More than a retake fee. Ohio requires you to reapply and pay a new $81 application processing fee on top of whatever PSI charges. And your eligibility window is twelve months from the date the Division notifies PSI — if you do not pass both portions inside it, the portion you already passed is treated as invalid and your file is closed.
When is my first renewal?
On your next birthday, not in three years. Ohio renewals fall on the licensee's birthday immediately after initial licensure and every three years after that, so if you are licensed two months before your birthday your first renewal bill arrives almost straight away. No continuing education is due at that first renewal, because the first thirty-hour CE deadline falls on your birthday three years after licensure.
Does Ohio require errors and omissions insurance?
No. Nothing in ORC Chapter 4735 or the Division's rules imposes an E&O requirement, and the Division's own published research paper on the subject states plainly that Ohio licensees are not required to carry it. Several insurance-industry lists suggest otherwise; the statute does not.