1.2 Indiana License Requirements

Broker from the Beginning

Indiana's entry-level credential is a broker license. A new broker can hold an unassigned license, but that does not authorize independent brokerage practice. Active work requires the appropriate broker-company affiliation and managing-broker supervision. Managing Broker is an eligibility designation on a broker license, rather than a second entry-level license.

Application Eligibility and the Approved Course

For the ordinary new-applicant route, IC 25-34.1-3-4.1 requires the applicant to be at least 18 before applying for the license, hold a high school diploma or GED, complete the approved broker course, apply and pay the required fees, and pass the examination. The statute specifies conviction-related eligibility criteria; a vague statement about "good moral character" is not a substitute for those criteria or PLA's application questions.

Complete 90 approved pre-licensing hours before sitting for the ordinary broker examination. The required curriculum includes principles, practices, Indiana license law, professional standards, agency, contracts, financing, settlement, escrow responsibility, recordkeeping, regulation and appraisal. Do not invent three mandatory equal 30-hour modules from the 90-hour total. The actual approved curriculum and course assessments govern your school course.

Current Pearson VUE Examination

Use Pearson's current Indiana program and its linked handbook #091500, rev 08/2025, and outlines #091501, effective March 1, 2025.

Pearson replaced PSI for examinations from March 3, 2025. Delivery is at test centers. Do not confuse the state-only endorsement exam's 90-minute seat time with an official state-section timer inside the full four-hour broker exam.

The handbook explains equating between forms and reports numeric scores and diagnostics to failing candidates. Passing candidates receive a pass report. The rule 876 IAC 6-6-3(d) uses 75% wording, whereas the current handbook explains scaled 75; it does not publish a guaranteed conversion to 60/80 national or 38/50 state correct.

Scenario: A candidate passes national but fails state. The national pass does not compensate for the state failure. Retake the failed portion while still satisfying the original course-completion window; do not pretend a passing report supplies a numeric score that Pearson does not report.

Three Different One-Year Rules

1. Course completion starts examination eligibility: Both portions must be taken and passed within one year of completing the course. Under 876 IAC 6-6-1, missing that window requires completing the education again before further examination attempts.
2. Passing starts the examination-result period: The handbook states results are good for one year from passing; IC 25-34.1-3-4.1(a)(6) also addresses timely submission of the license fee after passing.
3. Filing starts application abandonment: PLA states an incomplete application is abandoned if all requirements are not submitted within one year of filing.

These dates do not reset one another. For a course completed August 15, 2026, a failed-portion retake must satisfy that course's one-year window; a national pass several months later does not buy another year from the national pass date. Write the actual course date, passing date and filing date separately in your planning notes.

Application and Affiliation

PLA's current checklist requests the course certificate and original Pearson pass sheet, required licensure verifications and name-change documentation when applicable. It requires U.S. Social Security Number disclosure and explanations with supporting documents for positive criminal-history or disciplinary responses. Follow that checklist and any individualized request; do not insert an unverified universal fingerprint appointment or vendor fee into it.

PLA lists a $60 broker application fee, with online processing charges. Together, one $55 attempt and the application are $115, before tuition, processing and further attempts. That calculation is not an all-in licensing price.

For Active or Referral issuance, PLA requires broker-company or sole-proprietor managing-broker information and approval of the proposed association. A new broker may instead be unassigned. An employer's approval is part of the licensing process; an individual employer cannot independently issue or activate a state license outside PLA's process.

Post-Licensing Is Not Simply the First Renewal Term

A new broker must take and pass 30 approved post-licensing hours within the first two years of issuance. That exact issue-date deadline is different from the license's triennial expiration date. Under 876 IAC 7-4-2, completion satisfies two full CE years after the partial CE year in progress when the broker was first licensed. Ordinary CE begins in the third CE year after that initial partial year.

For a hypothetical issue date of October 15, 2026, the post-licensing deadline is October 15, 2028. The initial partial CE year ends June 30, 2027; the next two end June 30, 2028 and June 30, 2029. After completing post-licensing, ordinary annual CE begins in July 2029-June 2030. This is a worked rule application, not an expiration guarantee for every license.

Active and unassigned brokers generally need 12 CE hours each July 1-June 30 year, subject to post-licensing and waivers. Across three ordinary CE years that is 36 hours, but the cycle total does not excuse a missed annual deadline. Inactive and referral renewal do not require CE; activation has separate review requirements. Excess hours do not carry forward. Do not replace these rules with "no CE in the first term" or "36 hours every renewal after the first term."

Managing Broker Eligibility

The ordinary route under IC 25-34.1-4-0.5 and current PLA instructions is:

Two years is not the ordinary experience requirement, and a school's final test is not a substitute for the required broker examination. Do not add an unsupported separate $60 eligibility fee merely because that is the ordinary broker-license application charge. A narrow statutory provision for a sole proprietor's death or a partnership's termination by a partner's death permits completing existing business for up to 90 days under its conditions; it is not a shortcut to soliciting new independent business.

Endorsement Is Reviewed, Not Automatic Reciprocity

PLA states that Indiana has no reciprocity agreements with other states. An actively licensed out-of-state broker may apply by endorsement for review of equivalent qualifications. The Commission must approve the route; current instructions then direct the applicant to the state-only examination. Do not guarantee an automatic national waiver from an out-of-state license or say that every possible statutory exception has been ruled out.

Test-Day Checklist

• Arrive 30 minutes early. Bring one current, unexpired, government-issued photo ID with a signature, in English, matching the registration name exactly. If the signature is embedded or unreadable, another listed ID with a visible signature is needed. A universal two-ID rule is incorrect.
• Pearson does not accept expired-ID grace periods. Its temporary-renewal exception requires the newly renewed paper license and the expired plastic license.
• Secure personal items as directed. The administrator supplies an erasable notebook; do not infer that an on-screen calculator is promised when the Indiana handbook does not say so. Memorize 43,560 square feet per acre and 5,280 feet per mile; use the proration assumptions actually stated in the question.
• The tutorial does not consume examination time. Any permitted unscheduled break follows sponsor/administrator instructions and the clock keeps running. There is no penalty for guessing.
• The newer live program page permits booking up to one calendar day prior, subject to availability; the older handbook's printed page 6 says 48 hours. Confirm the reservation. The handbook's separate cancellation/rescheduling rule requires 48 hours' notice to avoid the penalty.

If you pass one portion, retake only the failed portion within the original course window. The cited handbook supplies that route but does not establish an unlimited-attempt guarantee. The posted attempt fee is $55; avoid "roughly" when reporting the listed fee, and avoid restarting the course window at the date of a partial pass.

Keep the numbers attached to their triggers: 18 before application, 90 hours before testing, both passes within one year of course completion, 30 hours within two years of issuance, and ordinary 12-hour annual CE subject to exceptions. Use PLA's current licensing instructions, the handbook, and current 876 IAC Articles 6 and 7 to confirm the applicable route.