1.2 Nevada License Requirements

Salesperson License: Four Hurdles

A Nevada salesperson candidate must clear four gates: eligibility, education, examination, and background. Miss any one and NRED will not issue the license.

1. Basic eligibility

• Be at least 18 years of age (a 17-year-old cannot be licensed even with parental consent).
• Have a high school diploma or equivalent (GED).
• Demonstrate an honest, truthful, and reputable character.
• There is no Nevada residency requirement — out-of-state applicants may license here.

2. Pre-license education

Nevada requires 120 hours of NRED-approved salesperson pre-license education — one of the highest totals in the country. Older study sheets still cite 90 hours, but Nevada raised the requirement to 120 hours for applicants beginning October 1, 2021, adding mandatory Contracts and Agency courses. The post-license 30 hours (Section 1.3) are taken after licensure and are separate from this 120-hour pre-license total — do not confuse the two. The four pre-license courses are:

The Real Estate Law course must embed Nevada-specific law (NRS/NAC 645). College credits in real estate from an accredited institution can substitute hour-for-hour. Out-of-state applicants already licensed elsewhere are exempt from the Contracts and Agency courses.

3. The Pearson VUE examination

You must pass both portions. If you pass one and fail the other, Nevada lets you retake only the failed portion within a set window, but you pay the exam fee again. After the window, both portions reset.

Worked example: rounding the cut score

A candidate scores 59/80 on the national portion. 59/80 = 73.75%, below 75%, so this is a fail even though it is only one question short of the 60 needed. Always compute the raw count: national needs 60 correct, state needs 30 correct.

4. Background check

All applicants submit fingerprints through an approved vendor for a state and FBI criminal-history review (fee roughly $40 on top of the application). NRED reviews results for suitability.

• Felonies involving fraud, dishonesty, or moral turpitude are the biggest red flags.
• A conviction is not an automatic bar — NRED weighs the offense, recency, and rehabilitation.
• Failure to disclose a conviction is itself grounds for denial, often worse than the conviction. Two applicants share a 10-year-old felony theft conviction. Applicant A discloses it on the application with proof of restitution and a clean record since; Applicant B answers no, hoping the old case is buried, but the FBI fingerprint check surfaces it. NRED may approve A after weighing remoteness and rehabilitation, while B faces denial for material misrepresentation on the application, a separate violation unrelated to the original crime. Disclose everything, because concealment is treated as a fresh act of dishonesty and reflects directly on the honesty and trustworthiness that NRS 645 demands of every licensee.

Broker License: Experience Plus More Education

A broker can own a brokerage, supervise salespersons, and hold trust funds. Nevada therefore layers extra requirements on top of the salesperson path.

Experience requirement

The applicant needs 2 years of active, full-time experience as a licensed real estate salesperson within the 4 years immediately preceding the application — or other experience the Division deems equivalent. "Active" means actually practicing; a license parked on inactive status does not count.

Education requirement

The extra broker courses emphasize brokerage operations, trust-account management, and supervision — the duties that distinguish a broker from a salesperson.

Broker examination

The broker exam mirrors the salesperson structure but tests management, escrow, and supervisory law more heavily.

Fee Snapshot

Fees change periodically — always confirm current amounts at red.nv.gov before applying.

The Application Sequence

1. Complete 120 hours of pre-license education at an NRED-approved school.
2. Register and pay the $100 exam fee through NRED, then schedule with Pearson VUE.
3. Submit fingerprints for the state/FBI background check (~$40).
4. Schedule and pass the exam at a Pearson VUE center (Las Vegas, Reno, or Elko) — 75% on both portions.
5. Submit the original license application to NRED with the $140 fee and exam-results documentation.
6. Affiliate with a sponsoring broker — a salesperson license cannot be active without one.
7. Receive the active license from NRED.

Exam trap: Passing the exam does not make you a licensee. The license is issued only after NRED approves the application and a broker sponsors you. A passed exam with no sponsoring broker yields, at most, an inactive license.