How to Get a Real Estate License in Michigan (2026): Cost & Steps

What a Michigan real estate license costs

Application and 3-year license

$88

Exam

$79

Required fees, total

$167.00

The state’s salesperson licensing guide lists the current fees. The guide, revised January 2026, doesn’t list a routine fingerprint requirement, so don’t budget a fingerprint fee. You do answer a good moral character question on the application.

Build your Michigan startup budget

Sources: Michigan salesperson licensing guide and questions (revised January 26, 2026) ($88 application and license, 40 hours, steps, $78 renewal, continuing education); PSI Michigan candidate information bulletin ($79 exam, cancellation and ID rules). Fees and rules checked October 10, 2026. Exam and background-check prices can change, so confirm the total when you book.

Who can get a Michigan salesperson license

Most people call it a real estate agent license. In Michigan it is a salesperson license, and it lets you work under a licensed broker. Opening your own brokerage is a separate broker license.

The state’s licensing guide says you need to be at least 18, finish 40 hours of approved courses, pass the PSI exam, give your Social Security number and answer a good moral character question. If you have a judgment of guilt in a criminal or civil case, you have to show you are rehabilitated or that the offense isn’t reasonably related to the work. A licensed individual broker or broker company has to sponsor you.

Check the state’s guide for what you need if you were educated or trained outside the United States, or if you are applying for a license after yours expired.

The steps, in order

1. Take the 40-hour course. Pick an approved school. At least 4 of the 40 hours must cover civil rights law and equal opportunity in housing.
2. Apply online and pay $88. Use the state’s online licensing system, answer every question and upload your course certificate.
3. Get your exam ID. After you submit your application, the state emails you an Exam Candidate ID number. You need it to register for the exam.
4. Book the exam with PSI and pay $79. Book at PSI’s website or call 855-579-4635. Use a government ID with a name that matches your registration exactly. If you don’t start your test within 15 minutes of your booked time, you lose your fee. The exam has 115 scored questions and you get 180 minutes. You need 70%, which is 80 right.
5. Name your employing broker. After you pass, the state emails you instructions. Log in, choose Modification next to your application number and enter your broker’s 10-digit license number. When your broker approves, your license is issued and you get an email.

What Michigan agents earn

Median pay, Michigan agents on payroll

$57,880

Middle half earns

$40,140–$78,190

Top 10% earn over

$104,170

Michigan agents on payroll

2,210

The bottom 10% of Michigan payroll agents earn under $31,590. The national median is $52,830. Build an expense plan from the office you actually choose. Separate recurring technology and association costs from charges taken at closing, so your projected commission income reflects both rather than just the advertised split.

Source: U.S. Labor Department pay survey, May 2025, Michigan real estate sales agents. Covers agents on a payroll only. Checked October 10, 2026.

Have your employing broker ready to approve you in MiPLUS

Michigan’s sequence puts the license application before the exam. While taking the 40-hour course, identify an employing broker and ask how its approval will be completed after you pass. Keep the broker’s license information and your application record together.

Ask the office to show you the first steps for handling a buyer inquiry and submitting an offer for review. Compare what is included in the split with charges for mentoring, lead referrals and technology. Agree on the onboarding date once your exam and broker approval are complete.

Set up your Michigan agent business

Register the business and organize payments

Use the MiPLUS application period to organize the business behind your licensed work. Confirm the entity and payee arrangement with your employing broker, then read the Michigan LLC guide for the LLC route. ZenBusiness can take on that filing once the name and structure are settled.

Arrange errors and omissions (E&O) insurance

Arrange professional liability coverage with the office before starting client files. Get E&O quotes from Simply Business using your planned real estate services and compare the policy with the broker’s E&O arrangement. Review your share of a deductible and the process for reporting a potential professional-error claim.

Keep business records from day one

Build your education calendar by year as well as by renewal term: the requirements above include annual law and fair-housing hours. Save those certificates and keep course costs separate from the listing, travel and brokerage expenses of each transaction.

See Michigan business registration and tax requirements for the wider registration and tax checklist.

Prepare answers from actual local listings

Select a few listings within your intended showing area and review them with the employing broker. Practice explaining the difference between price and total ownership cost, what the buyer should investigate and when documents are due. Use the exercise to prepare for your first supervised buyer appointment, then track the next follow-up for each prospect.

Resources for preparing client conversations

• what homeowners insurance costs by state
• the cost of renting versus owning
• state comparison of agent and brokerage businesses
• mortgage lock-in study
• Plan your first client conversations and follow-up

Renew every three years and keep up your continuing education

Michigan salesperson licenses renew every three years for $78. You have to finish your continuing education before you renew online.

The state requires at least 18 hours of continuing education in each three-year cycle. Each year of the cycle you need at least 2 hours on laws, rules and court cases and at least 1 hour on fair housing. The rest can be done any time before you renew. See the state’s licensing guide for current rules.

Michigan agent questions