Transfer a Real Estate License to Delaware

Verified July 2026 · 38 official sources

Any state, no list, but everyone sits one exam, $262

Delaware calls its inbound route reciprocity and it is nothing of the kind, which matters because you will otherwise go hunting for a partner-state list that does not exist. 24 Del. C. 2909 recognizes a current license in good standing from any state, DC or territory, with no named states, no signed agreements and no requirement that your state return the favor, and the Commission could not sign such an agreement anyway, because 2906(a) enumerates its 13 powers and interstate deal-making is not among them. So Delaware is open to everyone and tests everyone, since every arrival at every tier sits the Delaware law portion of the Pearson VUE exam, with the national portion waived only through a Client Waiver you file with Pearson before you are allowed to book the seat. A salesperson pays $262 all in, owes no Delaware coursework at all if the certificate from the old state's prelicensing course reads 99 hours or more, and faces no fingerprints and no criminal background check, the step that is the long pole almost everywhere else.

First year: $262Renewal: Confirming / 2 yrs, no fee publishedWait: Confirming, the Commission meets monthlyWork while waiting: No, civilians get no temporary licenseTravel required: One exam trip, 8 centers across DE, MD, PA, NJ

What carries over to Delaware, and what does not

Comes with you

Your current license from any state, DC or territory, no list to be on
The national exam portion, waived by Client Waiver, tied to the license
Your old prelicensing course if the certificate reads 99 hours or more
Every year and transaction of experience, from any state or combination
The 12-hour new-licensee module set, expressly waived for arrivals

New for this state

The Delaware law exam, 40 items for salespersons, 70 to pass, every time
The one-time $25 Guaranty Fund fee
A Statement of Employing Broker of Record signed by a Delaware broker
License verification sent straight to the Board by every state that ever licensed you
Delaware CE, 21 hours in 7 named modules, prorated by arrival month

If you hold a broker license

Both broker-level tiers turn on paperwork, not classes. Associate Broker is a broker-level license still held under a Broker, while the Broker is the broker of record who runs the office, and both need 5 continuous years licensed as a salesperson or broker in any state or mix of states plus a list of 30 named sale or lease transactions from the last 5 years, with the Broker tier adding 3 years actively practicing, an attestation of day-to-day management responsibility and escrow evidence. There is no Delaware broker course to take and no education alternative to the transaction list, so the list is the whole gate. Costs are $342 for associate broker and $361 for broker ($229 or $248 plus $25 and $88), and about $553 if you open a Delaware office, since that adds a $192 office permit and an escrow account at a bank with a Delaware office. The brokerage firm itself is never licensed, because 2901(c) forbids licensing entities, and the office permit attaches to the location, so a nonresident Broker keeps the home-state office. Whether a salesperson with 5 years and 30 transactions may enter straight at associate broker is confirming, since the statute and DPR's broker page point different ways, so ask before paying.

Working in Delaware without a Delaware license

On a single deal In one slice, yes. Rule 8.8.7 lets an out-of-state salesperson OR broker represent a buyer or a tenant on a Delaware property by affiliating in writing with any Delaware licensee, on whatever commission split you negotiate, with no filing, no registration, no fee, no transaction cap and no bar on entering the state, which is more generous than most cooperative states. The catch is the slice, because the property must not be predominantly 1 to 4 family residential and you must be on the buyer or tenant side, so residential of any kind, and the listing or landlord side of everything, is turf. Two soft spots worth knowing, predominantly 1 to 4 family residential is defined nowhere in the statute or the rules, and 8.8.7 sits in tension with 2901(d), which bars providing real estate services indirectly through a Delaware licensee, so have Delaware counsel read the affiliation agreement before you rely on it for a big commercial split.

Referrals Yes. Rule 8.8.6 lets a Delaware licensee pay a referral fee to a person licensed as a real estate broker in another jurisdiction. Read the noun, because the permission runs to an out-of-state broker only, and Delaware knows the difference, since 8.8.7 says salesperson or broker one sentence later. That is not a real obstacle, because an out-of-state salesperson is paid by their own broker anyway, but send the check broker to broker.

Your send-off checklist

YOUPick your door first, because it decides everything else. Door 3 is free if your old state's prelicensing certificate reads 99 hours or more, so dig it out. Door 2 is the 33 clock-hour Delaware Real Estate Law course. Door 1 needs 3 continuous years licensed plus 20 named transactions signed by the brokers who supervised them. Salesperson routes

YOUR SCHOOLOnly on door 2, take the 33-hour Delaware law course. One provider is approved and it is online, The CE Shop, approval REE-AC021226-132822, running into 2028. If that approval ever lapses, door 2 closes until someone else is approved. provider-set, confirming

YOUFile the Pearson VUE Client Waiver Request with a copy of your current home-state license and wait for the approval email BEFORE you try to book. Create the Pearson VUE profile first, and email it to PearsonVUEWaiversRequests@pearson.com, since fax and mail take longer. This is the step people miss, and the national portion is not waived without it. Client Waiver process

YOUBook and sit the Delaware law portion, 40 scored items, 70 to pass on a 0 to 100 scale, 4 hours in the seat and the score report in your hand the same day. Book at least 24 hours out, no walk-ins, and change or cancel 48 hours out or lose the fee. Three failed attempts sends you back to the prelicensing course. Test centers are Dover and Newark DE, Salisbury MD, Philadelphia, and Atlantic City, Somerset, Princeton and Toms River NJ. $88 Pearson VUE Delaware

STATE BOARDSHave every jurisdiction that has ever licensed you, expired licenses included, send a license verification directly to the Board office. It is a third-party acknowledgement in DELPROS, not something you upload, and the rules ask for a history dated within 30 days, so order late rather than early. varies

YOULine up a Delaware broker of record and get the Statement of Employing Broker of Record signed. Plain signature, no notary, and it uploads. There is no inactive-until-I-find-a-brokerage route at initial application, so this has to be settled before you file.

YOUCreate a DELPROS account, complete the application and pay by card, cards only and no checks. Upload the score report, your door documents, the broker statement and a name-change document if your names differ. You have 6 months from starting the application or the whole thing restarts. $174 ($149 + $25) DELPROS

STATE BOARDSWait on the Commission, which evaluates credentials and grants the license itself. There is no published processing time and no background check to wait on, so the real gate is the calendar, since the Commission meets the second Thursday of each month at 9 a.m. in Dover. Do not take a single real estate action until the license issues, and start CE early, because the hours you owe at the April 30, 2028 renewal drop by 6 for every 6 months later you arrive.

The money

Salesperson application	$149, nonrefundable
Guaranty Fund fee	$25, once per licensee ever, unless assessed
Pearson VUE exam	$88 per reservation, nonrefundable
Pearson VUE Client Waiver	no published fee
Delaware coursework	$0 on the 99-hour and transaction doors
33-hour Delaware law course	only on door 2, provider-set, confirming
Old state license verification	varies, each state sets its own
Fingerprints and background check	$0, Delaware runs none on real estate
E&O insurance	$0, the Guaranty Fund is the substitute
TOTAL First year, typical	$262 plus old-state verification fees
Then: renewal every 2 years	confirming, DPR publishes no figure

Watch out in Delaware

The 30-transaction list is what stops people at the broker tiers. Every associate broker and broker applicant, arriving by recognition included, files a list of 30 named sale or lease transactions from the last 5 years, each showing the property address plus the buyer and seller names, signed by the applicant AND by the brokers who supervised them, and there is no education alternative at either tier. Getting a former out-of-state employing broker to sign a document naming their past clients is the practical choke point. Worse, time share and property management transactions are expressly not eligible, so a career property manager or commercial leasing specialist can be flatly unable to qualify. Salespersons have escape routes, the 99-hour certificate or the 33-hour course, and broker-level applicants have none.
Two renewal unknowns, both unresolved. The biennial renewal fee is published nowhere, because 2908 makes the Division recompute every fee at the start of each biennium and DPR says only that you are told the amount at renewal time, so budget from the DELPROS notice rather than the site. And the late-renewal window is in open conflict, since Rule 12.3 and DPR's renewal and reinstatement pages all say 30 days while DPR's own FAQ says 60. The regulation wins, so treat 30 days as the deadline, and note that late renewers are automatically CE-audited.
The quiet disqualifier is old paperwork, not old convictions. 2907(a)(2) bars an applicant who has taken any administrative penalty over real estate services anywhere, fines, formal reprimands, suspensions, probationary limits, consent agreements, or a voluntary surrender of a license, with only unpaid renewal fees carved out. It must be disclosed and it goes to a Commission hearing. Separately, 2909(e) blocks licensure entirely while any disciplinary proceeding or unresolved complaint is open anywhere, so clear the old state first.
Senate Bill 201, signed 2026-06-01, brings real estate wholesaling inside the license law with a 270-day transition and raises Guaranty Fund protection to $50,000 per claim. Its effective dates are staggered across 2026-06-01, 2026-08-30 and 2027-02-26, so the second tranche lands soon and anyone applying now should assume the wholesaling rules bite before their license issues. The regulations have not been conformed to it yet, and what the 2027-02-26 tranche changes is confirming.

Official links for Delaware

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