LicensedAnywhere

Transfer a Real Estate License to Montana

Verified July 2026 · 49 official sources

One 40-question state exam, about $226 all in

Montana publishes no reciprocal-state list and has signed no agreements. Instead there is a substantial-equivalency waiver under HB 246 (2025), implemented by ARM 24.210.612 effective 2026-02-21, which drops all 70 prelicense hours and the entire national exam portion so long as you hold a current, active, good-standing license somewhere. What survives is the 40-question Montana state exam, an $80 application, mandatory errors and omissions insurance, and official license verification from every jurisdiction that has ever licensed you in ANY profession, not just real estate. There are no fingerprints, no FBI check, no recovery fund, and no post-license course, so it is one of the cheapest and most remote-friendly doors in the country. The trap is the calendar, because every license expires on a fixed October 31 with no proration, so a September arrival really costs about $491 in its first ten weeks.

First year: $226 to $242, about $491 arriving in SeptemberRenewal: $80 / 1 yr, fixed October 31Wait: Confirming, the board publishes no estimateWork while waiting: No, no temporary permit existsTravel required: None, the exam is online proctored

What carries over to Montana, and what does not

Comes with you

  • Your current active out-of-state license, the whole qualification
  • All 70 prelicense hours, waived at both tiers
  • The national exam portion, waived, nothing to transfer
  • Broker experience from any jurisdiction, rescored on Montana sheets
  • Out-of-state CE approved by ARELLO or another state regulator

New for this state

  • The 40-question Montana state exam, $95
  • Verification from every board that ever licensed you, any profession
  • E&O in force before the license can be activated
  • A Montana supervising broker, salespersons only
  • Nonresident irrevocable consent to be sued in Montana

If you hold a broker license

The application is $90 rather than $80, and you must still document 30 experience points on Montana's own transaction sheets, all of it closed within the past 36 months. The sheets need your supervising broker's signature, so if you worked under someone else, get those signed before you resign. A broker who intends to supervise salespeople also owes an 8-hour supervising broker pre-endorsement course, shown in person in Great Falls on the 2026 schedule, though the endorsement itself is free.

Working in Montana without a Montana license

On a single deal No, and Montana forecloses it in the statute rather than leaving it to inference. MCA 37-51-301(4)(a) reaches you "whether or not the person is physically located in Montana" and covers soliciting Montana residents even about property elsewhere, while (4)(b) makes any single act enough. There is no cooperative brokerage mechanism, no commercial carve-out, and no out-of-state licensee exemption, so with the license at about $226 and no travel needed, licensure is the only real answer.
Referrals Yes, but only broker to broker. MCA 37-51-306(1) lets a Montana broker pay a commission, not merely a capped referral fee, to a licensed broker of another state, and a nonresident salesperson is not named and may not be paid. The condition is absolute, because that broker must have conducted no compensated service in the state, and since "in this state" is not a geography test, negotiating by phone or running the CMA voids the payment. Hand the client over and do nothing else.

Your send-off checklist

YOUCheck that your outside license is current, active, and in good standing, since ARM 24.210.611(6) hangs the whole waiver on it. Ask DLIBSDRRE@MT.GOV for the 2025 substantial equivalency list, which the rule incorporates but the board does not publish anywhere. Board of Realty Regulation
STATE BOARDSOrder official license verification from every state and board that has ever licensed you in any profession, not just real estate. It travels regulator to regulator and is the slowest outside step. varies
YOUBrokers only, build the 30-point experience package on the board's own transaction sheets, everything closed inside 36 months, and get your supervising broker's signature before you resign. Broker points sheets
YOUBook the Montana state portion with Pearson VUE, 40 scored questions in 90 minutes, scaled 75 to pass. OnVUE online proctoring means no travel, and reservations need 48 hours, with no walk-ins. $95 Pearson VUE Montana
YOUFile in the eBiz Citizen Portal within 12 months of the exam date or the results are invalidated. Pay by card or bank account and give a working email, since email is the department's primary contact. $80 Apply in eBiz
YOUSalespersons, line up a Montana broker who holds a supervising broker endorsement. They certify your good repute and accept written responsibility for your licensed work, and you cannot be active without one.
YOUEnroll in the RISC group E&O plan, or file proof of a private policy at $100,000 per claim and $300,000 aggregate. It must be in force before the license activates. $46 in August 2026, plus $5 Montana E&O, RISC
YOUNonresidents, expect to sign an irrevocable consent that Montana suits may be served on the department. Which form carries it, and whether it needs a notary, is confirming, so ask DLIBSDHELP@MT.GOV.
STATE BOARDSWait on review. Applications from substantially equivalent states are routine and staff can approve them outright, while a nonroutine file waits for a full board meeting, next on 2026-08-05 and 2026-11-04.

The money

Application, salesperson$80
Montana state exam, Pearson VUE$95
National exam portion$0, waived on the waiver path
70 hours prelicense education$0, waived entirely
E&O group policy, prorated by month$46 joining August 2026, $62 in July
E&O online enrollment fee$5
License verification, old statevaries, the old state sets it
Fingerprints or background check$0, Montana runs none
Recovery fund$0, Part 5 is repealed
Post-license education$0, Montana has none
TOTAL First year, typical$226 to $242
Then: renewal every 1 year$80, plus a fresh E&O premium

Watch out in Montana

  • Time your arrival or pay twice. Renewal is a fixed October 31 every year and the fee is not prorated, while the E&O policy year starts November 1. Get licensed in September and you pay $80 for six weeks of license, another $80 on October 31, then a fresh $185 E&O premium on November 1, so the true first-cycle cost jumps from about $226 to about $491. Arriving in November instead buys nearly a full year for the same money and saves roughly $265.
  • The first-renewal CE break is for salespersons only. ARM 24.210.667(6) exempts a salesperson licensed under 12 months and names nobody else, so a broker licensed in September owes 12 hours by October 31, four of them supervising broker hours. Whether the board reads it that way is confirming, so ask AUDIT@MT.GOV and do the hours if in doubt.
  • If you are not domiciled in Montana, the RISC group policy insures Montana transactions only, so you still need cover at home. You count as domiciled if your principal license sits with a Montana office and you live within 50 miles of the state line. Even a one-day gap kills coverage for everything you did before the new policy date.
  • The 2025 equivalency list that ARM 24.210.612 incorporates is not published on the board site, and both checklists predate the rule. The broker checklist still demands transaction sheets even though the new rule calls equivalent-state applications routine as to experience. Assume you owe the points until the board says otherwise.

Official links for Montana

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