Licensing guides · Tennessee
How much does a real estate license cost in Tennessee?
Short answer
Budget roughly $700 to $1,000 all-in for your first year. Education is the largest single piece at $555 for the required 90 hours, and the rest is a stack of smaller state, exam, testing, and insurance costs that people usually do not see coming.
The education is the part you can actually price today
Tennessee requires 90 hours of pre-license education before you can be licensed as an affiliate broker. That splits into two courses, and the pricing on ours is fixed and published — no bundles you have to decode, no 'starting at' pricing.
- 60-Hour Real Estate Fundamentals — $375. The principles course you must finish before you sit for the exam.
- 30-Hour New Affiliate Broker — $180. Required for the license to actually be issued after you pass.
- Total education: $555.
The fees that surprise people
Almost every 'real estate license costs $X' article online quotes education only and stops there. The state, the testing vendor, and your future firm all have their hands out too. None of these are large individually; together they roughly double the sticker price.
- Errors & Omissions insurance is not optional in Tennessee. You cannot be issued an active license without proof of coverage.
- Fingerprinting and the background check are paid to the vendor, not the state, and are separate from your application fee.
- If you plan to use the Realtor® title, local board and MLS dues are a real first-year expense and often the biggest line after tuition.
What you should not pay for
Two things get sold hard to new licensees and are rarely worth it at the start. First, expensive 'exam pass guarantee' upsells — read what the guarantee actually refunds, because it is usually course access rather than money. Second, lead-generation subscriptions before you have a single closing under your belt. Your first year of business comes from people who already know you.
Where the money comes back
One closed transaction at Tennessee's median price typically returns the entire cost of getting licensed several times over. That is the honest math, and it is why the tuition number matters far less than whether the education actually prepares you to pass on the first attempt. A second exam attempt costs you the retake fee plus weeks of momentum.
The full cost, line by line
| Item | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 60-Hour Real Estate FundamentalsOurs | $375 | Required before you may sit for the licensing exam. |
| 30-Hour New Affiliate BrokerOurs | $180 | Required before your license can be issued. |
| Licensing exam fee | Set by the testing vendor | Paid per attempt to the state's exam provider when you schedule. |
| License application fee | Set by TREC | Paid to the Tennessee Real Estate Commission after you pass. |
| Fingerprinting & background check | Set by the vendor | Paid separately to the fingerprinting provider. |
| Errors & Omissions insurance | Annual premium | Mandatory in Tennessee. No active license without proof of coverage. |
| Board / MLS dues (optional) | Annual | Only if you join a local Realtor® board and MLS. Not required to hold a license. |
Our tuition is fixed and shown in full. State, exam, fingerprinting, and insurance costs are set by third parties and change from time to time — confirm current figures with the Tennessee Real Estate Commission and the testing vendor before you budget.
Questions people ask us
- Is $555 the total cost of a Tennessee real estate license?
- No. $555 covers the 90 hours of required education. You will also pay the exam fee, the TREC application fee, fingerprinting, and E&O insurance before you can hold an active license. Most students land somewhere between $700 and $1,000 for everything in year one.
- Can I pay for the courses separately?
- Yes. The 60-hour and 30-hour courses are priced and sold separately, so you can start with the 60-hour Fundamentals course, sit for the exam, and take the 30-hour course afterward.
- Are there hidden fees in the tuition?
- No. The $375 and $180 are the full course prices. There is no separate registration fee, no proctoring surcharge, and no charge to retake a course quiz.
- How much does it cost if I fail the exam?
- You pay the exam fee again for each retake. That is the strongest argument for taking practice questions seriously before you schedule — a first-attempt pass is the cheapest path there is.