Selling properties – be it a house or condo – was quite easy in the past as no regulatory board was in place to govern the real estate profession. You can sell anything you want, anywhere and anytime even without a license. Only those wishing to set up a brokerage firm were required to take licensure examinations.
The Real Estate Services Act (RESA) or RA 9646 was born in 2009. It does not only require real estate practitioners to comply with stringent rules in becoming full-fledged brokers, but it also converted them to taxpaying citizens. Among its notable mandates is that anyone who wishes to sell properties as brokers need to obtain a license and register first. To know more about the law, read up on our article: 10 Things You Need to Know About the RESA Law.
Aside from the prestige that a license can give you, passing the exam will help you to obtain the trust and confidence of your prospective clients. You will also receive a PRC ID card that will highlight your credentials.
The steps to getting a real estate broker license are quite simple. The only major challenge is completing the required four-year course.
Eligibility requirements
To be able to take the Real Estate Licensure Examinations, you need to meet the following requirements for the assessment:
- You must be a bonafide citizen of the Philippines. A foreign national who wish to apply need to satisfy additional requirements. Read up on our article on: Can Foreigners Work as a Real Estate Agents in the Philippines?.
- You must have good moral character and must not have records of criminal convictions involving moral turpitude.
- You must hold a Bachelor of Science Degree in Real Estate Management (BS REM). The government previously honored any relevant bachelor’s degree from any educational institutions recognized by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd). But beginning in 2016, only BS REM graduates could take the exam. CHEd’s Memorandum Order No. 28 issued in 2011 outlined how the four-year course should be carried out, including faculty requirement, course curriculum and course description.
We have also written a comprehensive Guide to the Philippine Real Estate Brokers Licensure Exam.
Schools offering BS REM
Only select schools are offering BS REM courses when it was first launched in 2012. You may only take the courses from the following educational institutions:
Luzon
- Gardner College (Diliman, Quezon City)
- Lyceum of Alabang (Muntinlupa City)
- STI Colleges (Ortigas – Cainta)
- Philippine Christian University (Manila)
- Lyceum of the Philippines – Cavite (General Trias, Cavite)
- iAcademy (Makati City)
- National College of Science and Technology (Dasmariñas City, Cavite)
- New Era University (Quezon City)
- Trinity University of Asia (Quezon City)
- De La Salle University – College of St. Benilde (Manila)
Visayas
- Central Philippine University (Iloilo City)
- STI Colleges (Jaro, Iloilo City)
- University of Cebu (Cebu City, Cebu)
Mindanao
- Xavier University – Ateneo de Cagayan (Cagayan de Oro, Misamis Oriental)
- Holy Cross of Davao College (Poblacion, Davao City)
- University of Mindanao (Talomo, Davao City)
- Saint Joseph Institute of Technology (Butuan City, Agusan del Norte)
For a more updated list of schools, you may refer here. Make sure to contact your chosen university or college to verify course fees and other requirements.
You may also read up on our article of Top Five Philippine Schools Offering the BSc in Real Estate Management.
Document Requirements
An applicant may only take the exam after submitting the required documents, along with the examination fee of PhP900, to the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC).
- Metered documentary stamps
- Completed application form
- Four pcs. colored passport photos taken with a full name tag
- Cedula or Community tax certificate
- Original and photocopy of birth certificate from the National Statistics Office (NSO) or valid passport
- Original and photocopy of Marriage Certificate from the NSO (for married women)
- Original and photocopy of National Bureau of Investigation clearance
- Original and photocopies of Transcript of Records (TOR) with Special Order, school seal, Date of Graduation, and photo. It should also contain a remark stating “For Board Examination Purposes Only”
A lot of the documents previously required are no longer needed since the rollout of the mandatory BS REM degree program.
The deadline for submitting the required documents is usually scheduled one month before the tentative examination date.
Passers of the real estate licensure exam can apply for their license on the official website of the PRC.
Testing Centers
You may take the licensure exam in various testing centers located in several cities nationwide, including Baguio, Manila, Cagayan De Oro, Davao, Cebu, Iloilo, Lucena, and Legazpi City.
