Michigan CE Requirements
We hear this question multiple times a day: “What credits do I need to keep my license active?” The rules can feel confusing, especially with different requirements from the State of Michigan, CE Marketplace, and even NAR if you’re a REALTOR®. To make it simple, we’ve broken down exactly what you need to know — year by year — so you can stay compliant and renew your license without stress.
Who is CE Marketplace?
CE Marketplace is Michigan’s official tracking system for real estate continuing education (CE). It was created to give licensees, instructors, and regulators one central place to record, verify, and audit CE hours. There will be three columns in your record for your legal credits, fair housing credits and elective credits. In short—it’s your go-to tool to stay compliant and keep your license active.
Requirements in short:
EVERY Michigan real estate licensee must complete 18 hours of continuing education during their individual three-year licensing cycle. Here’s the shortened breakdown:
EVERY Michigan real estate licensee, must, at a minimum, complete:
- YEAR ONE of YOUR specific licensing period: 2HRS Legal + 1HR Fair Housing
- YEAR TWO of YOUR specific licensing period: 2HRS Legal + 1HR Fair Housing
- YEAR THREE of YOUR specific licensing period: 2HRS Legal + 1HR Fair Housing
That’s a total of 6 hours Legal and 3 hours Fair Housing per cycle. The remaining 9 hours are elective credits, which you can take anytime during the three years to total 18 credits BEFORE you renew your license.
Click here to look up YOUR expiration date.
Watch the video below to have the continued education requirements explained.
Other key rules
- EXTRA LEGAL/FAIR HOUSING CREDITS: Extra legal and fair housing credits CAN count as electives, but electives CANNOT be counted as legal/fair housing.
- CE HOUR – 50 minutes of instruction = 1 credit hour. CE cannot be tracked in half-hour increments.
- TAKING THE SAME COURSE – You cannot earn credit for the same course more than once in a licensing cycle, even if taken in different calendar years.
- LICENSED INSTRUCTORS – If you’re a licensed instructor, you may claim credit for teaching a course, but only once per course per cycle.
TAKING THE SAME COURSE – You cannot earn credit for the same course more than once in a licensing cycle, even if taken in different calendar years.
REALTOR®-specific requirements (separate from Michigan CE)
Not every licensee is a REALTOR®. REALTOR® is a membership designation with the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR). NAR has its own requirements, in addition to Michigan CE law:
- Code of Ethics Training: Required every three years.
- Fair Housing Training: New this cycle, all REALTORS® must complete a 2-hour Fair Housing course (separate from Michigan’s mandatory Fair Housing CE).
If you complete NAR’s Fair Housing training through another provider (outside WMLAR or NAR’s At Home with Diversity training, C2EX (phone app only), or FREE Bias Override or Fairhaven), WMLAR must approve the course’s learning objectives and program outline before updating your record. Completing NAR trainings DO NOT typically include Michigan approved continuing education credit.
ALL REALTORS must complete the required Code of Ethics and NAR specific Fair Housing on or before December 31, 2027.
To see if you’ve completed the required Code of Ethics, click here to log into your NAR account. If you have any challenges logging in, please reach out to NAR at 800-874-6500 as WMLAR cannot help with that. Your Code of Ethics and NAR specific fair housing status will be listed there.
NEW feature in CE Marketplace: Allocating hours definitions
Renewal credits – Normal credits that are awarded and used for renewal purposes.
Penalty credits – Depending on any penalties after an audit, often the department will assign penalty credits to a licensee who has been audited and is deficient in their totals. IE: You were short 2 legal credits for the last cycle and they assign two more on top of the ones you missed as penalty credits.
Relicensure – Previous Cycle – When a licensee lets their license lapse, one of the pathways to get the license back in an active status is to take CE credits that are missing from a previous cycle. This lets the licensee designate those credits as credits they have used to reactivate their license and categorize them differently so they don’t mix them up with their standards renewal credits they need for their current cycles.
Relicensure – Current Cycle – When a licensee reactivates their license and uses the CE pathway to get the license active, the department requires a licensee to take the current year’s credits before they will reinstate the license. Thus when a licensee applies to get their license back and active, and takes their previous CE, LARA will require the licensee to take 2 hours of legal, 1 hour of FH and 3 elective hours (6 credits) for the current year they are reinstating the license for.
✅ Bottom line: Use CE Marketplace to track your hours, stay on top of Michigan’s requirements, and remember that NAR’s training is in addition to state-mandated CE.
