Hawaii Island

Getting your real estate license on Hawaii Island

Updated 29 August 2026 · the licence is statewide; the knowledge that keeps you out of trouble is not

The requirements are statewide, not local

There is no Hawaii Island licence. You complete 60 hours of Commission-approved pre-licensing education, pass both portions of the PSI examination, and file the salesperson application with the Hawaii Real Estate Commission in Honolulu. Living in Hilo or Kona changes none of it, and no course is island-specific.

Two practical consequences. First, an online course is the norm here rather than a compromise — the approved classroom providers are concentrated on Oahu, and the Commission does not care which approved provider you use. Second, check PSI's current test-site list when you schedule, because sites open and close and the nearest one to you may not be in the town you expect.

The full step-by-step checklist, with every fee and deadline →

The exam is the real filter

In FY2025 there were 4,518 salesperson exam sittings and 1,497 passes — 33.1%. That is a rate per attempt, not per person: retakes are permitted and some of those sittings are repeats, so the share of candidates who eventually pass is higher. The 60 hours is the minimum to sit rather than preparation to pass. Budget study time past the coursework, and budget for a second sitting.

The two portions are scored separately and you retake only the one you failed, which matters more here than it sounds: the Hawaii portion is where out-of-state study material fails people, and it covers exactly the things this island runs on — land classification, leasehold versus fee simple, and mandatory seller disclosure.

What the exam actually covers →

What the work looks like here

Hawaii Island is bigger than every other island in the chain combined, and it is not one market. Kona and the Kohala coast trade resort and second-home property. Hilo is a working town with an ordinary residential market. Puna and Kaʻu hold some of the most affordable land in the islands, and the reason it is affordable is the reason you have to understand it.

Lava flow hazard zones change how a property can be sold

The US Geological Survey divides the island into nine lava flow hazard zones, and in the agency's own words the map is arranged so that lava flows are “most likely to occur in Zone 1 and least likely in Zone 9”. The current map dates from 1992. Zone 1 covers the summits and rift zones of Kīlauea and Mauna Loa, where vents have erupted repeatedly in historical time; Zone 2 is the ground adjacent to and downslope of Zone 1, and USGS puts 15–25% of it under lava since 1800. The zone is a property fact, like a flood zone, and it does not change because a listing fails to mention it.

What it does to a transaction:

• Insurance. Private carriers commonly decline the highest-hazard zones. Hawaii's residual market is the Hawaii Property Insurance Association, which exists for people who, in its own description, are “unable to obtain Homeowners or Dwelling Fire coverage from a private insurance company”. Confirm what is actually available for the specific parcel, in writing, before anyone removes a contingency.
• Financing. A lender requires insurance it considers adequate, so the policy available drives the loan. This is where local knowledge beats a general rule: some national programmes will not lend, while Hawaii portfolio lenders and credit unions do write these loans, on their own terms, and seller financing is used here too. Do not tell a client a high-hazard parcel is unfinanceable, and do not assume it is straightforward — get a specific lender to say yes on the specific parcel.
• Disclosure. Hawaii requires a seller to disclose material facts. Insurability and hazard-zone status are material by any ordinary reading, and this is not the item to leave to the buyer to discover.

This is not theoretical. The 2018 lower East Rift Zone eruption began on 3 May in the Leilani Estates subdivision in lower Puna. USGS records that it destroyed over 700 structures, covered more than 8,700 acres, added 875 acres of new land past the old coastline, and displaced roughly 2,000 residents. Agents on this island wrote contracts on some of those addresses.

Water is not a given

Large parts of Puna and the surrounding subdivisions have no county water main. Houses run on rainwater catchment: a roof, gutters, a tank, a pump and filters. It works, thousands of households depend on it, and the rainfall on that side of the island is generous — but it is a system with a condition, a capacity and a maintenance history. A seller must disclose known material defects; the maintenance records and a water test are negotiated, which means somebody has to write them into the inspection contingency, and that somebody is the agent.

A competent agent here asks about the tank, the liner, the pump, the filtration and the last water test as a matter of routine, the way an agent elsewhere asks about the roof. An agent who does not know to ask will find out at inspection, in front of their client.

Distance is a business cost

Hilo to Kailua-Kona is a crossing of the island, not a drive across town. Covering both sides means real hours and real fuel, and most agents who last here pick a side and go deep on it. Decide that early, because it shapes which brokerage makes sense.

Choosing a brokerage, then keeping the licence

Your licence is not active until your Principal Broker signs Section B of your application. Line that up before you file: file first and the best you can get is an inactive licence, which then costs $25 and the Change Form to switch on.

Ask a prospective broker three things that matter more on this island than most: whether anyone there will teach you hazard zones and catchment, which side of the island the firm's business actually comes from, and what you are expected to spend to be found online. Most brokerages here provide little toward the last one.

After that, continuing education is 20 hours per two-year cycle — 6 core and 14 elective — due by 30 November of the even-numbered year. The first cycle depends on when you were licensed: licensed in an even year and your first renewal is fee-only with no CE; licensed in an odd year and all 20 hours fall due before that even-year renewal. The full CE rules →