How to Get Your Real Estate License in Key West, FL (2026)

The Florida real estate license is the same exam, the same 63 hours of pre-license education, the same $83.75 DBPR application fee whether you sit it in Key West or in Miami. The career on the other side of it is not.

Three things separate Key West and the broader Florida Keys from every other Florida market for a new sales associate. The Florida Keys are a 113-mile island chain stretching southwest from the mainland along the Overseas Highway (US-1), connected by 42 bridges, with the southernmost point of the continental United States at Key West, and the geography fundamentally shapes the market: inventory is structurally limited (the Keys cannot expand because no new land is available), federal land ownership constrains the buildable footprint further (Everglades National Park, Biscayne National Park, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, and various wildlife refuges occupy substantial Keys territory), the market segments by island and municipality (Key Largo and Islamorada in the Upper Keys, Marathon and Key Colony Beach in the Middle Keys, Big Pine and Cudjoe in the Lower Keys, and Key West itself at the southern terminus), and Monroe County does not have a Pearson VUE testing center, so every Florida licensure candidate sitting the exam from anywhere in the Keys faces a 3 to 4-hour one-way drive to Doral or Coral Gables in Miami-Dade County. The Keys vacation rental and short-term rental market operates under regulatory complexity unmatched anywhere else in Florida: each municipality (the City of Key West, the City of Marathon, the Village of Islamorada, the City of Key Colony Beach, and the City of Layton) plus unincorporated Monroe County maintains its own separate STR ordinance, most residential properties are restricted to a 28-day minimum rental period, properties qualifying for less-than-28-day rentals require a Special Vacation Rental Permit with annual fire inspections and a separately licensed locally-based manager, and single-family homes in improved subdivision districts generally cannot qualify for short-term rental even with permits. And Hurricane Irma's Category 4 landfall on Cudjoe Key on September 10, 2017 is the defining market constraint of the past decade and the structural reason Monroe County's building codes are among the strongest in the nation and insurance carrier behavior here is the tightest in Florida.

None of those appear in the standard state guide.

This post walks the six-step path from "considering this" to "active license held by a sponsoring broker": eligibility under F.S. 475.17, the 63-hour pre-license course, the DBPR application, fingerprinting, the 100-question state exam at the Doral or Coral Gables Pearson VUE center (with the long-haul drive planned accordingly), and activation with a brokerage. By the end you'll have a realistic timeline (3 to 5 months for the standard path, 6 to 10 weeks for the mutual recognition path), an honest fee range ($400 to $700 before exam prep), and a clear view of why the Keys' island geography, STR regulatory complexity, and post-Irma insurance and building-code environment reward agents here differently than they reward agents anywhere else in Florida.

What Key West actually rewards

The honest counterweight: the Keys real estate market is a small market in absolute transaction volume, agents face a steep learning curve on the STR regulatory framework and the post-Irma building-and-insurance environment, the buyer pool is structurally limited (vacation-home buyers, retirees with substantial means, investors with capital for the high-end-luxury segment), commission dollars per transaction are high but transaction count per agent is low, and the geographic isolation means every administrative task (the Pearson VUE exam, DBPR fingerprinting, in-person continuing education) involves a substantial drive to Miami-Dade. Key West specifically is in active correction in early 2026: median sale prices down 14.3% year-over-year on Redfin data, active inventory up 400% from prior-year lows but still extreme-low in absolute terms (25 listings), Redfin Competitive Score 13 out of 100.

Step 1: Eligibility

F.S. 475.17 sets the bar lower than most applicants assume. You must be 18, hold a high-school diploma or equivalent, have a Social Security number, and meet a "honesty, trustworthiness, and good character" standard that DBPR evaluates case-by-case.

The "good character" item is the one that worries second-career applicants more than it should. DBPR is materially more permissive than most state real estate commissions on prior records. Old misdemeanors, a single dated felony, and minor financial-history items rarely block a Florida license outright. The board weighs nature of offense, time since, evidence of rehabilitation, and relevance to the practice of real estate. What stops applications is not usually the conviction itself. It is incomplete disclosure on the application form.

Two practical notes for Monroe County applicants.

If your record has anything you're uncertain about, file the application honestly and let DBPR rule. The board says yes more often than applicants expect. Withholding something the background check will surface anyway is what creates problems, not the underlying record.

If you hold a non-US educational credential, you need a U.S. high-school equivalency on file. Either a GED or an accredited foreign credential evaluation. Handle it before you submit the DBPR application, not after.

Active-duty military stationed at NAS Key West and military spouses qualify for expedited application processing under F.S. 455.213(7) and, in certain circumstances, fee waivers. If you are active-duty or a military spouse, work with the installation's Personal Financial Counselor before submitting the application to confirm which accommodations apply.

Nothing in this section is legal advice. If your situation is non-standard, a Florida-licensed attorney will give you a clearer read than any blog post can.

Step 2: The 63-hour pre-license course

Florida requires 63 hours of approved pre-license education before you can sit the sales associate exam. The hour count is the same statewide. The providers and the formats are not.

Three formats exist:

• In-person classroom. Fixed schedule, 2 to 4 weeks of evenings or a compressed weekday track. Best for candidates who don't trust themselves to finish self-paced material.
• Livestream. Same instructor and same schedule as in-person, no commute.
• Self-paced online. Finish in as little as 9 days or stretch over 6 months. Cheapest, highest dropout rate.

Cost runs from about $150 on the cheapest national online providers to $500 for in-person classroom programs. The Florida Keys have a smaller local provider bench than any other Florida metro we cover because of the geographic isolation. The College of the Florida Keys (formerly Florida Keys Community College, with the main campus in Key West plus campuses in Marathon and Tavernier) is the regional academic anchor and offers workforce-development-track programs that intersect with real estate licensure. Bert Rodgers Schools and Larson Educational Services serve the Keys through statewide online and occasional regional in-person delivery. National online providers (The CE Shop, Aceable, Colibri, Kaplan Real Estate Education) dominate the Keys candidate market because the self-paced-online format works around the geographic isolation problem. We compared the seven major providers in the best Florida pre-license course post.

Full cost breakdown across the whole licensure path lives in the Florida real estate license cost post. Short version: $400 to $700 in fees and course costs before exam prep.

Step 3: The DBPR application and fingerprinting

You submit the RE-1 application through the DBPR portal. Fee is $83.75. Processing runs 2 to 6 weeks in normal periods and longer during DBPR backlog windows. Fingerprinting is done separately through a Florida-approved Livescan vendor and runs $50 to $75. Livescan vendors in the Keys are limited to a small number of locations: Key West has multiple vendors, Marathon has one or two, and Key Largo has one or two; mid-chain locations may require a drive of 30 to 60 minutes to the nearest vendor. Most are walk-in.

One tactical point that matters more than the order of any other step in this guide: file the DBPR application before you finish the 63-hour course, not after. The application and the course can process in parallel. DBPR's review does not require proof of course completion at submission. It requires it before they release you to schedule the exam. Filing early can shave 3 to 5 weeks off your total timeline.

The application asks about prior convictions, prior license discipline in any state, and financial history. Answer all of it honestly. The two most common reasons applications get flagged or delayed are nondisclosure of items DBPR finds on the background check anyway, and applicant slowness in responding to follow-up document requests. Neither of those is hard to avoid.

Fingerprints have a 90-day validity window for DBPR's purposes. Schedule the Livescan once you know your application is in. If you fingerprint too early and your application stalls for any reason, you may end up paying to re-print.

Step 4: The Florida Real Estate Sales Associate exam

The exam is 100 multiple-choice questions, 3.5 hours, 75% to pass. The split is 45 state-specific questions and 55 national questions, with roughly 8 to 12 math questions woven through. First-time pass rate hovers near 50%, depending on the DBPR quarter you sample. About half the people who sit it walk out without a license. That is not a comment on the test takers. It is a comment on how most candidates prepare.

The 19-topic DBPR content outline (we broke it down in the 19 topics post) is weighted heavily toward four clusters: real estate brokerage activities and procedures, contracts, property rights and ownership (which is where the condo content lives, including HB 913 changes), and mortgage and lending. Those four clusters account for roughly 40% of the exam between them. If your study time is split evenly across all 19 topics, you are spending time on the wrong ones.

Monroe County does not have a Pearson VUE testing center. The closest centers are:

• Doral (Miami-Dade County, roughly 165 miles from Key West, 3 to 4 hours via US-1 and Florida's Turnpike, the standard option for most Keys candidates)
• Coral Gables (Miami-Dade County, similar drive time, useful for candidates routing through central Miami)
• Hollywood and Oakland Park (Broward County, slightly longer drives, alternates if Miami-Dade slots are full)

The Doral and Coral Gables centers are the standard options. Plan an overnight in the Florida City, South Miami, or Doral corridor the evening before the exam to avoid early-morning drive-day pressure. Book early; slots can run 2 to 4 weeks out in peak periods, particularly Q1 ahead of the snowbird-season listing surge.

HB 913 content is on the exam now. If your prep material was printed before 2025, the condo reserve and milestone-inspection answers are wrong. We track the change set in the 2026 exam changes post. Whatever prep tool you use, confirm it's been updated for HB 913 before you commit your study hours to it.

Pass Florida is built for this gap: 1,002 Florida-specific questions weighted to the 19-topic outline, statute-current through HB 913, $39.99 once. Try a sample question before you decide anything.

Step 5: Find a sponsoring broker

A Florida sales associate license is inactive until a licensed broker activates it. The brokerage decision is the most consequential career choice a new agent makes in year one and the one most often made on autopilot.

The Monroe County brokerage landscape sorts into four tiers:

• Keys-anchored local independents: Coldwell Banker Schmitt Real Estate Company (the longest-running Keys-anchored brokerage, with offices across Key West, Marathon, Islamorada, and Key Largo), Truman & Co. Real Estate (Key West luxury specialist), Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Knight & Gardner Realty (Key West-anchored), The Florida Keys Real Estate Co. For agents who want to work for a brokerage with deep Keys market roots.
• National full-service brands with strong Keys affiliates: Compass Florida Keys, Engel & Völkers Florida Keys, William Raveis Real Estate (entering the Keys market). For new agents who want structure with national brand recognition.
• Tech-forward growth brands: eXp Realty (independent contractor model), Compass (luxury technology-forward), LPT Realty. For agents who want marketing infrastructure or a high-split structure.
• STR-investor and waterfront-specialist brokerages: Several smaller Keys brokerages specialize specifically in vacation rental investor work, transient license property identification, waterfront and marine sales (boat slips, dockage, marine-titled property), and luxury Key West Old Town historic district inventory. These tend to be team-driven rather than brand-driven.

The brand-name analysis is mostly noise. Here's the analysis that matters in the Keys specifically. Coldwell Banker Schmitt Real Estate Company is the dominant Keys-anchored brokerage by office count and chain-coverage (Key West south through Key Largo north), and represents the deepest single-brokerage Keys market expertise available. The luxury and Key West Old Town specialist brokerages carry concentrated expertise in historic district HARC (Historic Architectural Review Commission) compliance, Old Town zoning rules, and the Conch architectural tradition that generalist agents from outside the Keys take 24 to 36 months to build.

The Keys-specific multipliers, when they kick in, are STR regulatory fluency (per-municipality permit eligibility analysis, zoning district mapping, Special Vacation Rental Permit transferability, manager license coordination), post-Irma building-code and elevation literacy (elevation certificate reading, flood zone analysis, wind mitigation review, post-2001 vs pre-2001 inventory differentiation, Citizens vs private insurance carrier coordination), island-by-island market segmentation (Upper Keys vs Middle Keys vs Lower Keys vs Key West buyer demographics, price points, and seasonal patterns), and Key West Old Town historic district expertise (HARC compliance, Conch architectural tradition, Mallory Square and Duval Street adjacency premiums, the literary tradition that anchors a meaningful subsegment of the buyer pool). A new agent who develops genuine depth in any one of those four areas has differentiation that doesn't exist for new agents anywhere else in Florida.

We go deeper on the brokerage-selection criteria, including the specific questions to ask at the interview, in the sponsoring broker guide.

Step 6: Activate and start

Activation runs $83.75 through DBPR and is initiated by your sponsoring broker. From the moment activation processes, you can list, show, write offers, and earn commission. The 24-month post-activation clock starts on a 45-hour post-license education requirement, which must be completed before your first license renewal.

Honest first-90-days expectation: most new Keys agents do not close a transaction in their first quarter. The standard pattern in the Keys is somewhat slower than in peninsular Florida metros because of the small market size, the high-dollar transaction stakes that require longer buyer due diligence, and the STR regulatory complexity that adds weeks to most investor-buyer transactions. First closing in the Keys typically lands somewhere in months 5 to 10 rather than the months-4-to-8 standard. Income in those first months is zero, which is why most new Florida agents enter the business with 6 to 12 months of savings or part-time work covering the gap; Keys-specific candidates should plan for 9 to 15 months given the longer first-closing timeline.

The Keys has a structural advantage on commission dollars per transaction that offsets the longer ramp. A 3% commission on a $1.1 million median Keys transaction is $33,000 gross; on a peninsular Florida $400,000 transaction it's $12,000. Keys agents close fewer transactions per year than peninsular Florida agents to reach comparable gross commission income. The math favors the Keys agent who develops genuine market expertise and can sustain a slower transaction pace.

The 2026 market correction adds context. Key West specifically saw median sale prices down 14.3% year-over-year on Redfin data through February 2026, with the Redfin Competitive Score at 13 out of 100 (extreme buyer-leverage market). Active inventory remains structurally low (25 listings in April 2026 per BrokerOne) but is up 400% from prior-year extreme lows. Days on market are running 80 to 220 days depending on segment and data source. The correction is a feature for patient buyer-side agents with capital-rich clients and a headwind for listing-side agents on resale inventory.

The candidates who shorten the ramp materially in the Keys fall into three patterns. They are existing Keys residents with established social networks (the resident population is small enough that sphere-of-influence prospecting is concentrated and effective). They bring an existing book from prior real estate work elsewhere (particularly Northeast US licensees who have established Keys-vacation-home-buyer relationships back to their feeder markets). Or they bring technical depth in one of the four differentiators above (STR regulatory fluency, post-Irma building-code expertise, island-by-island segmentation, or Key West Old Town historic district specialization).

None of those is reliably built in the first 90 days. All of them can be built deliberately starting in month one if you know to build them.

What you'll actually make in Key West

This is the section most state-guide pages get wrong. They cite an average and move on. Florida Keys real estate income is structurally different from peninsular Florida because of the high commission dollars per transaction offset by the low transaction count per agent.

The honest numbers across major sources (Key West and Florida Keys MSA):

Source	Average / Median	Range (25th–75th percentile)
Glassdoor (Q1 2026)	~$95K	$62K – $145K
AceableAgent career data	~$82K	n/a
Indeed	~$88K	n/a
ZipRecruiter (Apr 2026)	~$72K	$52K – $98K

The reason the Keys averages run higher than most Florida markets despite lower transaction counts is straightforward: the median home price of $1.0 to $1.1 million produces 3% commissions of $30,000 to $33,000 per side, materially higher than peninsular Florida coastal markets. The distribution is bimodal: agents who close 6 to 10 transactions per year at $30K-plus average commission produce six-figure incomes; agents who close 2 to 4 per year produce mid-five-figure incomes. The ultra-luxury Old Town Key West, oceanfront Big Pine Key, and Islamorada flats segments can produce single-transaction commissions of $60,000 to $150,000-plus on high-dollar sales.

What that means for a new agent: your year-one income will almost certainly be on the low end of those ranges. Most new agents in any Florida metro earn between $10,000 and $30,000 gross in year one. In the Keys, year-one income for generalist new agents often lands at the middle of that band because of the slower transaction cadence and the steep STR-and-building-code learning curve; the multiples in the higher data points come in year three through year five rather than year two, faster for agents who developed STR regulatory expertise, post-Irma building-code fluency, Key West Old Town specialization, or established Northeast and Midwest vacation-home buyer relationships during their ramp.

Deeper on the data, the year-by-year ramp, and segmentation in the Florida real estate agent salary post.

Ready to sit the Key West exam?

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FAQ

How long does it take to get a real estate license in Key West?

3 to 5 months on the standard path (eligibility check, 63-hour course, DBPR application, fingerprints, state exam, broker activation). 6 to 10 weeks on the mutual recognition path if you hold an active license in one of the ten reciprocating states (Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Nebraska, Rhode Island, West Virginia). The Pearson VUE exam requires a 3-to-4-hour one-way drive to Doral or Coral Gables in Miami-Dade County because Monroe County has no testing center; budget the exam-day travel accordingly.

How much does a Florida real estate license cost in Monroe County?

$400 to $700 before exam prep, depending on which 63-hour pre-license course you choose. The mandatory fees are the $83.75 DBPR application, $50 to $75 for Livescan fingerprinting, the $36.75 Pearson VUE exam sitting fee, and $83.75 to activate with a broker. Course costs ($150 to $500) make up the rest. Active-duty service members at NAS Key West and military spouses qualify for expedited application processing under F.S. 455.213(7). Full breakdown in the Florida real estate license cost post.

Where do I take the Florida real estate exam if I'm based in Key West?

Monroe County has no Pearson VUE testing center. The closest centers are Doral (Miami-Dade County, roughly 165 miles from Key West, 3 to 4 hours via US-1 and Florida's Turnpike) and Coral Gables (similar drive time, useful for candidates routing through central Miami). Hollywood and Oakland Park are alternates if Miami-Dade slots are full. Most candidates plan an overnight in the Florida City or South Miami corridor the evening before the exam to avoid early-morning drive-day pressure. Booking 2 to 4 weeks ahead is standard in peak periods.

How does the Florida Keys short-term rental regulatory environment actually work?

Each municipality plus unincorporated Monroe County maintains its own STR ordinance with separate permit, fee, and inspection structures. Unincorporated Monroe County requires a Special Vacation Rental Permit for rentals of less than 28 days, with annual fire inspections, occupancy limits, parking and trash requirements, and a locally-based licensed vacation rental manager on call at all times. Permit costs run approximately $490 initial and $100 renewal plus inspection fees of $100 to $300 plus the manager license. The City of Key West requires a Transient License for rentals of less than 30 days with zoning conformance verification. The City of Marathon, the Village of Islamorada, the City of Key Colony Beach, and the City of Layton each have their own ordinances. Single-family homes in improved subdivision districts generally cannot qualify for vacation rental permits regardless of fee payment; the zoning district must permit STR. Properties without permit are limited to 12 non-overlapping 28-day rental periods per year. Enforcement is active and fines escalate.

What happened to the Keys real estate market after Hurricane Irma?

Substantial damage and a multi-year rebuild. Hurricane Irma made landfall on Cudjoe Key as a Category 4 storm on September 10, 2017, with maximum sustained winds of 132 mph and storm surge up to 8 to 9 feet. FEMA estimated 25% of Keys homes were destroyed, 65% suffered major damage, and 90% suffered some damage. Big Pine Key saw approximately 500 homes destroyed plus 300 severely damaged. The cumulative effect on the market: Monroe County's building codes tightened further to among the strongest in the United States, insurance carrier behavior has tightened materially (many properties carry coverage through Citizens Property Insurance plus separate NFIP flood policies), and pre-2001 inventory carries elevated scrutiny in transactions because pre-code construction generally performed worse than post-2001 inventory. Working Keys agents handle elevation certificates, flood zone determinations, and wind mitigation reports on every transaction.

Can I get a Florida real estate license with a criminal record?

It depends on the offense, time since, evidence of rehabilitation, and relevance to the practice of real estate. DBPR is materially more permissive than most state real estate commissions. Old misdemeanors, a single dated felony, and minor financial-history items rarely block a license outright. What stops applications is nondisclosure on the form. The background check surfaces the record either way, so file honestly and let DBPR rule.

Are commissions actually higher in Key West than peninsular Florida?

Per-transaction yes; total annual income depends on transaction count. The Florida Keys median home price reached approximately $1.1 million in January 2026, and Key West specifically runs $1.0 to $1.1 million across major data sources. A 3% commission on a $1.1 million transaction produces $33,000 gross per side, materially higher than peninsular Florida coastal markets where median commissions per side run $9,000 to $22,500. The ultra-luxury Key West Old Town, oceanfront Big Pine Key, and Islamorada flats segments can produce single-transaction commissions of $60,000 to $150,000-plus. Total annual income depends on transaction count: Keys agents typically close fewer transactions per year than peninsular Florida agents because the market is smaller and transactions take longer to develop. Agents who close 6 to 10 transactions per year at $30K-plus average produce six-figure incomes; agents who close 2 to 4 per year produce mid-five-figure incomes.

What's the difference between Key West and Miami for a new real estate agent?

Same license, fundamentally different careers. Key West rewards STR regulatory fluency (per-municipality permit eligibility and zoning district mapping unique to Monroe County), post-Irma building-code and elevation literacy (the strongest building codes in the US for wind and water exposure), island-by-island market segmentation (Upper Keys vs Middle Keys vs Lower Keys vs Key West buyer demographics), and Old Town historic district expertise (HARC compliance, Conch architectural tradition). Miami rewards the Latin American luxury buyer pool, condo high-rise expertise, the multicultural urban transaction environment, and the international tax and currency complexity of foreign-buyer transactions. Both have high-dollar median transactions but in completely different buyer ecosystems. Few agents work both markets effectively; the geographic and operational specialization required for each is too distinct to handle simultaneously.

Methodology

What this post covers. The mechanical and practical path to a Florida real estate sales associate license for candidates based in Key West and the broader Monroe County market (including Key Largo, Islamorada, Marathon, Key Colony Beach, Layton, Big Pine Key, Cudjoe Key, Stock Island, and the surrounding outer islands), covering eligibility, the 63-hour pre-license course, the DBPR application, fingerprinting, the state exam at the Doral or Coral Gables Pearson VUE center, activation with a sponsoring broker, and realistic year-one income expectations for the Florida Keys MSA. Current as of May 2026.

Data sources. Florida Statutes Chapter 475 (license law), Chapter 718 (Condominium Act, as amended by HB 913), Chapter 509 (public lodging establishments and vacation rental regulation), F.S. 455.213(7) (military expedited licensing), and F.S. 689.302 (flood disclosure, October 2025 expansion), Florida Administrative Code Rule 61J2, DBPR Division of Real Estate fee schedule and application guidance, Pearson VUE Florida Real Estate Sales Associate Candidate Handbook (2025) Doral and Coral Gables testing centers, Florida Keys Board of REALTORS market reports (Q1-Q2 2026), Redfin Key West market data (February 2026), Zillow Key West home value index (Q1 2026), Houzeo Key West market analysis, BrokerOne Key West market data (April 2026), Monroe County Hurricane Irma Recovery documentation, FEMA Hurricane Irma damage assessment for Monroe County, Monroe County vacation rental ordinance and Special Vacation Rental Permit documentation, City of Key West Transient License documentation, Monroe County Building Department building code documentation, Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Monroe County coverage data, National Flood Insurance Program Monroe County participation data, US Army Corps of Engineers Overseas Highway and 42-bridge documentation, Naval Air Station Key West facility data, College of the Florida Keys workforce development catalog (May 2026), and aggregated salary data from Glassdoor (Q1 2026), Indeed, ZipRecruiter (Apr 2026), and AceableAgent.

Why this post emphasizes the island chain geography and the Pearson VUE testing center situation. The 113-mile island chain geography fundamentally shapes every aspect of the Keys real estate market, from inventory scarcity to insurance underwriting to administrative logistics like the Pearson VUE exam (where Monroe County has no testing center, forcing a 3-to-4-hour drive to Miami-Dade). Generic Florida licensing guides flatten this feature; we treat it as the primary differentiator because the geography is the load-bearing market constraint.

Why this post emphasizes STR regulatory complexity. Each Monroe County municipality plus unincorporated Monroe County maintains its own separate STR ordinance, with single-family homes in improved subdivision districts generally unable to qualify for vacation rental permits regardless of fee payment. This regulatory framework is more complex than any other Florida market we cover, and STR-permit eligibility analysis is critical due diligence for buyer-side transactions involving any investor-buyer or vacation-home-buyer pool.

Why this post addresses Hurricane Irma explicitly. Irma's September 10, 2017 Category 4 landfall on Cudjoe Key destroyed 25% of Keys homes and damaged 90%. The post-Irma rebuild, building code tightening, and insurance carrier behavior shifts are still shaping the market in 2026. New agents entering the Keys without understanding the post-Irma landscape misadvise buyers on insurance, elevation, and code compliance.

Why this post does not rely on one average income figure. Florida Keys real estate income is bimodal because of the high commission dollars per transaction (median $1.0 to $1.1 million transactions produce $30K-plus commissions per side) offset by the low transaction count per agent (small market, long buyer due diligence cycles). A single average obscures the distribution. The post cites the range across four data sources and explains the distribution explicitly.

Mutual recognition note. The ten-state mutual recognition list (AL, AR, CT, GA, IL, KY, MS, NE, RI, WV) reflects DBPR's current agreements at time of writing. Mutual recognition agreements have changed historically and may change again. Confirm against DBPR's current published list before relying on it.

STR regulation note. The per-municipality permit rules, fees, inspection requirements, and zoning eligibility maps described in this post reflect Monroe County and individual municipality ordinances as of time of writing. Specific compliance questions for a particular property should be referred to the relevant Monroe County or municipal planning department and to a Florida-licensed attorney familiar with Keys vacation rental law.

What this post does not cover. The Florida broker license (a different track with different rules), the 45-hour post-license education requirement in detail (covered in a dedicated post), or content review for specific exam topics (the 19-topic and math-formula posts handle those).

Sources

• Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation, Division of Real Estate (application, fee schedule, eligibility rules)
• Florida Statutes Chapter 475 (real estate license law), Chapter 718 (Condominium Act, as amended by HB 913, 2025), Chapter 509 (public lodging establishments and vacation rental regulation), F.S. 455.213(7) (military expedited licensing), and F.S. 689.302 (flood disclosure, October 2025 expansion)
• Florida Administrative Code, Rule 61J2 (exam and eligibility rules)
• Pearson VUE Florida Real Estate Sales Associate Candidate Information Booklet (2025), Doral and Coral Gables testing centers
• Florida Keys Board of REALTORS Q1-Q2 2026 market reports
• Redfin Key West market data (February 2026)
• Zillow Key West home value index (Q1 2026)
• Houzeo Key West housing market analysis (Q1 2026)
• BrokerOne Key West market data (April 2026)
• Walletinvestor Key West real estate forecast (Q1 2026)
• Monroe County Hurricane Irma Recovery documentation and damage assessment (727 destroyed + 1,034 substantial damage in unincorporated Monroe County)
• FEMA Hurricane Irma damage estimate (25% destroyed, 65% major damage, 90% some damage)
• Monroe County Planning Department Special Vacation Rental Permit documentation (Section 134-1 et seq. of Monroe County Code)
• City of Key West Transient License documentation (Chapter 122 of Key West Code of Ordinances)
• Monroe County Building Department building code documentation
• Citizens Property Insurance Corporation Monroe County coverage data
• National Flood Insurance Program Monroe County participation data
• College of the Florida Keys workforce development catalog (May 2026)
• Glassdoor, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, AceableAgent (Florida Keys MSA real estate agent salary data)

All information verified May 2026.