To apply for the Texas real estate licensing exam, the state requires you to complete 180 hours of college-level real estate courses approved by TREC. Kaplan offers four educational options that meet the 180-hour requirement. Overall, it's probably reasonable to expect around 18 months to pass from the day you start pre-leave education to the day you activate your license. Working in real estate can be lucrative and, at the same time, give you the flexibility to set your own schedule and run your own business.
Like all states, Texas requires real estate agents to be licensed, ensuring they have the knowledge and skills needed to guide buyers and sellers through complex transactions. Obtaining a real estate agent license in Texas involves several steps that span several months. While the individual pace can vary, on average, obtaining a Texas real estate license takes four to six months. However, you can complete the requirements in eight weeks if you commit to an intense program of study.
Once you have completed all six courses, you will be eligible to complete your application to take the State Licensing Exam. Make sure you have included all course certificates, as well as application fees. As long as you meet all licensing requirements, the time from application submission and approval by TREC can be 2 to 3 weeks. It could be longer if you send it by mail.
You can check the processing status on the TREC website in the Request Status Tracker. When the application is approved, you will schedule your exam date with Pearson VUE, the company that administers the test. You have one year from the time you apply to TREC to pass the exam. The time between the date you apply to TREC and approval to schedule your exam may vary depending on the number of applicants received by TREC.
At the time of writing, the wait time is approximately 3-4 weeks. Our recommendation is to start your review course as soon as you submit your request to TREC so that you are ready to take the exam once your application is approved. Licensees must meet Continuing Education (CE) requirements during each two-year license period. CE must include 4 hours of Legal Refresher I, 4 hours of Legal Refresher II, 3 hours of contract-related courses and 7 hours of CE elective courses for a total of 18 hours.
To determine how many hours have been posted to your license record, you can visit our Licensee Search. A buyer representation agreement is a private contract between the buyer and the real estate agent, not the sales agent. Ideally, you should also have a real estate agent sponsor right now, someone you plan to work with once you have the license. Unlike some states, Texas doesn't have any degree requirements to become a real estate sales agent, not even a high school diploma or GED.
If the broker appoints an associate licensee to represent the seller and another associate licensee to represent the buyer, individual agents can offer advice and opinions on the real estate transaction to the party each has been appointed to represent. Perhaps the biggest financial investment you'll need to make to become a Texas licensed real estate agent is your real estate education. The process of obtaining a Texas real estate sales agent license could be as quick as a few weeks or it could take a few months. As soon as TREC verifies the broker's sponsorship and other requirements have been met, your official real estate license will be emailed to you and you can start your career as a real estate professional.
But before you start, it's important to understand the process of becoming a real estate agent in your state. You can have a license without the backing of a real estate agent, but your license will be inactive. A lawyer who wants to obtain a license as a broker must first apply for and meet the requirements to obtain the license as a real estate sales agent. While obtaining a Texas real estate license isn't always a linear process, it's important that you take the following steps one by one to make sure you don't miss anything important.
An active real estate license is required to negotiate a real estate transaction between third parties. A license helps ensure that licensees have the knowledge and skills necessary to guide buyers and sellers through real estate transactions. . .
