How To Become A Real Estate Agent In Texas
There are more perks to being a real estate agent than just helping clients find the homes of their dreams. The job comes with all sorts of other advantages like flexible working hours, an unlimited income cap, great upward mobility, and the chance to build a strong professional network.
The Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that between 2020 and 2030 more than 16,900 jobs will be added to the real estate industry. This means a projected 4.1 percent growth in employment in just a decade. So how can you pursue a career in real estate in the State of Texas? Well, read on as I answer these questions and more.
How To Get Your Real Estate License in the State of Texas
Just like virtually every other profession, there are several key criteria you have to pass before you can become a real estate agent in the state of Texas. These criteria were put in place by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC), the government agency in charge of licensing and regulating real estate agents within the state. In a nutshell, they include:
- You must be at least 18 years old
- You must have a high school degree or GED
- Meet TREC’s qualifications for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity
- Complete all 180 Hours of your real estate pre-licensing classes
- Pass the final exams in real estate courses with a score of 70% or higher
- Complete and pass the national criminal background check
- Schedule your exam
- Pass the Texas Real Estate Exam
- Find A Brokerage To Hire You
While all these may seem pretty simple, there are some important aspects that I would like to highlight to make the process as smooth as possible.
Meet the Minimum Age, Education, and Citizenship Requirements
The first part is easy. Any individual interested in applying for a real estate license within the State of Texas must provide proof that they are at least 18 years of age and have a GED or high school diploma. The individual must also be a U.S. citizen or lawfully documented resident within the country.
You Must Meet the TREC’s Qualifications For Honesty, Trustworthiness, and Integrity
For obvious reasons, the TREC does its best to screen out individuals who by merit of character or past criminal history would not be deemed trustworthy or able to effectively represent the interests of their clients. The TREC determines this through a screening process and background check known as Fitness Determination (FD).
The agency advises that anyone with a history of criminal offenses, unpaid judgments, previous disciplinary actions against a professional license, and unlicensed real estate activities should take the test. This saves you the time and money of applying for a license that may be denied due to their history.
The process involves requesting a Fitness Determination Form (Form FD-2), a Background History Form (Form BH-3), sending a $50 check or money order to TREC. It usually takes up to 30 days to review the documents you may be asked to submit and perform a thorough background check, so don’t expect to get the results in a hurry. However, if you’re confident that your application will be approved you can start the next step in the licensing process.
Complete 180 Hours of Real Estate Pre-Licensing Course
This is probably the most important step in the process. The state mandates that all potential applicants must complete 180 hours of state-approved real estate courses for pre-licensing. These courses may be taken online or in-person, but they must be administered by a state-approved pre-licensing school.
The approved 180 classroom hours courses required for real estate license applicants are:
- Principles of Real Estate I (30 classroom hours)
- Principles of Real Estate II (30 classroom hours)
- Law of Agency (30 classroom hours)
- Law of Contracts (30 classroom hours)
- Promulgated Contract Forms (30 classroom hours)
- Real Estate Finance (30 classroom hours)
Sign up for classes here: Real Estate Express
These courses may seem a bit confusing initially since you are learning an entirely new set of languages and concepts. However, with time and dedication, you’ll easily adapt and find yourself gaining a deeper understanding of the real estate industry. Some important topics to look out for during these courses include:
- Real estate math
- Land use laws and regulations
- Fair Housing laws
- Real Estate Financing
- Contracts
- Transfer of title
- Brokerage relationships
- Disclosures
- Property analysis
- Rules of the Oregon Real Estate Commission
- License law
- Ethics
- Agency Laws
Completing the course can take anywhere between 2 weeks to 6 months depending on your schedule. Obviously in-person classes cannot be hastened, but individuals taking online courses have the advantage of following a more aggressive study schedule.
TREC limits the number of online courses one can access to just 12 hours a day. So the minimum number of days required to complete the course is 15 days (assuming you understood and memorized the material perfectly the first time).
Pass Your Final Pre-Licensing Exams
Once you have completed the courses you have to pass the final examination on each 30-hour course with at least a score of 70%. Once you have passed this you will be presented with a Certificate of Completion for that course. When applying for your license you must submit copies of all 6 certificates to be eligible.
Most people rush to finish the material and take the final exams. However, this is not the best way to approach the course. Take your time to ensure that you understand the course material fully and avoid overwhelming yourself with information. It takes some time for TREC to process your application, so overloading yourself with information will only make the process harder than it has to be.
Apply for Your License Online at the Trec Online Licensing Service
You have gone through the Fitness Determination test and Background Check, completed the 180 hours of pre-licensing material and passed your course final exams. Now it’s time to apply for your licensing exams.
To do this you have to first submit your application to become a Sales Agent using TREC’s online portal which can be accessed here. During your application, you will be required to submit certain documents which include certain forms, application fees, your real estate course certificates, and any other criteria set by the TREC. You must meet all these criteria and pass your licensing exam within one year of your application.
Submit for Fingerprinting
After accepting your application, you will be required to present to the nearest TREC-approved center for fingerprinting. To do this you need to get your TREC ID number (which will be issued to you when your application has been approved) and then you can schedule an appointment at a MorphoTrust location. You will be photographed as part of the process. There are 20 centers across the state and the current cost is $38.25 for the service.
Schedule Your Licensing Exam
If you have completed all these steps and met all the criteria set by the TREC, you will be notified of your eligibility to sit for the licensing exam. The exams are administered by Pearson Vue, a national testing service contracted by TREC.
To schedule your exams, pay the required fees, and make a reservation visit their official website here or you can call them at (800) 997-1248. At the time of writing it costs $54 to take the Texas Real Estate exam. Note that the state of Texas requires proctoring of your licensing exam. You can find information on the proctoring process here.
To increase the chances of passing your exam the first time I recommend checking out Prep Agent. This study tool gave me and many other agents a huge boost in confidence when taking the real estate exam.
Taking the Exam
The Texas real estate exam is split up into two sections. You will have a total of 240 minutes (4 hours) to complete both. The state real estate exam has 40 questions. You will have 90 mins to complete this part of the exam. The national portion of the exam is 85 questions long and you will have 150 minutes to complete it. Do not stress you have 4 hours to focus and get this done.
The good news is that the results of the exam are released immediately. If you passed one section of the exam and failed the other you can retake only the section you failed. You’re allowed only four attempts at the exam.
After the fourth attempt, you will be required to head back to the classroom and take an additional 30 hours of coursework if you only failed one section. If you failed both portions of the exam you will be required to take an additional 60 hours of coursework.
Related: How Much Do Real Estate Agents Make in Texas
Finding a Broker
After passing the exam the next step is to apply for sponsorship with a licensed broker. This involves completing a sponsorship request which may take anywhere between 1-2 months. There are several important things to keep in mind when choosing a broker. They include factors such as:
- Broker reputation
- Mentorship culture
- Commission splits
- Commission caps
- On-going monthly fees, and so on.
Wondering what Texas Realtor’s actually make per year? Check out this article.
In Conclusion
Getting your real estate license in Texas is quite easy if you follow all the required steps. The entire process can take anywhere between 4-5 months and may cost you between $1,300-$1,500. However, with hard work and dedication, you’ll be a licensed Texas real estate agent in no time.
