Broker Licensing Requirements for Texas Real Estate Salespersons
If you are thinking about obtaining your broker’s license, the Austin Institute of Real Estate will help you create the curriculum you need to complete those requirements. With live, online and correspondence courses available, we offer an extensive number of courses that you can take to obtain your broker’s license.
CHANGE IN REQUIREMENT TO OBTAIN BROKER’S LICENSE IN TEXAS
As of: January 1, 2012.
- You will be required to have 4 years active experience out of the past five years whether you are in-state applying for your broker’s license or out-of-state.
- You will need to have the equivalent of 900 clock hours ( 270 in “core” hours* and 630 in “related” hours).
- You will need to qualify by obtaining 3600 points by various listing, leasing and sales activities. **
- Once your Broker Application and application fee is submitted to TREC, you will have one year to take all the necessary education requirements, submit your transaction affidavit (for the 3600 points) and pass your Broker’s examination. If you do not complete this process, you will need to re-apply and re-submit your application fee.
Regarding the education requirements:
- If you have a four-year degree from an accredited college or university in the United States, the Texas Real Estate Commission will award you 630 clock hours of “related” credit; therefore, with a four-year degree you will only need to acquire at total of 270 clock hours in “core” credit . All courses you took to obtain your salesperson’s license and your first year SAE renewal hours (60) will all count toward the 270 hours of “core” credit. MCE credits only count as “elective” credit toward your Broker’s license.
- If you do not have a four-year degree but you have some college hours, you will need to estimate what percentage of a four-year degree you have and then estimate the number of “clock” hours you will most likely receive. For example, if you have an associates’ degree (2 year degree), then you can estimate that you will receive approximately 300-315 hours of credit toward you r broker’s license 630 ÷ 2= 315.OR if you have a year of college, you can estimate that you will receive approximately 150 -160 hours credit 630 ÷ 4 = 157.5 hours.Of course, it will be necessary for you to submit a Broker’s Application to the Texas Real Estate Commission and the application fee to find out exactly how many hours they will award, but your estimate can be helpful for you to determine if you can complete the necessary requirements in the one year timeframe.
- The next step is to submit your broker application to the Texas Real Estate Commission with a $388 application fee along with your college transcript and any course certificates for courses that are not already on the TREC website.
If you do not meet the educational requirements at the time of application, TREC will notify you as to what you are lacking and you will have
one year to obtain the necessary education hours, meet the 3600 in points toward the experience requirement and take and pass the Broker’s State examination.
Real Estate Related Education Courses
You will also need to meet the requirement of 270 hours of “core” real estate courses. Your pre-licensing courses and your SAE first year renewal courses will count toward the number of hours you will need to obtain your broker’s license.
* Core Real Estate Course List
These courses are defined in the Provisions of the
Real Estate License Act (TRELA), Chapter 1101, Texas Occupations Code Section 1101.003, and the
Rules of the Texas Real Estate Commission, Section 535.62(f).
You can receive Core course credit again for a course even if you took the course before if you have not taken the course in the past two years.
COURSES IN RED ARE REQUIRED COURSES.
- Principles of Real Estate
- Law of Contracts
- Law of Agency
- Promulgated Contract Forms
- Real Estate Finance
- Real Estate Brokerage (Course required for all broker applicants as of January 1, 2008)
- Real Estate Appraisal
- Real Estate Law
- Real Estate Finance
- Real Estate Marketing
- Real Estate Mathematics
- Property Management
- Real Estate Investments
- Residential Inspections for Real Estate Agents
** New Experience Requirements for a Real Estate Broker’s license:
Certain types of transactions are worth a certain number of points and the applicant is required to use the forms adopted by reference in the rule to summarize the transactions. For example, a closed purchase or sale of a single family home (residential) is worth 300 points, while a closed purchase or sale of an apartment complex with five of more units (commercial) is worth 450 points.
An applicant may continue to gain experience after an application has been submitted until such time that the applicant meets the total number required but before the applicant may take the qualifying examination. The applicant has up to one year after an application if filed to complete all requirements, and must meet experience and education requirements before the applicant can take the licensing examination. Experience earned after the application is submitted is to be reported on a different form adopted by reference in the rule.
If an applicant is unable to obtain sufficient documentation and/or the signature of the sponsoring broker, the applicant is required to use an affidavit adopted by reference in the rule to describe the applicant’s efforts to obtain the documentation and/or signatures.
In addition, the applicant is required to provide two additional affidavits each signed by a different individual familiar with the applicant’s circumstances and attesting to the applicant’s efforts to obtain the appropriate documentation. Lastly, the rule gives the commission the discretion to request additional documentation, rely on the documentation provided under the new rule, or utilize any other information provided by the applicant to determine whether the applicant has sufficient experience as required by the Act.
(Steps 4-8 are additional steps that apply to out-of-state brokers only.)
4. You must show proof of the Broker’s license from the State you are coming from
5. If you want to use credit from your real estate courses in the state you are coming from, ( i.e. agency, principles, contracts, etc.), you must provide a course description of each course.
6. You must provide a written history of your real estate education
7. You must take the required TREC Brokerage course #0711
8. Once your application is processed by TREC, you will need to be fingerprinted.
9. Once you have received notification from TREC that you meet the education requirements, you will be instructed on how to set up your Broker State Exam with the PSI Testing Center.
If you have any questions, please call (512) 453-0900.
You can also email us at info@austininstitute.com. Please allow 1-2 business days for a response.Correspondence courses are offered by St Edward’s University Professional Education Center (#0720) in association with The Austin Institute of Real Estate (#0544/0040).