How to Become a Real Estate Agent in Texas: TREC Requirements (2026)

Updated October 2026. Requirements come from the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC). Rules and fees change, so confirm details on TREC’s sales agent page before you enroll or apply.

To work as a real estate agent in Texas, you need a sales agent license from TREC and a sponsoring broker. The process has six parts: confirm you’re eligible, register with TREC’s online portal, finish 180 hours of education, apply, complete a fingerprint background check, and pass the state exam. Here is each step in order.

Who can get a Texas sales agent license

TREC requires that you:

• are a U.S. citizen or a lawfully admitted alien;
• are at least 18 years old; and
• meet TREC’s qualifications for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity.

If something in your background might raise questions, you can ask TREC for a Fitness Determination before you pay for courses. TREC reviews your situation and tells you whether you’re likely to be eligible.

Step 1: Register for a REALM Portal account first

TREC now runs the licensing process through its REALM Portal. If you don’t already hold a TREC license, register for a REALM account before you start your courses. TREC emails you a pre-license education application number, which you give to your school.

This step matters more than it used to. Starting October 1, 2026, education providers must include your license number or pre-license application number when they report your completed courses to TREC, so your coursework can be matched to you automatically. The pre-license number is not your license application. You still apply in Step 3.

Step 2: Complete 180 hours of qualifying education

You need six 30-hour courses from a TREC-approved provider:

1. Principles of Real Estate I
2. Principles of Real Estate II
3. Law of Agency
4. Law of Contracts
5. Promulgated Contract Forms
6. Real Estate Finance

Use TREC’s list of approved education providers when you choose a school. Courses are offered online and in classrooms, and tuition varies by provider.

Step 3: Apply through the REALM Portal

After you finish all six courses, submit your sales agent application in the REALM Portal, upload your course completion documents, and pay the application fee (current amounts are on TREC’s fee schedule). Don’t apply until your education is complete and uploaded.

Watch the clock: your application expires one year after you file it. You must finish every remaining requirement, including the exam, within that year.

Step 4: Get fingerprinted for a background check

Texas law requires fingerprints on file with the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) for TREC. You’ll get an email with scheduling instructions once your application is in review. Fingerprints taken for another agency don’t count.

Step 5: Pass the state and national exam

The licensing exam is given by Pearson VUE and has two portions, national and state. TREC emails your exam instructions after it verifies your education. You must pass both portions before your application expires. If you fail a portion three times, you’ll need additional education before you can retest.

Step 6: Find a sponsoring broker

Once you meet every requirement, TREC issues your license as inactive. To practice, a licensed Texas broker must sponsor you, and the sponsorship request is completed in the REALM Portal. Then your license becomes active.

Choose a broker carefully. Ask how fees or commission splits work, what training you’ll get, and who will help on your first transactions. Under TREC rules, newer agents must receive coaching and assistance from an experienced license holder the first times they handle each new type of brokerage activity.

After you’re licensed: education for your first renewal

Texas licenses renew every two years. Before your first renewal, you must complete Sales Agent Apprentice Education (SAE):

• the 30-hour Real Estate Brokerage course;
• 60 more hours of qualifying education (for example finance, law, marketing, appraisal, investments, inspection, or property management); and
• 8 hours of TREC Legal Update I and II.

For later renewals on active status, you’ll complete 18 hours of continuing education: 8 hours of Legal Update I and II, 3 hours of contract-related coursework, and 7 hours of electives. Your license won’t renew until the required education is done. Details are on TREC’s renewal page.

How long it takes and what it costs

Timing depends mostly on how quickly you finish 180 hours of coursework, then on exam scheduling and background-check processing. Costs include tuition (set by each school), TREC’s application fee, fingerprinting, and the exam fee. Check TREC’s current fee schedule rather than older articles, because fees are updated from time to time.

Thinking about where to hang your license?

Clever Realtors is a virtual brokerage in Dallas–Fort Worth with flat brokerage pricing for eligible transactions and required coaching for activities that are new to you. See our fee structure and coaching policy, or read tips for your first year as a Texas agent.

Sources

• TREC: Become a Real Estate Sales Agent
• TREC: REALM Portal pre-licensing process
• TREC: Renew your sales agent license

This article is general information, not legal advice. TREC’s website is the official source for licensing requirements.