Texas

Texas does not issue a “salesperson” license. The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) issues a sales agent license and a broker license. Using the wrong title on a TREC form is a small unforced error; treating Texas like a 60-hour salesperson state is a large one. Qualifying education is 180 classroom hours in six named courses — Principles I and II, Law of Agency, Law of Contracts, Promulgated Contract Forms, and Real Estate Finance — each 30 hours. Those promulgated forms are why a California DRE course transcript does not map onto TREC’s list, and why a Florida FREC I certificate is not a substitute.

The exam is Pearson VUE, split national and state. The candidate handbook TREC points to publishes 85 national questions in 150 minutes and 50 state questions in 90 minutes for sales agents, with passing scores of 56 and 28. Brokers sit a different split (60 / 38 on the current handbook). Fail three times and TREC requires additional education before another attempt. Fingerprints are not a generic Live Scan: TREC specifies an IdentoGO / IDEMIA channel at a published $37. The original sales-agent application fee on TREC’s December 15, 2025 schedule is $206; the original broker application is $308.

Sponsorship is the on/off switch. TREC will issue an inactive sales-agent license. You cannot practice until a broker sponsors you in TREC’s system. That is closer to California’s unemployed-salesperson model than to New York’s “broker first or no license” rule, and it is nothing like Florida’s post-license null-and-void trap.

The first renewal is where Texas licensees most often get caught. Sales Agent Apprentice Education (SAE) is 270 hours of qualifying education, including the 30-hour Real Estate Brokerage course and two 4-hour Legal Update courses, due at first renewal. After that, CE drops to 18 hours. People who treat SAE as “a few CE classes” lose the license. Broker applications on or after January 1, 2026 follow TREC’s 270 + 630 related-education structure and a 720-point / four-year experience grid. Texas has no compact with California DRE or New York DOS; an out-of-state license is not a waiver of the six named courses unless TREC’s current waiver rules say so for your file.