Careers in Texas Real Estate

Now is the perfect time to get a career started in the real estate industry. The four largest cities in Texas have all been recognized as recession proof with unemployment rates dropping in all four and job growth increasing in Austin, Dallas and Houston. Remove the guesswork from trying to figure out how to get a real estate license and follow these easy steps to become licensed. For a s little as $700 you can get all the education needed to become licensed.

1. Complete required real estate educational courses

To meet the requirements for becoming a licensed Texas real estate agent, you will need a total of seven 30-hour (210 hours) real estate education courses. If you have a college degree, or TREC approved college credit, you will only need a total of five 30-hour (150) real estate education courses. There are four mandatory courses that have to be taken to meet your educational requirements. These courses are as follows:

Law of Agency
Law of Contracts
Principles of Real Estate I
Principles of Real Estate II

If you need 210 hours of real estate education courses, you will need to select an additional 3 elective courses to meet your requirements. If you need 150 hours real estate education courses, you will need to select one additional elective course to meet your requirements.

2. Send Certificates and the Evaluation of Education Document form to the Texas Real Estate Commission

After completing all of your real estate educational courses, you will send a copy of your certificate from each course, a copy of your official college transcript (if applicable), and the Evaluation of Education Documents form to the Texas Real Estate Commission. You will need to include a $30 check or money order payable to TREC. At this time you will want to begin researching brokerage firms to identify which company you think you would best work with.

3. Submit your Inactive Salesperson Application to the Texas Real Estate Commission

Once you have received a letter from TREC stating that you have met all of the educational requirements to become licensed, you will then submit the Inactive Salesperson Application online at www.trec.state.tx.us or by mail along with $104.50 check or money order payable to TREC. Once the application is submitted it normally takes between 7-10 business days for TREC to approve. If applying online, your application is normally approved in 2-3 business days. At this time you will also want to download your FAST Print pass for your fingerprinting. You can get this pass by using the nine-digit number from your Education approval letter that you received from TREC.

4. Receive Your Letter from the State & Schedule Your State Exam

Once you receive your approval letter and the "Candidate Information Brochure" (CIB) from TREC, you must schedule to take your exam with PSI Examination Services. Appointments can be made by calling (800) 733-9267 or visiting www.psiexams.com. The cost is $59 payable to PSI. You must pass the exam with a 70% or higher, and you will know if you have passed the exam before you leave the testing center. NOTE: You must pass the state exam within 6 months of the application approval.

5. Take the State Exam at PSI

The state exam is divided into a National and State section and will consist of 110 questions. You will have a total of 2.5 hours to complete the exam. On the National portion there will be 80 questions and you will have 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete this section. On the State portion of the exam there are 30 questions and you will have 45 minutes to complete this section. Your exam grade will be give to you before you leave the testing center.