The Texas Real Estate Commission’s Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) opened its first meeting of the year with a welcome to four new members. The new license holder members are Amanda Nichols and Thomas Carl Leatherman. The new education provider member is Cynthia Baas. The new public member is Rita Blevins. 

Officers Election

ESAC held elections and selected Bill Steddum, Jr. as chair, Byron Underwood as vice chair, and Michael Crowley as secretary.

As of January 2024, license holders have the option to register LLCs and S-Corporations (S-Corps) with TREC for the sole purpose of receiving compensation, as long as those entities meet certain requirements.

Where to Go to Register

Log in to the Online Licensing Services portal to access your account.

2024 marks 75 years of the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) and its work to protect consumers in their real estate transactions. As that new chapter soon opens, here are some highlights from the Commission’s efforts during the last 12 months.

Starting in January 2024, license holders will have the option to register certain LLCs and S-Corps with the Texas Real Estate Commission to accept compensation. The registered entity cannot perform any other brokerage activity and must be 51% owned by the license holder on whose behalf the entity receives compensation. Read more details about the new business entity registration.

The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) met November 6 for its final quarterly meeting of 2023. TREC Chair Scott Kesner recognized a group of license holders who attended to earn Continuing Education (CE) credit. This was the first opportunity to earn CE credit by attending a quarterly TREC meeting under a rule change adopted by the Commission in August. Previously, license holders could only earn credit by attending the February TREC Meeting.

As of now, the only way a license holder can receive compensation through a business entity is by obtaining a business entity real estate broker license. Effective January 2024, license holders will have the option to register LLCs and S-Corporations (S-Corps) with TREC for the sole purpose of receiving compensation, as long as those entities meet certain requirements.

The Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee (TREIC) met on October 16 for the final meeting of the calendar year. This meeting marks the last meeting for multiple members on the committee. Steve Rinehart, Shawn Emerick, Keisha Moulton, and Dave Motley have graciously volunteered their time to help make the inspection industry better. Their contributions have been extremely valuable and greatly appreciated.

The Texas Real Estate Broker-Lawyer Committee (BLC) met October 13 and continued discussing possible revisions to contract forms and recommended one new form for proposal.

Voluntary Notice to Purchaser of Special Taxing or Assessment District Form

Under Texas law, if a seller’s property is located in a water district, like a municipal utility district (MUD), the seller must provide a notice that includes certain specific information to the buyer prior to execution of the contract.

The TREC Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) met October 2 and discussed draft revisions to the Principles I and II course content. ESAC also discussed combining the Principles I and II courses into a single 60-hour Principles course and making this course a pre-requisite for the four additional pre-licensing courses. The committee asked staff to look into the feasibility of their recommendations and will continue discussion at the January 8, 2024 meeting.

Starting October 1, active license holders whose licenses expire will be set to inactive status as of the expiration date, and any license relationships to sales agents and/or brokers will be terminated.

If you late renew—up to six months after your expiration date—your license will be renewed on inactive status.

These changes were adopted during the May TREC Meeting.