Property + Title
22%of exam
Value + Appraisal
9%of exam
Agency + Contracts
28%of exam
Practice + Disclosures
23%of exam
Finance + Math
12%of exam
TREC + Licensing
6%of exam
Quick Facts
- Exam
- Sales Agent
- Owner
- TREC
- Vendor
- Pearson VUE
- Scored
- 80 national; 40 state
- Pretest
- 5 national; 10 state
- Time
- 4 hours
- Pass
- 56 national; 28 state
- Education
- 180 classroom hours
- Attempts
- 3 before education
- Fee
- $43 sales exam
Homestead Limits
Urban 10; rural 100/200
Urban: 10 acresSingle: 100 acresFamily: 200 acres
Fixture vs Personal
Fixture
- Attached
- Real property
- Transfers with land
Personal
- Movable
- Bill of sale
- May be severed
Attached vs movable
Property Picker
- Attached item→Fixture(Real property)
- Tenant business item→Trade fixture(Remove timely)
- Annual crops→Emblements(Personal property)
- Use neighbor land→Easement(Nonpossessory)
- Unauthorized overlap→Encroachment(Survey issue)
- Title defect→Quiet title(Court action)
Property Basics
- Fixture
- Attached real property
- Trade fixture
- Tenant removable item
- Emblements
- Annual cultivated crops
- Attachment
- Personal becomes real
- Severance
- Real becomes personal
- Bill of sale
- Transfers personal property
- Situs
- Location preference
- Nonhomogeneity
- Every parcel unique
Ownership Estates
- Fee simple
- Maximum ownership
- Defeasible fee
- Conditional ownership
- Life estate
- Ends at death
- Bundle rights
- Possess/use/transfer/exclude
- Leasehold
- Possession without title
- Lien
- Claim against property
- Easement
- Use another land
- Encroachment
- Unauthorized intrusion
Title Recording
- Deed
- Transfers title
- Grantor
- Gives interest
- Grantee
- Receives interest
- Actual notice
- Direct knowledge
- Constructive notice
- Recorded knowledge
- Chain title
- Ownership history
- Cloud title
- Title defect
- Quiet title
- Court clears claim
Texas Special Topics
- Homestead
- Forced-sale protection
- Urban homestead
- 10 acres max
- Rural single
- 100 acres max
- Rural family
- 200 acres max
- Community property
- Marriage presumption
- Separate property
- Before/gift/inheritance
- DTPA
- Consumer deception law
- HOA resale
- Subdivision certificate
Value Elements
DUST creates value
DemandUtilityScarcityTransferability
Market Value vs Price
Value
- Probable amount
- Objective estimate
- Appraisal target
Price
- Actual amount
- Negotiated result
- Contract number
Estimate vs result
Value Concepts
- Market value
- Probable sale value
- Market price
- Actual sale amount
- Demand
- Buyer desire
- Utility
- Usefulness
- Scarcity
- Limited supply
- Transferability
- Clear ownership transfer
- Substitution
- Cheaper similar property
- Contribution
- Improvement value added
Appraisal Methods
- Sales comparison
- Similar recent sales
- Cost approach
- Land plus improvements
- Income approach
- NOI capitalization
- Depreciation
- Value loss
- GRM
- Price over rent
- GIM
- Price over income
- CMA
- Broker pricing tool
- BPO
- Broker value opinion
Fiduciary Duties
OLD CAR drives agency duties
ObedienceLoyaltyDisclosureConfidentialityAccountingReasonable care
Client vs Customer
Client
- Representation
- Fiduciary duties
- Advice allowed
Customer
- No representation
- Honesty owed
- No advocacy
Represented vs helped
Forms Picker
- Resale house→1-4 Family(TREC contract)
- Vacant lot→Unimproved(Land contract)
- Acreage sale→Farm/Ranch(Rural property)
- Condo unit→Condo resale(Unit contract)
- Change contract→Amendment(After signing)
- Add financing terms→Addendum(Special terms)
- Termination right→Option(Fee required)
Agency Duties
- Obedience
- Follow lawful instructions
- Loyalty
- Client first
- Disclosure
- Material facts shared
- Confidentiality
- Protect client information
- Accounting
- Track money/documents
- Care
- Competent performance
- Customer
- Honesty/fairness owed
- Client
- Fiduciary duties owed
Valid Contract
CLOAC makes contracts valid
Competent partiesLegal purposeOffer acceptanceConsideration
Intermediary vs Dual
Intermediary
- Texas term
- Written consent
- Broker represents both
Dual agency
- Generic term
- Avoid on exam
- Not Texas wording
Use Texas term
Contract Status
- Express
- Words create
- Implied
- Conduct creates
- Bilateral
- Promise for promise
- Unilateral
- Promise for act
- Executed
- Fully performed
- Executory
- Still pending
- Void
- No legal effect
- Voidable
- One party may cancel
Amendment vs Addendum
Amendment
- Changes existing contract
- After execution
- Both sign
Addendum
- Adds terms
- Attached form
- Special situation
Change vs add
Texas Forms
- Promulgated form
- TREC required form
- Resale contract
- One-to-four family
- Farm/ranch
- Acreage plus improvements
- Condo contract
- Unit resale
- Unimproved
- Vacant land sale
- Amendment
- Changes contract terms
- Addendum
- Adds special terms
- Option fee
- Termination right payment
Intermediary
- IABS
- Brokerage services notice
- Substantive dialogue
- Specific property talk
- Intermediary
- Broker represents both
- Written consent
- Required before intermediary
- Appointed licensees
- Separate party advice
- Dual agency
- Not Texas term
- Minimum services
- Required client services
- Broker responsibility
- Agent acts supervised
Lead vs Seller Disclosure
Lead
- Federal rule
- Pre-1978 housing
- EPA pamphlet
Seller
- Texas Property Code
- Known condition
- Resale homes
Federal vs Texas
Conduct Picker
- Specific property talk→IABS(Give early)
- Known defect→Disclose(Material fact)
- Client money→Broker trust(No commingle)
- Both parties→Intermediary(Written consent)
- Price fixing→Avoid(Antitrust)
- Consumer deception→DTPA risk(Treble damages)
Broker Practice
- Exclusive right
- Broker paid regardless
- Exclusive agency
- Owner sale exception
- Open listing
- Procuring broker paid
- Net listing
- Conflict risk
- Property management
- Operate leased property
- Trust account
- Broker controlled funds
- E&O
- Professional liability
- Antitrust
- No price fixing
Fair Housing
- Race
- Protected class
- Color
- Protected class
- Religion
- Protected class
- Sex
- Protected class
- National origin
- Protected class
- Disability
- Protected class
- Familial status
- Protected class
- Steering
- Illegal directing
Disclosures
- Seller disclosure
- Property condition notice
- Lead paint
- Pre-1978 federal disclosure
- MUD notice
- Utility district warning
- Flood notice
- Lease flood warning
- Licensed principal
- Disclose license status
- Agency disclosure
- First contact timing
- Material fact
- Must disclose
- Stigmatized property
- Often not material
Environmental
- CERCLA
- Cleanup liability
- SARA
- Superfund amendments
- Phase I
- Environmental site review
- Asbestos
- Older insulation hazard
- Radon
- Radioactive gas
- Mold
- Moisture-related hazard
- UST
- Underground storage tank
- Wetlands
- Development restrictions
Math Constants
Acre 43560; mile 5280
Acre: 43,560 sfMile: 5,280 ftPoint: 1%
Math Picker
- Loan ratio→LTV(Loan/value)
- Owner stake→Equity(Value-debt)
- Income property→Cap rate(NOI/value)
- Commission due→Price x rate
- Proration question→Given basis(360/365)
- Loan point→1%(Loan amount)
Finance Rules
- Lien theory
- Borrower holds title
- Title theory
- Lender holds title
- Deed trust
- Trustee power sale
- Primary market
- Loan origination
- Secondary market
- Loan resale
- PMI
- Conventional default insurance
- MIP
- FHA insurance premium
- TRID
- LE plus CD
Math Formulas
- Acre
- 43,560 square feet
- Mile
- 5,280 feet
- LTV
- Loan over value
- Equity
- Value minus debt
- NOI
- Income minus expenses
- Cap rate
- NOI over value
- Commission
- Price times rate
- Point
- 1% loan amount
National vs State
National
- 80 scored
- 5 pretest
- General law
State
- 40 scored
- 10 pretest
- Texas law
General vs Texas
TREC Powers
- TRELA
- Texas license law
- TREC rules
- Commission regulations
- Commission
- Nine appointed members
- Broker members
- Six licensees
- Public members
- Three consumers
- Penalty
- $5,000 per violation
- Recovery trust
- Consumer judgment fund
- Complaint
- TREC investigation trigger
TREC vs Pearson
TREC
- Licenses
- Rules
- Discipline
Pearson
- Schedules
- Administers
- Scores exam
Regulator vs vendor
License Path
- Age
- 18 or older
- Status
- Citizen/lawful alien
- Fitness
- Honesty/integrity review
- Education
- Six 30-hour courses
- Fingerprinting
- DPS/FBI check
- Eligibility
- One-year application window
- Inactive license
- Issued before sponsorship
- Sponsor
- Active broker required
Common Traps
Texas wording
Intermediary relationship ≠ Not dual agency
Compensation flow
Broker pays agent ≠ Client never pays agent
Funds handling
Broker trust account ≠ No agent escrow
Form choice
TREC promulgates ≠ Agents do not draft
Disclosure timing
IABS early ≠ Not at closing
Property status
Fixture transfers ≠ Personal may not
Value wording
Value is estimate ≠ Price is fact
Homestead sale
Most debts blocked ≠ Tax liens survive
Exam scoring
Pass each portion ≠ No combined average
Last Minute
- 1.Scored: 80 national; 40 state
- 2.Pass: 56 national; 28 state
- 3.State outline: Jan 1 2026
- 4.National outline: Mar 1 2025
- 5.180 hours: six courses
- 6.TREC licenses; Pearson tests
- 7.Broker sponsorship activates license
- 8.IABS before substantive dialogue
- 9.Intermediary needs written consent
- 10.Use TREC promulgated forms
- 11.Amendment changes; addendum adds
- 12.Acre equals 43,560 square feet
Buy on Amazon
Take courses on Udemy
Pre-licensing on ColibriSame family resources
Explore More Real Estate Salesperson
Continue into nearby exams from the same family. Each card keeps practice questions, study guides, flashcards, videos, and articles in one place.
More From This Family
Videos and articles for deeper review.
VideoHow to Get Your Texas Real Estate License in 2026: Complete GuideThis examVideo100+ FREE Real Estate Exam Questions 2026 + AnswersVideo11 States With Full RE License Reciprocity (2026)Video6 TREC Promulgated Forms Explained (2026 Exam Guide)ArticleHow to Get Your Texas Real Estate License in 2026: Complete Guide25 min readArticle100+ FREE Real Estate Exam Questions 2026 + Answers10 min readArticle11 States With Full RE License Reciprocity (2026)18 min readArticle6 TREC Promulgated Forms Explained (2026 Exam Guide)11 min read