After Your Texas Real Estate License: SAE, Continuing Education and Renewal
Updated October 16, 2026 from Texas Real Estate Commission records.
A Texas sales agent license lasts two years. The first renewal is the demanding one: 98 more hours of education that cannot be deferred — if they are not done, the license expires. 20,909 active sales agents were licensed in the last two years, so that renewal is still ahead of them.
2 years
license term
renew every two years
98 hours
before first renewal
90 SAE + 8 Legal Update
18 hours
each renewal after
continuing education
11,958
expiring in 90 days
active sales agents, today
Your first renewal: Sales Apprentice Education
Agents renewing for the first time must complete:
- the 30-hour Real Estate Brokerage course;
- 60 more hours of qualifying education — two 30-hour courses chosen from Real Estate Finance, Real Estate Appraisal, Real Estate Law, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Math, Real Estate Investments, Residential Inspection for Real Estate Agents, and Residential Property Management;
- eight hours of TREC Legal Update I and Legal Update II.
TREC is blunt about the consequence: these hours cannot be deferred, and if they are not finished in time the license expires. It also will not grant credit for a course substantially similar to one you were credited for in the previous two years. A delegated supervisor must add the six-hour Broker Responsibility Course.
Every renewal after that: 18 hours
To renew active, complete 18 hours of approved continuing education: 8 hours of Legal Update I and II, 3 hours of contract-related coursework, and 7 hours of electives — with the six-hour Broker Responsibility course counted within the 18 if your broker has made you a supervisor. You may instead renew inactive without CE, but you cannot practise on an inactive license.
The renewal calendar
| When | What happens | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| About 90 days before expiry | TREC sends the renewal notice. You cannot renew until it arrives. | |
| At least 10 days before expiry | TREC's advice: finish CE by now so it can be processed | course prices |
| By the expiration date | Renew through the REALM Portal | $110 |
| Renewing active, CE unfinished | The CE Deferral Fee buys 60 more days; if CE is still unfinished, the license goes inactive. Not available with a late renewal | $200 |
| Up to 90 days late | Late renewal — the license renews inactive | $143 |
| 90 days to six months late | Late renewal, higher fee — renews inactive | $176 |
| Six months to two years late | Apply for reinstatement | $196 |
| More than two years late | Reapply and pass the exam again | start over |
From TREC's sales agent renewal page and fee schedule, read 20 September 2026. If you have never been fingerprinted for TREC, a renewal also requires fingerprints.
How often deadlines are missed
89,325 Texas real estate licenses currently sit in TREC's "expired less than six months" status — the late-renewal window in the table above. That is a grace category, not a count of people leaving the business: many renew late, pay the fee and carry on. It is evidence that renewal deadlines are missed at scale, and that the cost of missing one is a late fee and a stretch on inactive status, unable to practise. 11,958 active sales agents have a license expiring in the next 90 days.
If you are still on the way in, this is the part to budget for now: another purchase of education two years after the first, and a renewal fee every two years after that. The full cost, start to finish
Common questions
- What education do you need for your first Texas real estate license renewal?
- 90 hours of Sales Apprentice Education — the 30-hour Real Estate Brokerage course plus two other 30-hour qualifying courses — and eight hours of TREC Legal Update I and II. These hours cannot be deferred; if they are not complete, the license expires.
- How many CE hours does a Texas real estate agent need?
- 18 hours per renewal after the first to renew active: 8 hours of Legal Update I and II, 3 hours of contract-related coursework and 7 hours of electives.
- What happens if you renew your Texas real estate license late?
- Up to six months after expiry you can renew late — $143 within 90 days, $176 after — and the license renews on inactive status. From six months to two years you must apply for reinstatement ($196). After two years you must reapply and pass the exam again.