Education / Licensing
VAAR partners with The CE Shop and other entities to offer online real estate pre-licensing, post-licensing, and continue education courses. The CE Shop offers convenient online real estate courses that are written by industry experts. The CE Shop is approved by state regulatory agencies across the country to offer courses to the public.
Please use the links below to select the appropriate course for you.
Get Your Real Estate License
A sales agent is a person who is licensed by the Real Estate Commission to act as an agent on behalf of a real estate broker and their clients. A sales agent must be sponsored by a licensed Broker in order to perform any act of real estate services.
Qualifications
- Citizen of the United States or lawfully admitted alien
- 18 years of age or older
- Meet TREC’s qualifications for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity
- Consider requesting a Fitness Determination before applying for the license
180 classroom hours of the following qualifying real estate courses:
- Principles of Real Estate I (30 classroom hours)
- Principles of Real Estate II (30 classroom hours)
- Law of Agency (30 classroom hours)
- Law of Contracts (30 classroom hours)
- Promulgated Contract Forms (30 classroom hours)
- Real Estate Finance (30 classroom hours)
Find a qualifying education provider. Submit your course completion documents to TREC after applying online or with your paper application. After completing your course work, you are welcome to submit a course and instructor evaluation.
If you completed any of the above qualifying real estate courses through an accredited college/university for academic credit, submit a transcript for evaluation.
Real Estate License Renewal Requirements
Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) requirements for First Time Renewals
- If you are renewing for the first time, active or inactive, you must have a total of 270 qualifying real estate course hours, 4 hours of TREC's Legal Update I, and 4 hours of TREC's Legal Update II posted to your license record prior to submitting your renewal.
- If you have been made a supervisor by your broker, you must complete the 6-hour Broker Responsibility course to renew.
Active sales agent license renewal requirements
- Complete 18 hours of approved Continuing Education (CE) courses
- 8 hours of TREC Legal Update I and II
- 3 hours of contract-related coursework
- 7 hours of elective CE
- If you have been made a supervisor by your broker, you must complete the 6-hour Broker Responsibility course as part of your 18 hours of CE.
Active individual broker license renewal requirements
- Complete 18 hours of approved Continuing Education (CE) courses
- 8 hours of TREC Legal Update I and II
- 3 hours of contract-related coursework
- 7 hours of elective CE
- If you have sponsored one or more sales agents, served as the designated broker for a business entity broker that sponsors sales agents, or have been made a supervisor of other license holders, you must complete the 6 hour Broker Responsibility Course as part of your 18 hours of CE.
Appraiser Licensing Requirements
Appraiser Trainee
An Appraiser Trainee is a person who is authorized (approved, but not licensed) by TALCB to gain legal real estate appraisal experience under the supervision of a Certified General or Certified Residential Real Estate Appraiser.
If you are thinking about becoming a Certified or Licensed Residential Appraiser, the first step is to obtain an Appraiser Trainee Authorization. Through this designation and your training you’ll learn about the role of the appraiser and work alongside a supervising appraiser. Your supervisor will teach you appraisal practices and approved techniques for assembling information about the property, analyzing this data, and developing opinions of value.
Qualifications
- Citizen of the United States or a lawfully admitted alien
- 18 years of age or older
- 75 hours of qualifying appraisal education
- 4 hours the Board approved Appraiser Trainee/Supervisory Appraiser Course
- Meet TALCB’s qualifications for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity
Requirements
Find a Supervisor
- Find a certified appraiser to act as your supervisor.
Complete Qualifying Education
- 75 hours of qualifying appraisal education
- 4 hours the Board approved Appraiser Trainee/Supervisory Appraiser Course
All qualifying education must be completed not more than 5 years before the application date.
Appraiser Trainee to Licensed Residential Appraiser
Additional Education Requirements:
75 hours required to upgrade in addition to the 75 hours required for an Appraiser Trainee
- Residential Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use (15 hours)
- Residential Appraiser Site Valuation and Cost Approach (15 hours)
- Residential Sales Comparison and Income Approaches (30 hours)
- Residential Report Writing and Case Studies (15 hours)
Experience Requirements:
Provide 1,000 hours of acceptable and verifiable appraisal experience acquired over a minimum of 6 months. Experience may be acquired anytime during the appraiser's career when that person had legal authority to perform real estate appraisals. Appraisals must comply with USPAP.
Appraiser Trainee to Certified Residential Appraiser
Additional Education Requirements:
One of six college-level education requirements set out by the AQB AND
125 hours required to upgrade in addition to the 75 hours required for an Appraiser Trainee
- Residential Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use (15 hours)
- Residential Appraiser Site Valuation and Cost Approach (15 hours)
- Residential Sales Comparison and Income Approaches (30 hours)
- Residential Report Writing and Case Studies (15 hours)
- Statistics, Modeling and Finance (15 hours)
- Advanced Residential Applications and Case Studies (15 hours)
- Appraisal Subject Matter Electives (20 hours)
Experience Requirements:
Provide 1,500 hours of acceptable and verifiable appraisal experience acquired over a minimum of 12 months (1 year). Experience may be acquired anytime during the appraiser's career when that person had legal authority to perform real estate appraisals. Appraisals must comply with USPAP.
Appraiser Trainee to Certified General Appraiser
Additional Education Requirements:
A Bachelor’s Degree or higher from an accredited college or university AND
- General Appraiser Market Analysis and Highest and Best Use (30 hours)
- General Appraiser Sales Comparison Approach (30 hours)
- General Appraiser Site Valuation and Cost Approach (30 hours)
- General Appraiser Income Approach (Part I and II) (60 hours)
- General Appraiser Report Writing and Case Studies (30 hours)
- Statistics, Modeling and Finance (15 hours)
- Appraisal Subject Matter Electives (30 hours)(**may be satisfied with courses in Residential modules or overage hours taken for another required course)
Experience Requirements:
Provide 3,000 hours of acceptable and verifiable appraisal experience acquired over a minimum of 18 months (1 1/2 years) of which a minimum of 1,500 hours must be non-residential real property appraisal experience. Experience may be acquired anytime during the appraiser's career when that person had legal authority to perform real estate appraisals. Appraisals must comply with USPAP.
Real Estate Inspector License
A real estate inspector is a person who is licensed to perform an inspection of a property that is the subject of a real estate transaction. An inspector can work for either a buyer or seller and is required to follow a Standards of Practice, which provides the minimum standards an inspector must follow when inspecting a property. There are three levels of Real Estate Inspector Licenses.
Apprentice Inspector
An Apprentice Inspector is a person who is in training under the direct supervision of a professional inspector to become qualified to perform a real estate inspections.
You have one year from the date your application is filed to meet all license requirements. Once you have met all license requirements, TREC will send an active apprentice inspector license to you via email.
Qualifications
- Citizen of the United States or lawfully admitted alien
- 18 years of age or older
- Be sponsored by a professional inspector
- Meet TREC’s qualifications for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity
- Consider requesting a Fitness Determination before applying for the license
Real Estate Inspector
A Real Estate Inspector is licensed to perform a real estate inspection for a buyer or seller of real property but is required to do so under the indirect supervision of a Professional Real Estate Inspector.
You have one year from the date your application is filed to meet all education and experience requirements for a license.
Qualifications
- Citizen of the United States or lawfully admitted alien
- 18 years of age or older
- Be sponsored by a professional inspector
- Meet TREC’s qualifications for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity
- Consider requesting a Fitness Determination before applying for the license
Professional Real Estate Inspector
A Professional Real Estate Inspector is a person who is trained and qualified to perform real estate inspections and who accepts employment to perform a real estate inspection for a buyer or seller of real property. Professional inspectors may also supervise or sponsor Real Estate Inspectors and Apprentice Inspectors.
You have one year from the date your application is filed to meet all license requirements. Once you have met all license requirements, TREC will send an active professional inspector license to you via email.
Qualifications
- Citizen of the United States or lawfully admitted alien
- 18 years of age or older
- Meet TREC’s qualifications for honesty, trustworthiness, and integrity
- Consider requesting a Fitness Determination before applying for the license