Real Estate Agents in Texas: License Lookup and Verification Guide
How to verify a Texas real estate agent license through the official state record, plus the questions worth asking before you sign a representation agreement.
Anyone can call themselves a real estate professional. In Texas, only the Texas Real Estate Commission decides who actually holds a license, and its record is the only one that settles the question. Start there before you start comparing personalities.
Verify the license first
TREC publishes a license holder search that returns the credential type and status. TREC also publishes disciplinary actions separately, so a clean search result is worth pairing with a check of the enforcement records. You are checking three things: that the license exists, that it is active rather than expired or surrendered, and that the name on the record matches the person in front of you.
Questions that separate agents
Once the license checks out, the useful questions are the ones an agent cannot answer with a brochure:
- How many homes have you closed in this specific market in the last twelve months, not statewide?
- What is your average days on market compared with the local median, and can you show me the numbers?
- Who handles my listing day to day, you or a team member?
- How do you decide list price when the comparable sales disagree with each other?
- What does your marketing actually include once the listing goes live, beyond the portal syndication every agent gets?
Understand what you are signing
Representation agreements and compensation terms are negotiable. Since the 2024 changes to how broker compensation is handled in the United States, buyer agreements have to state compensation in writing before a buyer tours a home. Read the term length, the cancellation terms, and the compensation section closely. In Texas, the commission's own consumer material is a better reference for state disclosure rules than anything an agent hands you.
If something goes wrong
The Texas Real Estate Commission handles complaints against licensees in Texas. That is a meaningful backstop, and it is also a reminder that a license carries obligations an unlicensed advisor does not have.