Advising

ACC Fest 2018

 

What is the first step toward your career in selling real estate?

For a student who is prepared for and committed to doing the work, our 18-credit-hour Real Estate Licensing Certificate is a fast way to prepare to obtain a Texas license to become a Real Estate agent. When you obtain that license, you can apply to start a career as a professional advisor to potential buyers making one of the largest financial decisions of their lives. As an agent for your clients, you must be very well-prepared to guide people away from the various pitfalls that can occur. Please take every part of this education seriously.

To help students prepare for a career in Real Estate, we have a Real Estate Club. Its purpose is to further the Austin Community College student body’s knowledge about real estate as an industry and as a career. We are committed to providing our members with as much information and knowledge about the real estate industry as we can with the resources that we have access to.

What is the second step toward this career?

Real Estate Agents must work under the supervision of a Real Estate Broker.  The brokers who are hiring agents will be looking for applicants who are well-educated and very thorough and careful in their work.  Every professional interaction you have will have some impact on your own professional reputation and the reputation of your Real Estate Broker.

What is the next step?

Thoroughly review the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) qualifications and requirements to Become a Real Estate Sales Agent.
Note – As part of the application process (“Submit Your Qualifying Education” step), you must request ACC to send your official transcript to TREC.

In preparation for the Texas Real Estate Licensing Exam, we offer to our Real Estate students a free Exam Prep Workshop at the end of each semester.

With a solid foundation of:

  • good understanding of the five mandatory courses to take the licensing exam
  • excellent background knowledge of Finance, Marketing or additional Real Estate courses
  • structured exam preparation such as our Exam Prep Workshop

the passing rates for ACC students’ first attempt of the Texas Real Estate Licensing Exam are higher than other providers of Real Estate education in Texas.

 

 

ACC Fest 2018 - Student Visiting Department Table

Real Estate Licensing Certificate

Comprised of two components: 1. Five mandatory courses that are required for the Texas Real Estate Licensing Exam and 2. Two restricted electives to provide you with additional useful expertise in areas such as Finance, Marketing, Real Estate.

 

1. Texas Real Estate Licensing Exam

A minimum of 180 classroom hours of Real Estate instruction, comprising of five mandatory courses, is required for the Texas Real Estate Licensing Exam. To earn credit, you must attend 90% of the class hours and pass the required exams.

The following table shows the five mandatory courses and their tuitions and fees, which do NOT include the costs of books. Students must purchase books for these courses separately. For more information on tuitions and fees, please visit the Tuition Table.

 
Course In-District Texas Student Out-of-District Texas Student
     
RELE 1406 – Principles of Real Estate
(Combined of RELE 1201 – Principles of Real Estate and RELE 1238 – Principles of Real Estate II)
$340 $1,144
RELE 2201 – Law of Agency $170 $522
RELE 1211 – Law of Contracts $170 $522
RELE 1200 – Real Estate Contract Forms and Addenda (TREC Promulgated Contracts) $170 $522
RELE 1219 – Real Estate Finance $170 $522
     
Total $1020 $3232

 

These five mandatory courses will give students the knowledge to pass the TREC exam.
Note – In preparation for the Texas Real Estate Licensing Exam, we offer to our Real Estate students a free Exam Prep Workshop at the end of each semester.

For complete information on qualifications and requirements, refer to TREC’s Become a Real Estate Sales Agent.

As a Real Estate Sales Agent, you must renew your license every two years.

 

2. Restricted Electives

Select two restricted electives from the following list to provide you with additional useful expertise.

  • Finance courses – BUSA 1313, BUSG 1303, BUSG 1304, BUSG 1341, RELE 1324
  • Marketing courses – BMGT 1347, BUSI 1311, COMM 2327, MRKG 1301, MRKG 1302, MRKG 1311, MRKG 1313, MRKG 1391, MRKG 2312, MRKG 2333, MRKG 2348, MRKG 2349, MRKG 2371, MRKG 2375, MRKG 2388
  • Real Estate courses – RELE 1303, RELE 1307, RELE 1309, RELE 1311, RELE 1315, RELE 1319, RELE 1321, RELE 1325, RELE 1327, RELE 1333, RELE 1391, RELE 2301, RELE 2331, RELE 2367

 

Real Estate Brokerage Licensing Degree

Students must complete 270 classroom hours of qualifying real estate courses, including the following mandatory courses:

RELE 2331 – Real Estate Brokerage must be completed NOT more than two years before the application date.

An additional 630 classroom hours in related qualifying courses acceptable to the Commission or approved Continuing Education (CE) courses. A bachelor’s degree or higher from an accredited college or university satisfies all of the related education requirements for a broker license. A copy of the college transcript awarding the degree must be submitted as evidence of completion of the degree.

Candidates for a broker license must also meet the following experience requirements:

  • Have at least four years of active experience as a licensed real estate sales agent or broker during the 60-month period preceding the filing of the application
  • Your experience must total 3600 points and be reported on the Qualifying Experience Report for a Broker License. You must also include a transaction identification list for each transaction claimed on the experience report.

For complete information on qualifications and requirements, refer to the TREC’s Become an Individual Real Estate Broker.

As a Real Estate Broker, you must renew your license every two years.

 

 

Texas has only two real estate licenses: a Broker license and a Sales license. If you hold either license you can perform all real estate activities for which a license is required. The difference between the two licenses is that a holder of a sales license can only perform real estate activities under the sponsorship (and supervision) of someone who holds a broker license.

In Texas, you must be at least 18 years of age, a Texas resident, demonstrate integrity, satisfy the educational requirements, and pass a state examination to receive a license, which is administered by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC).

Texas House Bill HB 1508 – For students in Real Estate courses who may have a criminal background, please be advised that the background could keep you from being licensed by the State of Texas.  If you have a question about your background and licensure, please speak with your faculty member or the department chair. You also have the right to request a criminal history evaluation letter from the applicable licensing agency. Will Your Criminal Record or Disciplinary History Keep You from Getting Licensed?

Qualifying Education

Students must complete Qualifying Education for Real Estate Sales Agent or Individual Real Estate Broker, where the courses and institution are certified by TREC. Students are encouraged to consult with TREC for the lists of Approved Education Providers and Courses.

ACC Real Estate College Credit Program is certified to offer Qualifying Education and below are the certification letters for those credit courses:

RELE 1200 – Real Estate Contract Forms and Addenda (2-2-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 1201 – Principles of Real Estate (2-2-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 1211 – Law of Contracts (2-2-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 1215 – Property Management (2-2-0) and RELE 1315 – Property Management (3-3-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 11/30/27 – Meets Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) Requirements

RELE 1219 – Real Estate Finance (2-2-0) and RELE 1319 – Real Estate Finance (3-3-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 1225 – Real Estate Mathematics (2-2-0) and RELE 1325 – Real Estate Mathematics (3-3-0), Classroom, and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 1238 – Principles of Real Estate II (2-2-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 1303 – Real Estate Appraisal (3-3-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 11/30/26 – Meets Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) Requirements

RELE 1307 – Real Estate Investment (3-3-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 11/30/26 – Meets Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) Requirements

RELE 1309 – Real Estate Law (3-3-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 11/30/26 – Meets Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) Requirements

RELE 1321 – Real Estate Marketing (3-3-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 1391 – Special Topics in Real Estate (3-3-0), Real Estate Agent Jumpstart, Classroom and Online, Expires 06/30/27 – Meets Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) Requirements

RELE 1406 – Real Estate Principles (4-4-0) – Combine of RELE 1201 – Principles of Real Estate (2-2-0), Classroom and Online, and RELE 1238 – Principles of Real Estate II (2-2-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 2201 – Law of Agency (2-2-0) and RELE 2301 – Law of Agency (3-3-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 03/31/25

RELE 2331 – Real Estate Brokerage (3-3-0), Classroom and Online, Expires 09/30/24 – Meets Sales Apprentice Education (SAE) Requirements

 

1. Do I need to take Real Estate Math?

The main point of the Real Estate Math course is for students to review enough of their high school math to confidently and correctly do the computations relevant to real estate transactions.

You will demonstrate your proficiency in Real Estate math on the licensing exam, and TREC publishes a “study guide” for that. Mastering Real Estate Math Updated, 8th Edition, by Kukla (ISBN 9781475446562)     That book is the text for our RELE 1325, Real Estate Mathematics.

Many students already have a strong enough background that they need little review in order to be able to do these types of problems.  All students planning to take the licensing exam should purchase that study guide and go through it.   (For that matter, keep it as part of your library when you are a Real Estate Agent, in case you might need to refer to it at times.)

If you feel confident that you are able to do these types of problems without studying it in a course, then you can ask, and we will approve, substituting a different Real Estate course for that in the Real Estate Associate degree plan.   We recommend one of these, but can substitute others:  MRKG 1391 Special Topics Social Media/Digital Marketing and/or MRKG 2312 E-Commerce Marketing.  Both courses are excellent for Realtors and Brokers who want to learn how to market their properties and learn how to promote your business on social media.

For complete details, please review this Real Estate Math document.

2. Are D's acceptable as a passing grade in the degree plan for graduation purposes?

For the 2021 catalog, and subsequent catalogs, the college declared that D’s would not count for graduation credit.

A student may appeal to the Department Chair of their program for a particular D to be counted. To allow a D to count for graduation credit, it must be agreed upon by the relevant Dean and Department Chair.

However, the only reason a student might be legitimately considered has to do with whether they are eligible to graduate under a catalog when D’s were allowed to be counted for graduation.  The 2020 catalog is the last year D’s were allowed to be used in the degree plan for graduation. The 2020 catalog will expire in fall of 2024 so a student would need to graduate by summer 2024 to use the 2020 catalog (and have been enrolled in credit courses at ACC during the time of 2020 catalog.)

3. What if I failed the TREC Exam? What if I failed the TREC Exam three (3) times?

 

There are two parts to the Texas Real Estate License Exam, this includes the National and the State portion. If a student fails one or more portions of the exam, they may retake it up to three times. Note that test takers only have to retake the portion of the exam that they failed.  After the third failure, the student must retake one pre-licensing test for each portion they take. For example, if a student passes the national portion and fails the state three times, they will retake their choice of one of the pre-licensing courses. If they have failed both the state and national portion three times, then they would need to take their choice of two of the pre-licensing courses.

Pre-License Courses:

RELE 1406 – Real Estate Principles

RELE 2201 – Law of Agency

RELE 1211 – Law of Contracts

RELE 1200 – Real Estate Contract Forms and Addenda

RELE 1219 – Real Estate Finance

 

RETAKING THE EXAM

The source of this information is on page 7 of the Candidate Handbook at https://home.pearsonvue.com/getattachment/13b8b731-89d0-4e94-8e61-95bdaaef21cc/Texas

Candidates who fail the examination will receive a score report that includes a numeric score and diagnostic information relating to the failed portion of the examination, as well as information about re-examination. Candidates who fail need to retake only the portion of the examination they failed, as long as they do so within one year from the date the application was filed with TREC.

Reservations for re-examination cannot be made at the test center, and candidates must wait twenty-four (24) hours before scheduling. The fee of $43 for a Sales examination or of $39 for a Brokers examination must be paid at the time of reservation by credit card, debit card, or voucher. Payment will not be accepted at the test center, nor will a single payment that covers more than one candidate be accepted.

Candidates have three attempts to pass both portions of the examination prior to the application expiration date. If the examination is failed three times, the candidate is unable to retest or submit a new application until additional qualifying real estate education is completed as follows: Thirty (30) hours for an applicant who fails either the national or state part of the examination; and sixty (60) hours for an applicant who fails both parts of the examination. After completion of the additional education, the course completion document(s) and a copy of the third failed score report must be submitted to TREC at [email protected]. Allow 5-7 business days for the education to be processed and authorization submitted to Pearson VUE to allow rescheduling. If the application expires, candidates may reapply for licensure and meet current requirements.

 

 

* Google Translations are provided only for your convenience. *
Please contact the department if you have any questions.

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