First-Year Budget for a New Real Estate Agent (With a Worksheet)

You are a business now

Most agents are independent contractors. NAR reported that 87 percent of members were independent contractors in its 2025 profile. That usually means no regular paycheck and no employer paying your costs. Check your own agreement with your brokerage.

Income usually arrives at closing, which can be months after you start. Your costs start on day one.

One-time costs to price out

• Qualifying courses (TREC requires 180 classroom hours, six 30-hour courses). Prices vary by school, so get quotes.
• Application, exam and fingerprinting fees. TREC's fee schedule effective September 1, 2026 lists $206, $58 and $37. Check TREC for current amounts.
• Your first set of business basics: business cards, a basic website or profile, a headshot.
• Any onboarding fee at your brokerage. Ask for the full list in writing.

Monthly costs to price out

• MLS and association dues.
• Brokerage fees, if any. Ask about desk, technology and transaction fees.
• E&O insurance, if your brokerage requires it or you choose it. Rules for individual agents are not clear from TREC licensing pages, so ask your broker what coverage applies to you.
• CRM and tools.
• Phone, internet and a car.
• Marketing and lead costs, if you choose to buy them.
• Education after licensing. Your first renewal needs 98 hours, and later renewals need 18 hours of continuing education. Check TREC for current rules.

Taxes

As an independent contractor you usually handle your own taxes, including self-employment tax. Talk to a CPA before your first closing so you know what to set aside. This guide is not tax advice.

The runway worksheet

Write down: (A) total monthly personal living costs, (B) total monthly business costs, (C) one-time costs. Then runway = (A + B) x number of months you want covered + C.

Illustration with round numbers (not a real budget): living costs $3,000, business costs $600, one-time costs $2,500. For six months: ($3,000 + $600) x 6 + $2,500 = $24,100.

If that number is scary, it is useful. You can shrink it by keeping another job at first, choosing a brokerage with low fixed fees, or starting with sources that cost little, such as your own network.

Track what you spend per closing

After your first few closings, divide total costs by closings. That shows you whether each lead source is worth keeping.

Government fees, with a date

These amounts come from the TREC fee schedule effective September 1, 2026. TREC can change them, so check the current schedule before you pay.

Education costs that come after you are licensed

Your first renewal needs 98 hours of sales agent apprentice education: a 30-hour brokerage course, 60 hours of qualifying courses and 8 hours of Legal Update. Later renewals need 18 hours of continuing education. TREC says the first-renewal hours cannot be deferred.

Put the cost of those hours in a month near renewal, not only in month 1. Rule (original): add a line to your budget called renewal month, and put the renewal fee plus any unpaid course tuition in it. Course prices vary by school, so get quotes. The first 90 days guide has a planning grid for the 98 hours.

Costs that nobody quotes you up front

Use this table to collect real numbers. A blank in the last column means you have not asked yet.

What NAR medians say about your cushion

NAR's 2026 Member Profile reports median business expenses of $9,530 in 2025, up from $8,010 the year before. Vehicle costs were the largest category. NAR also reports median gross income of $8,000 for members with two years or less in the business, and $59,200 across all members.

A median is the middle value across many different members. Half were below it and half above. It is not a forecast for you, and gross income is before expenses and taxes. The numbers do show two things. Costs are real, and early income can be small. That is why a runway matters. Read more in how much new agents make.

Taxes: what the IRS publishes

The IRS says self-employment tax is 15.3 percent, made up of 12.4 percent for Social Security and 2.9 percent for Medicare. You file Schedule SE if your net self-employment earnings are $400 or more. You may also owe estimated tax payments during the year.

Whether you are an independent contractor depends on the facts of your work, so your CPA should confirm your status. Ask the CPA how much to set aside from each closing, and keep mileage and receipts from day one. This is not tax advice.

Check your runway every month (original)

Your runway is how many months you can pay all your costs with the cash you have set aside. Once a month, divide your cash on hand by your monthly business costs plus your monthly living costs. The answer is your months left if no income arrives.

Example with made-up numbers: $14,400 set aside, $600 in business costs and $3,000 in living costs each month. That is $14,400 divided by $3,600, which gives 4 months. Keep the number in view. A falling runway is a signal to act while you still have choices.

Decision rule: set two lines in advance. At 3 months left, review every cost and pause optional ones. At 2 months left, talk to your broker and your family about extra income, such as part-time work, before the cash is gone. Choosing the plan early is easier than choosing it under pressure.

Break-even worksheet (original)

Use your own numbers. The example is made up and is not a forecast or a typical result.

How to use the result

• If line E feels out of reach for your first year, lengthen the runway, keep other income longer, or lower fixed costs.
• Review actual spending every month. Drop any tool you did not use in the last 30 days.
• Before you buy any lead source, write down the most you can lose on it. Stop when you reach that number unless the cost per closing says otherwise.
• Compare your own total with the DFW cost guide.

Check before you rely on this

This guide reflects the sources named below, read in early October 2026. Fees, rules, forms and market numbers change, and some details here may already be out of date.

Confirm anything that affects your money, your license or a contract with the source itself, such as TREC, the National Association of Realtors, your local association or your sponsoring broker. If something looks different from what you find, trust the source and let us know. This guide is general information for licensed agents and people becoming agents. It is not legal, tax or financial advice.