How to Switch Real Estate Brokerages in Texas

Start with your agreement

Read your independent contractor agreement first. Look for notice periods, exit fees, and what happens to pending deals and referral fees. Ask your current broker questions in writing if anything is unclear.

From the field

An experienced Bauer Group agent who had been closing a handful of deals a year closed 3 deals in their first 5 months after moving over. Names are withheld.

This is one agent's result, not a promise or a typical outcome. Your results will depend on your effort, market and performance.

What stays and what moves

• Listings. TREC says listing agreements are private contracts between the property owner and the broker, not the sales agent. Active listings stay with your old broker unless that broker agrees to release them.
• Buyers. A buyer representation agreement is a legal, binding contract between the buyer and the broker. You can ask your current broker to release you and the buyer. TREC cannot force a release. If a release is refused, ask a private attorney.
• Commissions. TREC's FAQ says Commission Rule 535.3 lets you receive compensation through your current sponsoring broker, or through the broker who sponsored you at the time you earned the right to it. Ask both brokers how they handle commissions you earned before you moved, and get it in writing.
• Pending contracts. Deals already under contract are usually best closed through the broker you were with. Talk to both brokers before you move.

How the change works

Brokers and sales agents can request and accept sponsorship changes in TREC's REALM Portal. Once the sponsorship appears in REALM, it is effective, even if the public license search has not updated yet. TREC notes this usually takes a few hours.

After it is effective, update your IABS, list your new sponsoring broker on contracts, and advertise under the new broker.

A simple checklist

• Read your current agreement and list your pending deals and listings.
• Interview the new brokerage and get the fee schedule and agreement in writing.
• Decide what happens to each pending deal and ask for releases where needed.
• Have the new broker request sponsorship in REALM and accept it.
• Update your IABS, contracts, website, email signature, business cards and signs.
• Tell your clients what is changing and who to call.

The TREC sponsorship steps, and who does what

These steps come from TREC's published pages and rule text. Check the current versions before you act, because TREC updates its portal. The Cornell copy of the rule text we read may not be current.

Step 1. You tell your current broker in writing. TREC Rule 535.121 says that if a sales agent intends to terminate sponsorship, the agent must immediately notify the broker in writing and terminate the sponsorship through the online process the Commission approves.

Step 2. The old broker ends the sponsorship in REALM, TREC's portal, if it has not already been done. TREC's broker page says the broker finds the agent by license number, and that suffixes like -SA are case sensitive and must be capitalized. The same page says to allow 24 to 48 hours for the change to appear in the public license search. Under Rule 535.121, the effective date of a termination is the date the Commission receives the completed request.

Step 3. The new broker requests or accepts your sponsorship in REALM. TREC says brokers and sales agents can request and accept sponsorship changes in REALM.

Step 4. Confirm it shows correctly. TREC says that once the sponsorship appears correctly in REALM, it is effective, even if the license search has not updated yet. TREC says it can take a few hours.

Step 5. After it is effective, you may update your IABS, list the new broker on contracts, and advertise under the new broker.

Pending deals, listings and referral agreements

What happens to each item depends on the law and on your own agreement. Read your agreement first. It decides things TREC does not. This section describes the usual picture, not legal advice.

Listings usually stay. TREC's rule says listing agreements must be taken in the broker's name, and TREC says they are contracts between the owner and the broker, not you. Your old broker would have to release a listing for it to follow you.

Buyers usually stay too. TREC says a buyer representation agreement is a private contract between the buyer and the broker. The buyer may ask to be released. TREC cannot make the broker release the buyer, and says to ask a private attorney if a broker refuses.

Pending contracts usually close under the broker that was on the deal. Your agreement decides what you are owed. TREC's FAQ says Rule 535.3 lets you receive compensation through your current sponsoring broker, or through the broker who sponsored you when you earned the right to it. The payment goes through a broker. It does not come straight from the other agent or client.

Referral agreements are the grey area. TREC's FAQ says a referral fee can still be paid if the license was active when the referral was made, and that agents are paid through their sponsoring broker. Whether an old referral fee is owed to you, or to the old brokerage, is a contract question. Ask both brokers in writing.

Make a one-page list of every pending deal, listing, buyer agreement and referral. For each, write who the broker of record is, what your agreement says, and what the old and new brokers each said in writing.

A 30-day transition calendar

This is an original planning template from The Bauer Group. Move the dates to fit your agreement's notice period. Do not announce a move to clients before you understand your own agreement.

What to tell clients, and when

Clients under a contract with your old broker should hear about the move from you and from the old broker, in a way both of you agreed to. Do not ask a buyer to cancel an agreement on your own. Ask your current broker about a release, and ask your attorney if the answer is no.

People who are not under contract, like past clients and your sphere, can hear from you once your move is effective. Keep the message short: who you work with now, the same phone number if it did not change, and how to reach you.

Your marketing has rules too. TREC says its advertising definition covers all electronic media, including email, text messages and social media, and that the name of the license holder or team and the broker's name must appear in a readily noticeable place. Under Rule 535.155, the broker's name must be at least half the size of the largest contact information in the ad. TREC says alternate names, assumed business names and team names must be registered with TREC before use in advertising. Anything other than your license name or a registered alternate name is treated as a team name.

The same rule also says an ad for a listed property must be discontinued not later than 10 days after the listing agreement ends. If an old listing stayed with your former broker, do not leave your ad for it running under the new broker's name.

Also update the link to the Information About Brokerage Services form on your website homepage. TREC says to give it at first substantive contact with a party about a proposed transaction. See the new-agent guide on what school skips for more on IABS basics.

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.

How The Bauer Group fits

The Bauer Group is a Frisco, Texas brokerage welcoming licensed DFW agents. A short form and a first call come first. Terms are shared in writing.