Parking your license in Texas: your real options.

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By Kasey Jorgenson, designated broker, Jorgenson Real Estate · January 10, 2025 · Updated October 3, 2026

The short version: If your broker is a REALTOR, NAR’s dues rule means you’ll effectively have to join the board, Texas REALTORS, and NAR. A Limited Function Referral Office (LFRO) is the exception: referral-only licensees don’t pay association dues, but they can’t list, sell, or use the MLS, and they still need CE. Going inactive skips CE, but you can’t earn new referral fees.

I see agents asking all the time about “parking” their license somewhere with low or no fees. Maybe you’re taking a break, changing careers, moving, or just not selling right now, but you don’t want to lose your license or the referral income from the people who still call you. Here are your real options in Texas, and what each one costs you.

First, the rules that apply no matter what

• To earn anything, you need an active, sponsored license. A sales agent can’t engage in brokerage (and a paid referral counts) unless sponsored by a broker and acting for that broker (Tex. Occ. Code §1101.351).
• Referral fees are paid through your broker. You can only be paid by your sponsoring broker, or the broker who sponsored you when the fee was earned (Tex. Occ. Code §1101.651; 22 TAC §535.3).
• Active means CE. An active sales license still needs TREC continuing education to renew, currently 18 hours every two years, including Legal Update I and II.

Option 0: Just go inactive

You can put your license on inactive status and renew it without CE (unless you’re still in your first license term). The catch: you can’t earn new referral fees while inactive. TREC will let you collect a fee for a referral you made while you were still active, but nothing new.

Option A: A low-fee brokerage whose broker is a REALTOR®

This is where most “cheap” brokerages land, and here’s the part people miss. Under NAR’s bylaws, when the broker is a REALTOR®, the broker (the “Designated REALTOR®”) owes dues for every licensee affiliated with them who isn’t a member. In Austin, the board bills $448 for each unreported non-member agent, and paying it doesn’t even make that agent a member. So in practice, the broker requires you to join the local board, Texas REALTORS®, and NAR.

Your cost: whatever the brokerage charges, plus local, state, and national dues, plus MLS fees if you want access. The upside: you can still do everything, including list, sell, and use the MLS.

Option B: A Limited Function Referral Office (LFRO)

An LFRO is NAR’s exception to that dues rule. It’s a separate legal entity, owned by a REALTOR®, that holds the licenses of agents who only make referrals. Because those licensees do nothing but refer, they aren’t counted in the Designated REALTOR®’s dues, and they don’t have to join the board, Texas REALTORS®, or NAR.

The tradeoffs are real:

• Referrals only. Period. NAR’s policy says LFRO licensees can’t list, sell, lease, rent, manage, counsel, or appraise property under any circumstances. That includes your mom’s house.
• No MLS access.
• Step outside the lines and the dues come due. If a licensee does anything beyond referrals, NAR’s waiver is revoked and the broker owes the dues.
• You still need CE to keep the license active.
• Coming back is easy: when you’re ready to sell again, a full-service broker sponsors you and you’re back in business.

Option C: A broker who isn’t a REALTOR®

A brokerage owned by someone who isn’t a REALTOR® and isn’t affiliated with the associations can set its own terms, within TREC’s rules. There aren’t many of these, and you’ll generally give up MLS access along with the dues.

Which one fits?

• Still selling, just want lower costs: Option A.
• Not selling, but people still ask you for an agent: Option B. Keep the license active and get paid for the introductions.
• Completely out for a while and don’t want CE: go inactive, and know that referrals stop paying.

Where Varde Group fits

A few years ago I set up Varde Group, a referral-only home for team members who moved away or changed careers but still wanted to keep their license active. It isn’t a member of any REALTOR® association or MLS, so there are no association dues and no MLS fees. It’s $50 a year, you keep 95% of every referral fee, and you can refer buyers and sellers anywhere in the U.S. The full terms are on vardegroup.com. There are other referral-only brokerages around town and around the state, too.

General information, not legal advice. TREC says I can’t practice law, and I like my license. Run your specific situation past your broker or a real estate attorney.

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