How to switch brokerages in Texas.

1. Read your current independent contractor agreement

Before you tell anyone, reread your agreement with your current broker. Look for the notice period for leaving, what happens to commissions on pending transactions, any non-solicitation terms, who owns listings and client files, and any fees owed on departure.

Make a simple list of your pending transactions, active listings, and buyer clients under representation agreements. You’ll need it for the next steps.

2. Understand who owns listings and representation agreements

In Texas, listing agreements and buyer representation agreements are made with the broker, not the individual agent. When you leave, those agreements generally stay with your current broker unless the broker releases them and the client agrees. Plan your exit with this in mind and talk to your broker directly about any clients who want to follow you.

3. Know how commissions on pending deals get paid

TREC rules require that all compensation paid to a sponsored sales agent be paid by, through, or with the written consent of the sponsoring broker, and a sales agent may receive a commission only with the written consent of the broker who sponsored them when they became entitled to it (22 TAC §535.2). In practice, commissions on deals you wrote under your current broker are paid through that broker under the terms of your agreement.

4. End the sponsorship and have your new broker sponsor you

Under the Texas Occupations Code, when the relationship between a sales agent and their sponsoring broker ends, the party ending it must immediately notify both the other party and the Texas Real Estate Commission in writing, and TREC places the sales agent license on inactive status (Tex. Occ. Code §1101.367).

Your license returns to active status when your new broker files a request with TREC assuming sponsorship, with the required fee, before your license expires (same section). You may not practice while inactive, because a sales agent must be sponsored by a licensed broker to engage in brokerage (Tex. Occ. Code §1101.351). A good new broker files the sponsorship the same day you leave so the gap is as short as possible.

5. Move your MLS, association, and lockbox access

Update your office in your MLS and REALTOR® association (if you’re a member), and transfer your lockbox key account. Your new broker’s office manager can usually handle most of this with you on your first day.

6. Update your advertising the right way

Texas advertising rules require the broker’s name in your advertisements, displayed at least half the size of the largest contact information for any agent or team (22 TAC §535.155). Update your website, social profiles, email signature, business cards, and signs when your sponsorship changes, and stop advertising under your old broker’s name.

7. Tell your sphere, within the rules

Let your past clients and sphere know where you are, while honoring any non-solicitation terms in your old agreement. Your personal database is the most valuable thing you own, so choose a brokerage that puts in writing that it stays yours.

How JRE handles a move

We file your sponsorship with TREC the day you join, set up your portal, CRM, and email on day one, import your database so your history comes with you, and put in writing that your database stays yours. If you’re weighing a move, reach out and we’ll walk you through the timing for your pending deals confidentially.