Agency & Brokerage

Texas has its own specific structure for handling one brokerage representing both sides of a deal — and it's tested separately from the general agency concepts on the national portion.

The intermediary relationship

When one Texas brokerage represents both the buyer and the seller in the same transaction, the broker generally becomes an intermediary — a distinct status under Texas law, with its own written-consent and conduct requirements, rather than simply "representing both sides" the way dual agency might be described more generally elsewhere.

Sponsoring broker supervision

Every active Texas sales agent works under a sponsoring broker, who carries legal responsibility for supervising the agent's real estate activities. An agent can't operate independently, and a license that goes inactive can't be used to practice real estate at all until it's reactivated.

Client vs. customer, Texas-style

The underlying distinction is the same as the national concept — a client gets full representation and fiduciary duties, a customer gets honesty and fair dealing without full representation — but Texas requires specific written disclosures at specific points in the relationship to make clear which one a party actually is.