Transaction coordinator in Texas: costs, TREC rules and how to hire one

What does a transaction coordinator do on a Texas deal?

A Texas transaction coordinator runs the file from the executed contract to the funded closing. On most resale deals that contract is the TREC One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), form 20-19, revised in May 2026. The coordinator reads it, builds the deadline calendar from the Effective Date and keeps everyone moving toward the closing date in paragraph 9.

In practice that means getting the earnest money and option fee to the escrow agent, opening title, chasing the commitment and the survey, collecting the seller's disclosures and keeping the lender to the financing addendum. The coordinator also keeps the file complete for the broker. None of this is negotiation. In Texas that line matters more than in most states, because the license law draws it.

Does a transaction coordinator need a license in Texas?

Texas does not license transaction coordinators as a separate category. What a TC may do depends on whether they hold a real estate license. The Texas Real Estate Commission says so directly in its guidance on unlicensed assistants: the title on the business card doesn't matter, the license status does.

TREC lists what an unlicensed assistant can and can't do. They can enter data into a contract when a license holder specifically directs them to. They cannot review a contract or facilitate a transaction, and only license holders may solicit listings. Brokerage work without a license is a Class A misdemeanor in Texas, for the unlicensed person and for the agent who employs them. The penalty is a fine of up to $4,000, up to a year in jail, or both.

So a Texas agent hiring help has two honest options. Hire a licensed TC, sponsored by a broker, who can work the contract. Or keep an unlicensed TC on the administrative side of TREC's list, with a license holder reviewing every contract decision. Ask about license status before you send a single file.

Which Texas contract deadlines does a TC have to hit?

These are the dates a coordinator calendars on almost every TREC 20-19 file. Days are calendar days. Only the earnest money and option fee deadline rolls past a weekend or legal holiday. The rest fall where they fall.

The 5:00 p.m. cutoff catches agents who think a deadline runs to midnight. The financing addendum catches the rest. A buyer who terminates for financing under TREC 40-11 has to send the seller a copy of the lender's written statement giving the reasons, not just a notice. A Texas TC chases that letter before the Buyer Approval date, not on it. The contract deadline calculator counts TREC 20-19 days, and our guide to counting contract days by form walks through the rules.

What changed in TREC 20-19?

TREC 20-19 replaced 20-18 and became mandatory on July 1, 2026. The change a TC feels most is new paragraph 7I, the Seller's Disclosure About Groundwater and Surface Water Rights (TREC 61-0). TREC added it after the Sunset Advisory Commission told it to give buyers information about water rights.

The disclosure is now the default. The seller can skip it only when every statement in ¶7I(3) is true, such as knowing of no water well, pond or water tank on the property. If the buyer hasn't received it at signing, the seller delivers it within the days the parties write in. The buyer can then terminate for any reason within 7 days of receiving it, so the delivery date opens a second termination window that belongs on the calendar.

Who closes a home sale in Texas?

A title company does. The title company or its escrow officer is usually the Escrow Agent named in the contract. It holds the earnest money, issues the title commitment and runs the closing. Texas title insurance premiums are set by the Texas Department of Insurance, so buyers don't shop the premium itself. Texas has no state real estate transfer tax.

The survey runs through the title company too. Under ¶6C(1) the seller can furnish an existing survey with a T-47 Affidavit or T-47.1 Declaration. If the title company or lender won't accept it, the buyer orders a new one no later than 3 days before closing. Getting that answer early is one of the quieter ways a TC saves a closing date.

Which association and MLS will a Texas TC work with?

Texas REALTORS is the state association. It publishes the listing and buyer representation agreements its members use, and the annual Texas Real Estate Year in Review. The purchase contract itself is a TREC form, so it is the same across the state.

The MLS changes by region, and a TC working statewide needs logins or a partner in each:

• NTREIS covers Dallas–Fort Worth and North Texas. It is the largest MLS in Texas, with about 53,000 subscribers across Texas and Louisiana. MetroTex Association of REALTORS is a shareholder.
• HAR MLS, run by the Houston Association of REALTORS, covers greater Houston.
• Unlock MLS, owned by the Austin Board of REALTORS, covers Central Texas.
• LERA MLS is the San Antonio Board of REALTORS' system.

How busy is the Texas market a TC works in?

Texas REALTORS counted 335,390 home sales in 2025, up 1.3% on 2024, at a median price of $335,000. For the third quarter of 2025 it counted 33 days from contract to close statewide. That is the window a coordinator fills. Four metro areas carry most of the volume.

What is different in Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio?

Dallas–Fort Worth. The busiest market in the state runs on NTREIS. In December 2025 MetroTex reported homes taking 71 days to sell and another 32 days to close. Newer subdivisions can sit in a public improvement district, and ¶6E(7) makes the seller give the buyer the §5.014 Property Code notice.

Houston. HAR MLS is the system. Many Houston-area subdivisions sit in a municipal utility district. Chapter 49 of the Texas Water Code requires the seller to deliver, and the buyer to sign, the district notice before the contract is finally executed. A TC who finds a missing MUD notice after signing has a real problem to raise with the broker.

Austin. Inside Austin city limits, a home served by Austin Energy that is 10 years old or older falls under the Energy Conservation Audit and Disclosure ordinance. The seller has to give buyers the energy audit results at least three days before the option period ends. That date belongs on the calendar the day the contract is signed.

San Antonio. Listings run through LERA MLS. Homes in the San Antonio–New Braunfels area spent the longest on market of the four, 75 days in the third quarter of 2025, against 52 in Houston.

What does a transaction coordinator cost in Texas?

Most independent TCs charge a flat fee per file. One Texas-based TC company publishes $395 per side. Across the 21 price cards we checked nationally in October 2026, one side ran from $300 to $550, and most of them waive the fee when the deal doesn't close. An in-house TC is a salary instead. The TC fee per file calculator compares the two at your volume.

How do you hire a transaction coordinator in Texas?

Start with license status. Ask whether the TC holds a Texas license and who sponsors it, then match what you hand them to TREC's list of what an unlicensed assistant may do.

Then test them on Texas forms. A good Texas TC can tell you without looking it up that the option fee is due in 3 days, that the option period ends at 5:00 p.m. and what the financing addendum needs from the lender. Ask which MLS they work in, whether they charge when a deal falls through, and how they report status to you. Our transaction coordinator checklist is a fair test of how complete their process is.

Freelance TC, TC company or DeedSpring: which fits a Texas agent?

The table sets the usual options side by side. A good freelance TC is worth every dollar on a messy file. What most agents are really paying for, though, is someone who never misses a date and always chases the lender. Software does that on every file at once.

To see what the gap means across a year of files, put your numbers into the TC fee per file calculator.

Compare plans on the DeedSpring pricing page.