/Independent trade coverage
The trade record for transaction coordinators
Every figure on this site is attributed to a named primary source, dated, and corroborated where vendor data is involved.
Reference
Unlicensed assistant rules are the state-level provisions that determine which real estate activities a person without a licence may perform on behalf of a licensee. They are the rules that set the scope of practice for an unlicensed transaction coordinator, and they differ from state to state.
Written to be quoted. Each answer stands on its own.
It depends on the state and on what is said. Ministerial and administrative communication is generally treated differently from negotiating terms or advising on the transaction. California publishes a list of permitted and prohibited activities, Texas asks licensees to reason from TRELA and Rules 535.4 and 535.5, and Florida provides no single state page, leaving section 475.42 of the Florida Statutes as the governing authority.
No. There is no federal regulator, no national licence and no reciprocity for transaction coordination. The only formal credential is the California Association of REALTORS Certified Transaction Coordinator designation, which is a credential rather than a licence.
Use it for orientation only. The table carries a 2017 date, and state commissions have published guidance since. Any scope decision that matters should be checked against the current state regulator page and the statute or rule it cites.
California is the clearest of the three largest markets, publishing both a web page and a detailed PDF guide through the Department of Real Estate. Texas publishes conditional guidance grounded in statute. Florida has no equivalent single page.
9 stories filed under this tag.
House Bill 3137 adds a sixteenth ground for suspension or revocation: a managing principal broker who fails to exercise reasonable supervision and control. The written policy that duty requires now has to name how the office manages unlicensed assistants specifically, not just licensed staff.
The Real Estate Board's rewrite took effect on 1 April. What an unlicensed person may do now sits in a section of its own, 18VAC135-20-335, and the old line restricting pay to a rate not contingent on a transaction is gone. The Board gave no reason. The state association reads it as opening per-file pay.
Commissioner Steve Strode's column states plainly that the role 'does not exist in statute or rule' in Oregon. A stakeholder survey closed 10 July, and the agency says it will take the question to the Real Estate Board and may form a work group. In the meantime it has flagged two concrete risks: unwritten confidentiality terms, and coordinators who cross the state's one-business-name rule.
The Real Estate Commission revised Position 20 on 4 August. It names transaction coordinators directly, sets out what an unlicensed one may perform, and says pay contingent on a closing may raise a RESPA problem. The revision tracks HB26-1426, in force since 12 August, which requires a signed written agreement before any brokerage activity.
Client-touch campaigns are ordinary practice in this business. A TREC rule and a 2020 CFPB guidance note between them decide how much of one a coordinator can run, and who is allowed to pay for it.
Three specialist brokers describe the same claim profile: missed deadlines, missing signatures, the wrong version of a contract. One publishes a premium range. The market-size and premium-saving figures circulating alongside them are not sourced at all.
California publishes a checklist and a guide. Texas answers the question with 'it depends'. Florida has no single page at all, and the statute does the work instead.
NAR's state-by-state PDF is still the document handed to new coordinators. State regulators have published a great deal since it was written.
The Real Estate Bulletin posts in the middle of March, June, September and December. Winter 2026 is the current issue.