Performance Programs Company's Essentials of Contract Law in Texas is a 30-hour qualifying education course designed to give Texas real estate license candidates a thorough working knowledge of the contracts, forms, and legal principles that govern residential real estate transactions in Texas.
The course covers 11 chapters organized to build understanding progressively. It opens with the regulatory framework of TRELA and TREC, the Texas Real Estate Broker-Lawyer Committee, the boundary between permissible brokerage activity and the unauthorized practice of law, and the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. Subsequent chapters address the legal concepts of land and property, the bundle of rights, forms of ownership including community property, freehold estates, and encumbrances.
The contract law chapters cover the six elements of a valid contract, contract status classifications, executory contracts and Texas Property Code requirements, performance, breach, and available remedies. The course then examines the full range of contracts used in Texas residential practice, including listing agreements, buyer representation agreements, leasehold estates, options, lease purchases, and contracts for deed.
Two chapters give the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Form 20-18) detailed treatment, including offer and acceptance, seller disclosure, lead-based paint obligations, and the major TREC addenda: Forms 39-10, 40-11, 41-3, 26-8, and 12-3. The financing chapters cover deed of trust mechanics, lien priority, conventional and government-backed loan programs, and the federal lending laws licensees encounter most often, including RESPA, TRID, Regulation Z, and ECOA. The conveyance and closing chapters address deed types, title insurance, the public recording system, and proration calculations. The final chapter focuses specifically on the common contract errors licensees make on Form 20-18.
Each chapter includes learning objectives, a Snapshot Review for exam preparation, and a case study with discussion questions and a full debrief.
Performance Programs Company sells other Texas prelicensing books including Principles of Real Estate Practice in Texas, Texas Real Estate License Exam Prep, Fundamentals of Agency in Texas, Texas Promulgated Contracts Practice, and more.
Mettling, Stephen: - For over forty years, Stephen Mettling has operated one of the nation's most successful custom training organizations specializing in real estate program development. Mr. Mettling has also served as vice president and author for a major real estate training and publishing organization. Under various capacities, he has managed the acquisition, development, and sale of national real estate textbooks and publications, as well as directed the country's largest affiliated group of real estate schools.Ryan Mettling, partner and publisher of Performance Programs, is an experienced online curriculum designer, author, and course developer.Dan Hamilton is recognized nationally as a real estate author, educator and broker. During a Texas career spanning over 25 years, he has owned and operated many brokerages and received numerous professional awards and honors. Dan has operated his own school of real estate and currently teaches courses throughout the state. He has served on the board of the national Real Estate Educators Association (REEA) and as President of the Texas Real Estate Teachers Association (TRETA).
