A plain-English walkthrough of the contract Texas agents use on more resale transactions than any other — what's inside it, how it relates to TXR 1601, and how licensed agents keep it moving without paperwork headaches.
TREC 20-19, formally the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), is the Texas Real Estate Commission's promulgated contract for buying and selling existing residential property — houses, duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes that are already built, whether vacant or occupied. It's the contract most Texas agents touch more than any other, and because TREC promulgates it, licensees cannot alter its substantive terms without risking an unauthorized-practice-of-law problem.
The current revision is dated 2026-05-04, and the full current form lives at /resources/forms/trec-20-19. Texas REALTORS® also publishes a reprint of this exact contract as TXR 1601 (rev 2024-11-04, at /resources/forms/txr-1601) — but the TREC original is the promulgated, authoritative, current version. When the two appear to differ on revision date, always confirm you're working from the current TREC-promulgated text before you send anything out for signature.
This form is specifically for resale residential property — it is not the right starting point for every transaction. TREC publishes separate promulgated contracts for other deal types: TREC 9-18 for vacant land (/resources/forms/trec-9-18), TREC 23-20 and TREC 24-20 for new construction that's incomplete or completed (/resources/forms/trec-23-20 and /resources/forms/trec-24-20), TREC 25-17 for farm and ranch property (/resources/forms/trec-25-17), and TREC 30-18 for resale condominiums (/resources/forms/trec-30-18). Reaching for 20-19 out of habit when the property is actually vacant land, new construction, or a condo resale is one of the most common — and most avoidable — mistakes newer agents make.
TREC 20-19 is organized into numbered paragraphs covering the parties and property description, sales price and financing terms, the option period and earnest money, title commitment and survey, the closing date, possession terms, and provisions for casualty loss and default. There's also a Special Provisions section reserved for deal-specific language that doesn't fit anywhere else in the form.
Because it's a promulgated form, agents generally aren't permitted to draft new substantive contract language into it — that's the boundary between licensed real estate practice and the unauthorized practice of law. Where a transaction needs terms beyond what the form and its standard addenda cover, that's the moment to loop in a real estate attorney rather than free-hand language into Special Provisions.
This guide is educational and doesn't substitute for legal advice on any specific transaction. If you or your client have questions about how a particular clause applies to your deal, TREC's own published guidance and a licensed Texas real estate attorney are the right resources — not a forum thread or a template from an old file.
TREC 20-19 rarely stands alone. Depending on financing, property condition, and negotiated terms, agents typically attach one or more current forms to fit the specific deal. Common companions include the Seller Financing Addendum (TREC 26-8 / TXR 1914), the Addendum for Seller's Disclosure of Information on Lead-Based Paint and Lead-Based Paint Hazards (TREC 56-0 / TXR 1906) on pre-1978 housing, the Seller's Disclosure About Groundwater and Surface Water Rights (TREC 61-0), and the Addendum for Sale of Other Property by Buyer (TREC 10-6 / TXR 1908) when the buyer's purchase is contingent on selling their current home.
The most frequent error is using an outdated copy — pulling a saved PDF from a prior deal instead of the current revision. Promulgated forms get updated, and working from a stale version can create compliance exposure for both the agent and the file. Always pull the current form from /resources/forms/trec-20-19 (or the equivalent current TXR 1601 reprint) rather than reusing an old template.
A second common mistake is treating 20-19 as a universal residential form. It covers resale one-to-four family property only — not new construction, not condos, not farm and ranch, not vacant land. Each of those has its own promulgated contract, and substituting language in 20-19 to make it 'work' for the wrong property type isn't correct practice.
A third is drafting custom legal terms directly into Special Provisions. Because TREC promulgates the form, that paragraph is meant for narrow, deal-specific items — not a workaround for substantive legal language that belongs in an attorney-drafted addendum.
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TREC 20-19, the One to Four Family Residential Contract (Resale), is used for the sale of existing residential property with one to four units. It's the TREC-promulgated contract form, and the current version is at /resources/forms/trec-20-19.
TXR 1601 is Texas REALTORS®' reprint of the same contract, currently dated rev 2024-11-04 (/resources/forms/txr-1601). The TREC-promulgated original at /resources/forms/trec-20-19 is the current, authoritative version — always confirm you're working from the current TREC text.
No. TREC publishes separate promulgated contracts for those deal types: TREC 30-18 for resale condos, TREC 25-17 for farm and ranch property, and TREC 23-20 or TREC 24-20 for new construction depending on completion status. Using 20-19 for the wrong property type isn't correct practice.
Because TREC 20-19 is a promulgated form, agents generally can't draft new substantive terms into it — doing so risks crossing into the unauthorized practice of law. Deal-specific needs beyond the standard form and addenda should go through a licensed real estate attorney.
Common pairings include the Seller Financing Addendum (TREC 26-8), the Lead-Based Paint addendum (TREC 56-0) on pre-1978 property, the Seller's Disclosure About Groundwater and Surface Water Rights (TREC 61-0), the Addendum for Sale of Other Property by Buyer (TREC 10-6), and termination notices like TREC 38-8 and TREC 50-0 when a contract falls through.
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Your sponsoring broker oversees compliance for every transaction you close, including which forms are used and how files are documented. RaiderX includes transaction and compliance management plus dedicated broker support as part of every sponsorship plan.
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