Every Realtor is a licensed real estate agent, but not every real estate agent is a Realtor. The difference is membership: “Realtor” is a trademarked title owned by the National Association of Realtors (NAR), and only licensed agents who join NAR, pay its dues, and agree to its Code of Ethics can use it. The state license is what legally lets someone represent you in a transaction. The Realtor title is a private professional credential layered on top.
The License Is the Baseline
Anyone who helps buy or sell property for compensation needs an active real estate license from the state they work in. That license is what gives a person the legal authority to show homes, write offers, and guide a transaction to closing. Practicing without one is a criminal offense in most states.
Getting licensed means completing pre-licensing coursework (roughly 40 to 180 classroom hours depending on the state), passing a state exam covering national real estate principles and state-specific rules, clearing a criminal background check that usually includes FBI fingerprinting, and activating the license under a supervising broker. Coursework covers property law, contracts, financing, and agency relationships.
Licensure isn’t permanent on its own. States require continuing education for each renewal, ranging from 12 to 90 hours depending on the state and whether it’s a first renewal or a later one. Common required subjects include fair housing law, agency relationships, and ethics. Renewal cycles run from one to four years. A lapsed license means no legal authority to represent clients, and any deal closed in the gap exposes the agent to criminal penalties and civil liability.
Everything above is true for every real estate agent in the country, Realtor or not. It’s the floor.
What the Realtor Title Adds
“Realtor” isn’t a license level and isn’t issued by any government. It’s a trademark owned by NAR, a private trade organization. To earn it, a licensed agent or broker joins NAR through a local association, which automatically enrolls them in the state and national organizations as well.1National Association of REALTORS®. How to Become a REALTOR Membership requires an active license and a clean disciplinary record.
Members pay dues. NAR’s national dues are $156 per member for 2026.2National Association of REALTORS®. How NAR Membership Dues Help REALTORS to Succeed State and local chapter dues sit on top of that, so total annual costs typically land somewhere between $300 and $800. In exchange, members get access to the Multiple Listing Service (MLS), proprietary transaction forms, market data tools, and continuing education programs, including specialty designations such as the Accredited Buyer’s Representative for agents focused on representing buyers.3National Association of REALTORS®. Accredited Buyers Representative ABR
The Code of Ethics
The most consequential thing a Realtor agrees to is NAR’s Code of Ethics, which contains 17 articles covering honest advertising, conflicts of interest, cooperation between competing agents, and more.4National Association of REALTORS®. 2026 Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice Several of its requirements go further than state law. The Code demands that members disclose any personal interest they hold in a transaction and avoid exaggerating or concealing material facts about a property, obligations that aren’t always spelled out as explicitly in state statutes.
Members also have to complete at least 2 hours and 30 minutes of ethics training every three years to keep membership active.5National Association of REALTORS®. Code of Ethics Training
Enforcement and Penalties
Code violations are handled by local boards, not state courts, and the available discipline is broader than most consumers expect:6National Association of REALTORS®. Code of Ethics and Arbitration Manual – Part 2, Section 14: Nature of Discipline
- A warning or formal reprimand placed in the member’s file.
- Mandatory education chosen by the hearing panel.
- Fines up to $15,000, which is the maximum per hearing regardless of how many articles were violated. The panel sets any amount from $1 to $15,000 based on severity.
- Suspension of membership for 30 days to one year, with automatic reinstatement afterward.
- Expulsion for one to three years, with reinstatement only by reapplication. Expulsion revokes the right to use the Realtor title and typically means losing MLS access.
None of this comes from a state licensing authority. It runs in parallel to state discipline, giving consumers a separate avenue for complaints when an agent they hired is a Realtor.
What This Means When You’re Hiring
For the person signing a listing agreement or a buyer representation agreement, here’s where the distinction actually bites.
A valid state license is non-negotiable. Without one, the person is not legally authorized to represent you, and any contract you sign with them is on shaky ground. Every state real estate commission runs an online license lookup where you can confirm the license is active, see the expiration date, check for disciplinary history, and identify the broker the agent works under. If the license shows as inactive, expired, or suspended, walk away.
Realtor membership is a professional credential, not a legal requirement. Hiring a Realtor means you’re hiring someone who has agreed to a defined set of ethical standards above what state law demands and who can be disciplined by their local board if they violate those standards. That gives you an extra place to file a complaint. It doesn’t guarantee competence, and plenty of experienced, capable agents skip NAR membership entirely. The honest framing: Realtor status is a meaningful signal, not a verdict.
One practical point worth keeping separate from the title question: the title doesn’t change how an agent is paid, how commissions are split with their brokerage, or how they’re taxed. Those arrangements turn on the agent’s contract with their broker and on federal tax rules that apply the same way whether the person calls themselves a Realtor or an agent.
How to Verify Both Credentials
Running the two checks takes about five minutes and is worth doing before you sign anything.
State License
Find your state real estate commission’s license lookup page and search by name or license number. Confirm the license is active, note the expiration date, and look for any disciplinary record. Note the supervising broker’s name too. If something goes wrong in your transaction, the broker is the person the state holds accountable, so you want to know who that is.
NAR Membership
To check whether an agent is a current NAR member, use the public search at realtor.com, which covers over one million Realtors nationwide. Enter the agent’s name and location to pull up their profile and confirm current membership. NAR also maintains member directories on its own site, though some of those tools are built for Realtors searching for other Realtors rather than for public use.7National Association of REALTORS®. NAR Member Directories
Running both searches gives you the full picture. The state license confirms the person is legally authorized to work for you. The NAR check tells you whether the Code of Ethics and its disciplinary process also apply. Neither search tells you the person is good at the job, but together they confirm the credentials behind the business card.