The Texas Real Estate Commission released complaint counts for January 2018 to January 2019.
Among the 1,584 total allegations in that time period, the most complaints were under TREC’s Sales-Other category (33%), which includes violations such as general negligence, false promises, improper rebates, and earnest-money issues not related to leasing and property management. The category with the second most complaints was Licensure Issues (20%), which could be failing to disclose criminal history or probationary license.
Get data on the current license and complaint count totals on TREC’s website.
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29 Comments on "What Are the Most Common TREC Complaints?"
TREC needs to make it harder and tighten up on how to obtain a Texas Real Estate License. There are so many incompetent Realtors in Texas. I am surprised that the percentages of complaints are not higher!
Amen.
It’s not the Ethics Courses or ‘making it harder to get a Real Estate License’ that is the issue….there are already too many, duplicate Continuing Education Courses……that are nonsense….have nothing to do with a competent, knowledgeable Realtor…….THERE ARE LOOP HOLES ALLOWING EMPLOYEES OF WHOLESALE BUYING COMPANIES TO AVOID TREC GUIDELINES AND BROKERAGE COMPANY SUPERVISION. THE BROKERAGE COMPANY SPONSORING THE REALTOR OR LACK THEREOF……IS WHERE THE PROBLEM IS. WE DON’T NEED ANY MORE EDUCATION REQUIREMENTS, ADD ON COURSES, TESTING……BROKERAGE COMPANIES NEED TO BE MORE RESPONSIBLE AND WHOLESALE REAL ESTATE COMPANY EMPLOYEES NEED TO BE HELD TO THE SAME STANDARD.
Or at least held accountable when a complaint is filed.
Agree. I see way to many sales licensees who are in essence acting as brokers with absolutely no supervision or guidance because they have their licenses with brokers sponsoring hundreds of salespersons. They are basically on their own, resulting in a lack of knowledge and professionalism…and poor transactions for all parties, especially their clients. There should be a limit to how many salespersons a broker can sponsor.
One large problem. Our ethics oath keeps us compliant but allows management companies, landlords etc to shirk paying us commissions to good agents who have ethics and knowledge.
I have been in the real estate business for 40 years and never have I seen Such a lack of knowledge with agents I co op with. Since so many do not take advantage of broker class training or worse, go to work for a cheap transaction fee company, I think the industry needs a mentor program for either a number of years or a number of transactions. So many are like loose canons and exposing all of us to litigation.
Yes, lots of Realtors who believe this is an easy job and anyone can do it, but there are a lot of Realtors that have zero common sense and really have trouble returning calls and following up!!
You are right. I recall when interviewing prospective agents, one of my questions was “Why do you want to be a real estate agent?” Inevitably, the answer was because they could set their own hours. Nothing could be further from the truth. A Realtor works when it’s convenient for the client. And I promise it is usually not when you prefer.
True. If they can’t text then they are lost as to a means of response
Yessss
Yes, indeed! It is out of control…
Totally agree … they just take up space and give us well-seasoned, experienced realtors a bad name.
I agree
I agree with Jayna Hayes. I was for years a mentor working with new agents. Most of them didn’t know the real world. As I always say, if you have a license doesn’t mean you know something. There should be a mandatory training time with a certified agent.
I totally agree!
There should be a period where new Agents would have to be apprentices. At least 3 to 6 months before they would be allowed to represent Clients.
Attorney stirring up something? Surely u jest.They work only for World Peace.
I agree there plenty of incompetent real estate agents but I do wonder how many of those complaints are unfounded by clients that are angry by their own making.
I doubt there are many. It is so difficult to file a complaint, that I would expect a consumer, who goes through the trouble, has a legit beef.
Agreed, education and making it harder is not the issue. Ethics. You can have very smart people pass the course, but you can’t “teach” ethics. Either a person is ethical or they are not. People will make mistakes and they will learn and they will become better agents, but it’s the unethical ones that are the main issue. I don’t know how you test integrity and ethics.
It is my understanding that in order to solicit by phone the sell or purchase of real estate one must have a license. Is this correct? if so where do I file a complaint against a company that has solicited to buy my property. I have the recording of the call.
The state agency that regulates real estate licenses is the Texas Real Estate Commission. You can file a complaint online at https://www.trec.texas.gov/public/how-file-complaint or call the commission at 512-936-3005.