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.
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.
Agreed. It doesn’t take much to get a real estate license but it takes time, effort and dedication to be a good Agent. These large Brokerages, that take anyone, need to take responsibility for training these Agents. Unfortunately, that isn’t being done and other Agents are having to take on that responsibility because why should the consumer pay for the lack of knowledge of their Agent. These large Brokerages, which I refer to as Body Shops need to step up to the plate and take responsibility for training their Agents in Real Estate Principles and Business Etiquette (i.e. answer your… Read more »
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.
What would be your answer for that very same question?
True. If they can’t text then they are lost as to a means of response
Yessss
Yes, indeed! It is out of control…
I agree. We should be on par with what it takes to be a CPA…..in fact, I could argue that given the high level of professionalism and fudiciary duty we are supposed to be providing; I would like to see our industry on par with that of passing the Bar for a Lawyer. I know it will never happen and that is the problem over all with our industry. We might have fewer in the industry, but the quality and thus the service would be so much better. The winner in the end would be the client. I own a… Read more »
Totally agree … they just take up space and give us well-seasoned, experienced realtors a bad name.
I agree
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PREACH!!!!!!!
Yes!! Agreed. Just because you’ve been in the business 5 yrs doesn’t mean you haven’t been doing dumb trashy business from the start. A test is easy to pass a corrupt agent and business is harder to prove!!
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!
Sounds good, but what experienced agent is going to set aside their pursuit of business to invest the time, energy and T-I-M-E needed to help get a newly licensed agent a good grounding? Toss you a book of scripts, tell you to hit up everyone you know, come cold-call their leads for a cookie to learn on & give them the appointments you make and then they compete against said new agent for the leads the new agent turns up. Apprenticeship works well, because the mentor teaches, the mentee learns and earns a trainee wage and eventually is able to… Read more »
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.
What role does TREC play in legislative laws? I find so many deed problems where there are fraudulent deeds that give someone ownership to property while all the bills are paid by someone else. The property tax department sends the bill to fruadlent owner but escrow the note to the note holder. Crazy!!! Lot of realestate fraud that seem to be illegal. HOA foreclosures where the attorney is representing the HOA start a bid war to get their debt paid. These over zealous new investors end up buying property that has an outstanding note with the mortgage company. No integrity
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.
Bob has a good point here. Texas is generally lax and lenient when it comes to all license professions. I filed a complaint against a plumber and it was a lot of time (6 months) and work… the State found negligence with the guy, fined him, gave him a warning and sent him back to work. I’m out $12K and 4 months because I had tear out 75% of the “new plumbing” and had to find a new plumber and start the job over. The investigator told me (in so many words) that my outcome was typical because the State… Read more »
To me Ethics is the main problem. There are tons of agents out there with absolutely no ethic. Just open Craigslist and see how many listings are from agents posting as owners, property that is not their own in most cases not even their listings. Many more are completely fake just hoping they can do the old bait and switch. Not to mention those hundreds of ghost signs that appear every day on the street. I spent most of my life in marketing and I can tell you, any sales person using this kind of techniques is willing to do… Read more »
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.
A real state agent was disrespectful to my husband. She did not represent us in any way. She was the realtor for the house next door and was very nasty in a text. Can I file a complaint against her?
I know realtor that is using her affair to use access to the houses for sex purposes .. over 30 houses in Houston over 3 years
Weather she listen or she could access them
What can I do
Should Rebates and cash back to the buyer clients be allowed in Texas? It makes it very difficult to earn business if this practice continues.
Modify a very little word for thank you once again, always contribute the correct suggestion regardings problems..
Warning if you are in a MLS an attempting to write a contract in another MLS don’t do it with out a MLS sheet showing the buyers commission split! I wrote a contract with 3% in the 1-4 residential contract got a closing statement from Title co. With 3% on it and a check for 2% ! My counselor and Trec both say The contract means nothing! It matters not what the contract says , only what’s on the MLS! The total commission was 7% and I got paid 2% because the contract means nothing! Do not write a contract… Read more »
I got a blind call and text, from a stranger investor, saying he got my information from TREC. Is TREC selling our contact information? If not TREC then who? TAR, NAR.. Who is selling realtors information to strangers?
Contact details for all license holders are publicly available on TREC’s website. Texas REALTORS® does not sell members’ contact information.
What if I found out that a previous property management company I worked for has an accountant without a real estate license, signer on bank accounts, working with owner’s trust $$, distributions, collecting/charging maintenance, commissions, management fees from owner rent income they post payments to from tenants. Am I or current employees liable to inform TREC?
I want to file a complaint against another Realtor. What do I need to do and is there a form for that?
Info about how to file a complaint is available at https://www.texasrealestate.com/members/legal-and-ethics/ethics/ethics-complaints/.