Effective October 1, 2023, sales agents renewing their license for the first time—both active and inactive—are required to complete an approved 30-hour Real Estate Brokerage course as part of their 90 hours of Sales Agent Apprentice Education (SAE). This change was adopted during the May Commission meeting. Find out more about sales agents' first-time renewal requirements.

The 88th Texas Legislature, Regular Session, began January 10, 2023, and ends May 29, 2023. This session opened with the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) and Texas Appraiser Licensing Board (TALCB) following 358 bills relevant to the administration of the agency.  A much smaller number will become law, one of relevance to Texas real estate license holders.

To reach more license holders, the Texas Real Estate Commission broke away from its Austin headquarters for the first time ever to meet in Houston on May 16. It was TREC’s second meeting of 2023. There were more than 80 attendees.

Welcoming New Commissioners, Thanking the Outgoing

TREC’s Chair, Scott Kesner, opened the meeting with a welcome to TREC’s newest Commissioners: Chance Brown, Renee Harvey Lowe, and Stuart Bernstein.

The Texas Real Estate Commission is assisting the Texas Land Title Association (TLTA) in educating license holders of trending fraud schemes. 

Over the last several months, TLTA is seeing more people fall victim to seller impersonators. Prime target properties are vacant land or investment property such as vacation homes, second homes, rental properties, and any other instance where the tax mailing address is different than the property owner’s address.

The Texas Real Estate Commission's Education Standards Advisory Committee (ESAC) met April 3.

ESAC addressed comments received regarding proposed changes to 22 §TAC 535.64, Content Requirements for Qualifying Real Estate Courses.  TREC staff clarified that the rule proposal simply cleans up the rule language to remove the references to topics required for each course, rather, pointing specifically to each qualifying course approval form to define content. 

The Texas Real Estate Commission is stepping out of its Austin headquarters to pay Houston a visit. On May 16, the Commission will meet at 9 a.m. inside the Century Ballroom II of the DoubleTree by Hilton-Houston Greenway Plaza. 

The Broker Responsibility Working Group (BRWG) met April 12. Members reviewed public comment submitted in response to a new proposed rule, 535.157 — Obligation to Respond Timely, and proposed changes to 535.2 — Broker Responsibility Rule. The group also continued discussion regarding the difference between a broker and a sponsoring broker, and whether there should be additional education requirements for sponsoring brokers.

Around 1% of Texas Real Estate Commission license holders are the subject of a complaint, and in 2022, slightly more than 5% of all complaints received by TREC were related to advertising issues.

Many advertising-related complaints can be handled easily, from adding missing brokerage information on for sale signs to adding missing required links on a license holder’s website. Because of these simple remedies, TREC is launching the Advertising Compliance Program, which will streamline the processing of complaints that deal only with advertising violations.

It sounds like an ideal scenario if you’re a landlord or listing agent for a residential lease: A licensed sales agent submits a prospective tenant’s application to you with proof of a clean background check and great credit report. But is that tenant’s agent making life easier for you, or is it a scam?

A Rise in Leasing Fraud

The Texas Real Estate Commission’s Enforcement Division is urging license holders to do their own research to avoid being part of the rise in complaint investigations involving leasing fraud.

An unexpected illness, a new opportunity, a change in the market, or a change in your personal life: These are all common reasons why Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) license holders may take a break from the business.

Whether your break is planned or unexpected, setting your sales agent, broker, or inspector license to inactive status before your renewal or renewing as inactive is the best move if you want return to the real estate business in the future. Here’s why.