Texas Real Estate Commission: The Texas Legislature Passed a Law That Could End the Real Estate Brokerage System
The Texas real estate brokerage industry is reeling after a bipartisan bill to end the state’s three-tier system for real estate sales and marketing failed to pass the state Senate on Monday.
A similar proposal in the House failed in June.
The bill would have ended the system in favor of a three-tiered system, where buyers and sellers would be compensated based on the location of a transaction.
“There are a lot of good things that could have been done,” Texas Real estate Commission Chairman Jim Williams told The Associated Press.
“But that bill didn’t go anywhere.”
Williams, who is a Democrat, said he has heard from dozens of Texans who were disappointed that lawmakers did not pass the bill.
Williams said that if a similar bill passed the House, the commission would likely move forward with an application process that would give consumers more information and create incentives for people to purchase properties and then resell them.
The bill would require all Texas real-estate brokers to have real-world experience selling and leasing real estate.
Williams said that while there is a lack of real estate information out there about the current system, he hopes that more transparency will make it easier for people like him to know the status of their property before buying it.
The real estate broker industry has seen significant changes in the past year as more states and cities have adopted a “do-not-buy” ordinance that allows property owners to refuse to sell a property to someone who is “dangerously” interested in purchasing the property.
The state has seen a huge spike in activity as a result of the “do not buy” ordinance, which allows people to report potential buyers of a property.
Texas has seen the biggest increase in activity in the state, according to the Texas Association of Realtors.
The organization estimates that more than $8 billion worth of transactions were conducted in the Lone Star State in 2015.
Real estate brokers have been lobbying for the legislation to be passed since 2014, but Williams said the current proposal does not go far enough.
“I think there’s still a lot more that needs to be done to make it a viable system,” Williams said.
“This is not something that will change overnight.
It will be an ongoing conversation and hopefully it will change.”
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