Broker Support
How Often You Should Hear From Your Broker Between Deals
Updated
Bottom line: Expect your broker between deals for advising, training, ad approval and responses. TREC's FAQ says the details belong in your written agreement. Here, that means weekly coaching and a monthly plan review.
What does a Texas sponsoring broker owe you between closings?
The Texas Real Estate Commission sets out the duties in its broker supervision FAQ. A sponsoring broker keeps written policies and records. The broker also advises, trains, approves advertising for and responds to sales agents.
None of those duties waits for a closing to start. Advising, training and responding are the contacts a producing agent can expect to see in an ordinary month.
Where should the rhythm of contact be set down?
TREC's FAQ says the details of a broker's supervision should be described in a written agreement between you and your sponsoring broker.
If you want a weekly conversation or a monthly review, that agreement is where to ask for it. Read it before you sign, and ask how each duty gets met.
Does your marketing give you a reason to hear from your broker?
It does. TREC's advertising FAQ says your sponsoring broker should review your advertising, because the broker is responsible for its compliance with TREC's advertising rules.
The same FAQ says your broker must keep current written policies and procedures so that each sponsored agent follows those rules. In a busy practice, every new piece of advertising is one more check-in.
What did a TREC working group propose on coaching new activities?
A TREC news release describes a proposal from the Broker Responsibility Working Group. It asked the Commission to consider amending Rule 535.2(i)(5).
Under it, a broker would see that an agent gets help and coaching on a new kind of brokerage activity three times rather than once. When you add a service, the proposal points to more contact at the start.
What does the contact look like at Keller Williams Southwest?
Here it runs on a set calendar. You get weekly one-on-one coaching, classroom training, and a yearly business plan we review with you every month.
Our office at 1650 Highway 6 in Sugar Land has 14 people behind you, covering marketing, technology, a productivity coach and compliance. A 12-agent Associate Leadership Council sets office strategy.
If you want to see that calendar first, ask Jana Hayes, our Team Leader and Operating Partner, to walk you through it.
Filed in The team, for agents who are no broker contact.
Questions & answers
What do Sugar Land agents ask about this?
Can my sponsoring broker hand my supervision to someone else?
Yes. TREC's broker supervision FAQ says a broker does not have to supervise sponsored sales agents directly. The broker may delegate that duty to another person who has the required level of experience and expertise to supervise properly under the law. So the person you hear from between deals may be someone other than your sponsoring broker.
Ask your prospective broker to name that person before you sign. Ask how that person's experience lines up with the kind of business you run. Then ask for the arrangement to be put in writing alongside your other terms.
Is my broker responsible for what I do even if we rarely talk?
Yes. TREC's broker supervision FAQ says your sponsoring broker stays answerable for the authorized acts its sales agents perform. It cites TRELA §1101.803 and Rule 535.2(a) for that point. The same FAQ links that responsibility to the broker's duties to advise, train and answer the agents it sponsors.
The FAQ also says the details of supervision should acknowledge that the broker answers for your actions. For a producing agent, that gives you a fair basis to ask how often your broker plans to be in touch. You can also ask what form that contact takes.
Should a high-producing agent expect lighter supervision than someone with less experience?
TREC's broker supervision FAQ says the specifics of a broker's supervision should take the sales agent's experience and ability into account. It also says those specifics should acknowledge that the broker is responsible for the agent's actions. Experience can shape the supervision you get. The broker's responsibility stays in place either way.
Production on the books is a fair basis to ask for less time on routine files and more on planning. At Keller Williams Southwest, that time goes to a weekly one-on-one and your business plan, reviewed each month.
What happens if one of my ads breaks a TREC rule?
TREC's advertising FAQ says both you and your sponsoring broker can be disciplined when your advertising violates TREC rules. That shared exposure is why the same FAQ wants your sponsoring broker looking over what you publish. A practice that turns out ads often gives the broker a regular reason to be in touch.
Ask how the review works in practice. Find out who looks at your ads and how quickly you hear back. At Keller Williams Southwest, compliance is one of the 14 people in the office behind you.