Texas real estate professionals say a troubled state licensing rollout has left some unable to work, even as regulators insist fixes are underway.
A new licensing system launched by the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) in December has triggered widespread complaints from brokers and agents who say technical failures, delays and poor communication have disrupted their ability to do business, according to interviews, emails and public meeting records.
At a February commission meeting, tensions surfaced as officials debated the severity of the problems. “Well, nobody died yet,” committee chairman Mark Woodroof said during a discussion about the rollout.
Commissioner Leslie Lerner pushed back: “[But] they couldn’t work.”
The exchange underscores a broader divide between regulators focused on long-term fixes and license holders who say the system’s failures have had immediate economic consequences.
The new platform, known as the Real Estate and Appraiser License Management Portal, or “Realm,” replaced a roughly 15-year-old system. TREC officials say the upgrade was necessary to modernize operations and improve automation. Executive Director Chelsea Buchholtz acknowledged the rollout “did not go as planned” and described ongoing issues as “like an onion,” with each fix revealing additional problems, at the February meeting.
TREC Communications Director Summer Mandell said the agency is aware of the difficulties and is “working very hard to address those problems and assist everyone,” in an email to The Dallas Express.
“The rollout of the system has had its challenges,” Mandell wrote, adding that the agency has faced “an unprecedented volume of calls and emails.” She said more than 1,600 licenses were issued in a recent week and that TREC is currently processing March applications.
“We work closely with our vendor to ensure system functionality,” she said. “Sometimes, when we work on technical improvements, we discover more issues. It feels like we take two steps forward and then one step back.”
But license holders describe a system that has, at times, made it impossible to perform basic functions required to earn a living.
Scott Doctor, a part-time broker, told DX via telephone that he has been licensed since 1991. He said his license remained stuck as inactive for months despite completing continuing education requirements before the transition. Doctor described repeated errors in the portal and long customer service delays.
“I’ve spent a couple hours… just trying to renew my license… and then tried to call them and spent an hour and a half on the phone. And they didn’t answer,” he said.
Because of the issue, Doctor said he could not independently access MLS listings or lockboxes, forcing him to rely on other brokers.
“I literally got caught in the middle of their conversion and I just was one of the unlucky ones who it never got fixed,” he said.
Other professionals say the problems extend beyond individual cases. Amanda Thomas, a license holder who has assisted colleagues with the system, described “systemic” failures in an email to The Dallas Express, citing account-creation issues, broken data integrations and a lack of documentation or user support.
“The scale and consistency of the issues being reported are not indicative of widespread user error,” she wrote. “They point to system-level deficiencies.”
Thomas also said changes to data structures disrupted downstream systems used by local real estate organizations, compounding the impact.
At the February meeting, TREC officials acknowledged that large brokerages experienced issues with sponsorship tracking and system performance. The agency’s IT director, Tom Watson, said the transition required rebuilding core data structures, calling the process “extremely difficult.”
Some commissioners raised concerns about the project’s cost and timeline. JB Goodwin noted the agency had spent $4.5 million over nearly five years “to come out with something that does not work or at least has got some severe problems.”
Despite the criticism, agency leadership has maintained that the system will ultimately improve efficiency once stabilized. Buchholtz told the commission that the agency was “days away” from implementing key automation features and emphasized that moving forward — rather than reverting to the old system — is the only viable path due to new data created since launch.
Still, frustration among some in the industry appears to be deepening.
Travis Franklin, a broker-owner, said the experience has eroded his confidence in regulators altogether. He added in an email to DX, “When the state and NAR [National Association of Realtors] get in the way of my protection and service of the consumer, I pretty much vow to ignore any and everything they say.”
Meanwhile, calls for accountability continue. Lerner, during the February meeting, pressed for answers about testing and oversight before the launch, asking whether adequate safeguards had been in place. “There should be answers,” she said.
“No, there shouldn’t,” Woodroof responded, adding that the agency was “still trying to figure it out.”
Several hours after The Dallas Express received comment from Mandell on March 27, the outlet was notified that Denise Sample, TREC’s Director of Licensing, was no longer with the agency.
The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.
