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When you leave a Texas brokerage, your active listings generally stay behind. The listing agreement is signed between the seller and the broker, and you were acting as that broker's agent. Your relationship with the seller is real, but the contract is the broker's.
What you can control is how you leave and where your next listing lands. At Vince Young Realty, listings you take after joining pay 90/10, with a flat $250 per month, no transaction fees, free yard signs and listing print included.
For each active listing, the seller generally ends up on one of 3 paths:
The listing agreement and your independent contractor agreement govern which of these is possible. This page is general information, not legal advice.
In Austin, the ACTRIS listing sits under the listing broker's office. If a seller is released and relists with your new broker, that is normally a new listing agreement and a new MLS entry under the new office, subject to the MLS's own rules on relisting and days on market. Ask the Austin Board of REALTORS for current specifics.
The sign, lockbox and any printed materials belong to the old brokerage. At Vince Young Realty, yard signs are free, so replacing the sign on a relisted home costs you nothing.
Consider a hypothetical $600,000 listing with a 2.5% listing-side commission (commissions are negotiable in Texas). Gross commission: $15,000.
A release is never guaranteed, so do not plan your income around it. Plan around the listings you will take next. If you take 8 listings a year at that same $15,000 gross, 90/10 leaves you $108,000 against $84,000 at 70/30, and at Vince Young Realty the only other brokerage cost is $3,000 a year in monthly fees. Free yard signs and listing print mean the usual per-listing marketing costs do not come out of your share either.
Your sellers will ask what your move means for them. Keep it factual and put the decision where it belongs:
Check your contract's non-solicitation terms before these conversations. How you handle this is what the seller will remember.
Put a short note in writing after each call: the date, what you told the seller and what they asked. If a question ever comes up later about who said what, a record made the same day settles it. It also keeps you honest about the one thing that matters most here: the seller's agreement decides, and the seller chooses.
Photos, videos and brochures from a listing may belong to the photographer or the brokerage, so check before reusing them. What moves with you is the system. Agents at Vince Young Realty get their own custom website with IDX search, listing print, AI-generated walkthrough reels and social posts, and a buyer mobile app. See how pending deals are handled, then review the full offer.
The broker. A Texas listing agreement is a contract between the seller and the brokerage, and the agent works the listing as the broker's representative. That is why a listing generally stays with the brokerage when an agent leaves. The agent often has the relationship and did the work to win the listing, and many brokers take that into account when a seller asks to move. But the decision runs through the listing agreement and the broker, not the agent alone. Your independent contractor agreement may add terms of its own.
That depends entirely on the seller's listing agreement and what the current broker agrees to. Some brokers release a seller with no conditions; others attach terms, such as protection for buyers who already saw the home. The seller should read the agreement and ask the current broker directly. You should not quote release terms you have not seen in writing. If the seller does relist with you at Vince Young Realty, you pay no transaction fee on that sale, only the 10% split and your flat $250 monthly fee.
When you have the fewest active listings at stake. Many agents time a move for a stretch with few active listings, or right after several close, because each active listing is a conversation and a possible loss. Pull a list with each listing's price, expiration date and what your contract pays if it sells after you go. If most expire soon, waiting may cost little. If you have a long pipeline, move sooner and let the agreements run their course.
Yes, in one practical way. A pending deal already has a buyer and a closing date, so it usually just finishes under the current broker. An active listing still needs marketing, showings and negotiation, so the seller has an ongoing stake in who represents them, and the release-and-relist question comes up. Both sit under agreements with the broker. For pending files, see our page on what happens to pending deals when you change brokerages in Texas; for listings, the seller's agreement drives everything.
If the current broker and seller agree, the typical order is: the seller receives a written release from the current brokerage, the old MLS listing is withdrawn or ended under ACTRIS rules, the seller signs a new listing agreement with your new broker, and you enter a new MLS listing under the new office. Update the IABS notice the seller received, replace the sign and lockbox, and reprint materials. Every step depends on the release, so get that in writing first and follow the MLS's current relisting rules.
Do not do that. Encouraging a client to break a contract with your current broker can expose you to legal risk and violate your independent contractor agreement, and it puts the seller in a position they did not ask for. Tell sellers the facts: you are moving, the agreement is with the brokerage, and the brokerage will keep serving them. If a seller independently asks the broker for a release, that is their right. For anything beyond that, talk to a Texas real estate attorney, since this is not legal advice.
An ACTRIS listing is tied to the listing broker's office, not to the individual agent's account, so it stays with that office when you move your license. If the seller is released and hires your new broker, the new broker's office enters a new listing under a new agreement. The Austin Board of REALTORS administers ACTRIS and can explain current rules for withdrawals, relisting and days on market. Check with them rather than assuming how a relisted home's history will display.
Both stay with your current brokerage, since the Hays County seller and the Williamson County landlord each signed with that broker. The sale listing matters more financially: at a hypothetical $400,000 price and 2.5% commission, the gross is $10,000. The lease listing may rent quickly, so it may simply finish before or during your move. For each, read what your agreement pays after departure, tell the client you are moving, and let them decide whether to ask the broker about a release.
Listing photos and videos are often licensed to the brokerage or owned by the photographer, so check before reusing them on a new website or in marketing. Property pages on your old broker's site will usually come down or be reassigned. Your reviews, your sphere and your know-how come with you. At Vince Young Realty, you start with your own custom website, built to be readable by Google and AI answer engines, plus AI-generated walkthrough reels and social posts for every new listing you take.
Because the listings you win next are the ones that decide your income, and our terms keep more of each one with you: 90/10 split, $250 per month flat, no transaction fees on sales or leases. Free yard signs and listing print cover the costs that usually come out of a listing agent's pocket, and the AGNT AI suite produces CMAs, walkthrough reels and social posts. Ask us about access to health and private club benefits. Call (512) 785-7489 or apply at vinceyoungrealty.com/join-us.
90/10 split, $250 a month, no transaction fees on sales or leases. Nothing goes to your current brokerage.