Happy summer to all of you!  In today’s market, however, we may not get a chance for anything resembling a summer break.  It is a good time to be in real estate in Texas. 

I must start by acknowledging the trouble many of our license holders have had over the last week or two regarding a TREC database error.  This caused many license holders to receive notice that their license and that of their business entity was inactivated.  This was an error that has taken TREC many days to correct.  On behalf of TREC, please accept my apology.  Thank you for your patience.  TREC is in the process of developing a new licensing database.  I look forward to this system to avoid similar issues.

Legislative Update  

The Legislative session concluded last month.   The main highlights for our agency include:  

• SB 713 - places the agency back on a 12-year sunset review cycle.  As a result, our next sunset review is not until 2031. 
• HB 1560 - moves the regulation of Residential Service Companies to the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation as of Sept 1, 2021. TREC will no longer regulate RSC’s at the end of the fiscal year.  
• SB 1588 - TREC will be required to establish a database for homeowner associations to submit management documents. The bill also requires those documents to be accessible to the public.  
• HB 2730 - This bill requires applicants for an easement/right of way (ERW) agent license to complete 16 hours of qualifying education and 16 hours of continuing education per renewal period. As a result, TREC will need to establish an education program for ERW agents. The bill also authorizes TREC to issue a probationary license to an applicant for an ERW registration. TREC is currently authorized to issue probationary licenses for the other license types regulated by the agency.   
• HB 139 - Current statute allows the spouse of an active member of the military who is stationed in Texas and who has a license in another state to work in Texas without a license for up to 3 years provided the place they are already licensed has substantially similar licensing requirements to those in Texas. The spouse is required to provide proof of residency to the licensing agency but the current statute does not specify how that is to be done. This bill grants agencies rule-making authority to establish what proof of residency is needed.  

More on these bills and a full overview of the legislative session will be provided by our staff later this summer. Thank you to our team at TREC and all of our stakeholders who have helped us along the way.

Comment Period Open

This is your reminder that the proposed rule comment period is open. Although the proposed rules are focused primarily on Real Estate Inspectors this time around, I encourage all of our license holders and the public to review the rules and give us your feedback. Proposed rules are published on our website. I encourage each of you to review these rules and to take the time to make public comments using our all-new public comment tool.

Committee Meeting Updates 

The Broker-Lawyer Committee met on June 4th and discussed public comment received since its last meeting.  The Committee received numerous comments related to cash transactions that involve private financing or “hard money” loans.  The Committee discussed this topic at length and ultimately appointed a subcommittee to draft possible solutions for future review and discussion with the entire Committee.

TREC Budget Committee (June 7), TREC Executive Committee (June 9) and the TREC Education Standards Advisory Committee (July 7) all have meetings on our calendar in the next month. Our committees are an essential part if our process at the Commission, and if you want to be a part of the process all of the upcoming meetings are on our agency calendar on our website. 

I hope all of you had an excellent Memorial Day weekend last month spending time with your families and celebrating. I know many of us have loved ones who lost their lives defending our country.  Memorial Day is one thing to celebrate those who battled for our freedom in general, and quite another when we attach a name to that celebration and loss.  God bless those who paid the ultimate price for freedom. 

Happy summer to each of you.