I hope this message finds you recovering from Halloween and the election. In these uncertain times, I urge us all to focus on what matters to us most. November brings Thanksgiving, and with that a unique opportunity to give thanks. This year is one for the record books, but I am grateful to live in the great state of Texas.

Effective February 1, 2021, sales agents and brokers will be required to complete three hours of coursework on the subject of real estate contracts as part of the 18 hours of continuing education (CE) required to renew a license.  TREC has made updates to the website to help prepare for the upcoming change.  

AUSTIN, TX - The Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) is pleased to welcome Abby Lee as Deputy General Counsel of the Texas Real Estate Commission effective October 20, 2020.

Prior to joining TREC, Abby worked as in-house counsel for Texas REALTORS® for nearly eight years. During that time, she served as the Association’s liaison to the Texas Real Estate Commission—attending meetings, monitoring rulemaking, and working with TREC staff. Most recently, Abby served as an assistant general counsel for the Texas Medical Association.

Yes, but only if the business entity is licensed by TREC. A business entity owned by a broker or a sales agent that receives compensation on behalf of a license holder must hold a business entity broker’s license. If a business entity receives such compensation and does not hold a license, the business entity is engaging in unlicensed activity and the Commission can take action against the entity.

The Inspector Advisory Committee met on October 12 via teleconference.  There were some public comments submitted in response to the newly proposed Consumer Protection Notice, and most of the feedback was positive.  The new notice includes verbiage to inform consumers that inspectors are required to carry E&O insurance, and that inspectors have the ability to limit their liability through the use of an agreement between themselves and their client. 

October is here. It is finally cooling off outside and the hints of fall in the air give me a spirit of optimism for our future.  I hope that is true for you too.

The Commission adopted rules at the August meeting that implement significant changes to the education, experience, and exam requirements for real estate and professional inspectors.  These changes are a reflection of the Agency’s commitment to making pre-licensing requirements more impactful while minimizing undue burdens on new applicants entering the industry. 

After almost two years of effort on the part of the Inspector Committee to restructure and streamline the education and substitute experience requirements for inspector licensure, the Commission adopted rules at its August meeting to implement the proposals recommended by the Committee. This long-overdue revamp of these requirements remove redundancies in the current rules and simplify the process to become an inspector in Texas.

We have made it another month in the virtual environment, and I don’t know about you, but I am ready to see folks in person again.  The agency continues to work primarily remotely with a high level of productivity, maintaining a call hold time of under 2 minutes, and processing 5 months of renewals after the COVID extensions expired.  

The Commission has proposed several rule changes based on recommendations made by the Broker Lawyer Committee. The revisions to the TREC standard contract forms address issues that have arisen in response to public comments received from the previously posted version of these rules in the June 12 issue of the Texas Register.