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.
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.
Hello to each of you. I hope you and your families are safe and well.
The Texas Real Estate Inspector Committee met via teleconference on July 20th. The agenda was reasonably short this time around. The education rules which change the pre-licensure process were proposed at the previous Commission meeting, and they have gone through the public comment period. After considering the comments received, the Inspector Committee voted to forward the rules as proposed, along with some non-substantive changes made as a result of questions raised by the Governor’s office, to the Commissioners for approval at their meeting in August. Prior to the rules g
The agency has been busy over the last several months adjusting to the new norm resulting from the COVID-19 virus. We are operating almost 100% remotely, with only essential staff coming into the office to process mail, or deal with the various technical issue that arise from a remote workforce. All of our meetings have been held remotely since mid-March and will be conducted that way for the foreseeable future, including the meeting of the full Inspector Committee scheduled for July 20th via teleconference.
Last weekend we celebrated our country's 244th birthday. I hope each of you found a way to celebrate. Even in these uncertain times, this is a unique day of patriotic celebration and I hope you enjoyed it. The year 2020 has brought unprecedented changes to the market and industry, some of which we are only just beginning to see. The Commission is working hard to support license holders and consumers through this unprecedented time.
Greetings to you upon the beginning of summer. I hope each of you continues to live well in this COVID-19 season. This is a season in which the burdens of each of us are personal and unique. Our agency will do what we can to ease whatever burdens possible.
The Inspector Committee held its regularly scheduled meeting on April 13th. Due to social distancing rules throughout the state, the meeting was held via teleconference. This was the first time in my tenure that this has happened. A huge thank you goes out to TREC staff for getting this put together quickly to help us all stay safe while still getting the important work done that we need to.
This spring has been one of unimaginable changes for the agency, industry, and the world. COVID-19 and all that has come with it continues to make ripples throughout the country. TREC staff have been hard at work to keep things moving at the agency while continuing to provide excellent customer service and timely processing of applications. We have an incredible staff who are hard at work to ensure real estate license holders can keep working.