Happy New Year! It’s January and 2018 promises to be filled with important activity. Even numbered years are always a time when the agency must update our 5-Year Strategic Plan and so that means we will have some significant opportunities for additional targeted input from our license holders and the public on general topics and specific areas of current interest.  Look for a list of topics and a schedule of Listening Tour events to be published in February.

The Commission met on November 13^th for its regular quarterly meeting and it was one of the most productive – and lengthy – that we have had for many years.  Despite its length, we recognized recent accomplishments and achieved some major milestones that we have been working on for over two years.  We began by ratifying a very generous set of accommodations implemented in response to the unprecedented impact of Hurricane Harvey.  Up to six full months of deadline extensions are available to those who really need them in the 60 counties declared as a Disaster Area by Governor Abbo

The Inspector Committee met in Austin on October 9th and for the first time, the meeting was available to be viewed online in real time. This allowed license holders and members of the public to view the meeting live. This was an initial test run to see if streaming the meeting will be practical. No decision has yet been made about future streaming as TREC staff is continuing to explore options.

The full Inspector Committee met on Monday, July 17. On the agenda was a discussion of the pros and cons of continuing to exempt certain education providers from TREC licensure requirements (22 TAC 353.71 and 22 TAC 535.218).

The Commission met on August 7^th for its regular quarterly meeting.  Because of the number of bills that passed during the 2017 legislative session affecting the agency’s license holders and the agency’s operations, a large number of draft rules were proposed.

TREC has been made aware of a scam requesting money from our license holders. The request is sent by text by someone posing as the Texas Real Estate Commission and asks that a specified amount be paid through Square Cash and provides a link to pay the amount (see example texts below).