Chairman’s Message: Highlights from the year

One thing comes into sharp focus when you have the honor of serving on the Texas REALTORS® Leadership Team: The scope of our association’s activities is truly astonishing!

I am so proud of the work of our Executive Board, Board of Directors, committee volunteers, staff, and the thousands of you who have made our many accomplishments possible this year. You showed up at events, responded to calls for action, volunteered in your communities, and took countless actions to advance our profession and serve Texas consumers.

You can draw a straight line from our amazing REALTOR® Day at the Texas Capitol to the biggest-ever property tax relief for Texans. In fact, REALTOR® involvement on tax relief stretches back many years, and the hard work continued during the unpredictable 88th Texas Legislature (currently in its third special session). Historic property-tax relief was by no means our only accomplishment at the state Capitol. With several constitutional amendments hopefully passed by the time this issue reaches you, Texas will also start work on important upgrades to our electric grid and water infrastructure and improve high-speed internet availability in the state. We also were instrumental in passing laws that benefit property managers, measures for accountability and transparency by HOAs and MUDs, and more.

We revised three Texas REALTORS® forms this year based on input from members and to comply with new laws. We also updated Spanish and Vietnamese translations of eight forms. Our Property Management Forms Task Force has been meeting this year to consider changes next year. The Texas REALTORS® Legal Hotline has fielded more than 13,000 calls from members through September.

We had another busy year supporting and defeating local issues that could have statewide implications. Two notable successes were the campaign to defeat a proposed ordinance that would have imposed unrealistic and expensive policies on El Paso taxpayers, and a consumer outreach campaign in the San Angelo area in response to an out-of-state company injecting chaos into the Tom Green County property appraisal process.

Our disaster relief funds helped Texans put their lives back together after being displaced from their homes by tornados and floods. The Texas REALTORS® Housing Opportunity Foundation awarded over $32,000 in grants for projects that include Habitat for Humanity new-home builds, assistance with closing costs for first-time veteran and active-duty service members, and education and counseling programs for first-time homebuyers.

What else? The last scheduled Texas REALTORS® International Cruise was followed by a trade mission to Canada. TREPAC had another phenomenal year, raising more than $6.4 million dollars. The REALTORS®-only MarketViewer online tool rolled out a comprehensive commercial real estate dashboard. We introduced a new healthcare benefit for members as well as discounts for device protection, hotels, and digital file management. New Texas REALTORS® signs now glow atop our building across from the Capitol, bringing even more awareness to our association and its members.

I assure you, there’s much more: strategic planning to address future opportunities and threats; risk-reduction articles, FAQs, and webinars to help you avoid trouble; online and in-person courses with some of the most respected instructors in the industry; coordination with industry partners to leverage our respective strengths; efforts to promote professional standards; and new research projects, to name a few.

Having spoken with members at Texas REALTORS® events across the state this year, I can tell you that our association is brimming with dynamic and hardworking people, and I look forward to all the accomplishments we will achieve in the future!