Industry Agencies

Real Estate Industry Agencies
Who are they and what do they do?

	The Texas Real Estate Commission is the state's regulatory agency for the following: Real Estate Brokers and Salespersons Real Estate Inspectors Education Providers for Real Estate and Inspection Courses Residential Service Companies Timeshare Developers Easement Or Right-of-Way (ERW) agents Types of businesses NOT regulated by TREC and who regulates them. TREC exists to protect and serve the citizens of Texas. The Commission's programs of education, licensing and industry regulation ensure that real estate service providers are honest, trustworthy and competent. TREC requires that all real estate brokers and salespersons meet and maintain specified levels of education to hold a license to act as a real estate agent. Agents are required to follow the provisions of The Real Estate License Act and the Rules of the Texas Real Estate Commission in all transactions and to deal with the public in a competent and honest manner. The Commission also licenses real estate inspectors, residential service companies, real estate schools and registers timeshare properties. Created in 1949, the Texas Real Estate Commission (TREC) administers four laws: Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1101 - *The Real Estate License Act* Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1102 - Real Estate Inspectors Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1303 - the *Residential Service Company Act* Texas Property Code, Chapter 221 - the *Texas Timeshare Act* TREC has a statutory relationship with three state entities: the Commission partners with the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University on research and education projects; it appoints two members to the Mortgage Broker Advisory Committee of the Texas Department of Savings and Mortgage Lending and cooperates with that agency on issues affecting real estate licensees and mortgage brokers; TREC provides administrative support to the Texas Appraiser Licensing & Certification Board (TALCB) under a memorandum of understanding approved by their governing boards.
	The Houston Association of REALTORS® (HAR) is a 23,000 member organization of real estate professionals engaged in every aspect of the industry, including residential and commercial sales and leasing, appraisal, property management and counseling. It is the largest individual membership trade association in Houston, and the second largest local Association/Board of REALTORS® in the United States. HAR was founded in 1918. Its mission is to help its members achieve ongoing profitability. HAR is a representative for the free enterprise system and the protection of private property rights. It is part of a network that includes the National Association of REALTORS® headquartered in Chicago and Washington, D.C., the Texas Association of REALTORS® in Austin, and approximately 1,800 local associations/boards throughout Texas and the United States. The term "REALTOR®" is a registered collective membership mark which identifies a real estate professional who is a member of the National Association of REALTORS® and who subscribes to its strict Code of Ethics.
	Headquartered in Austin, the Texas Association REALTORS® is the state-level organization for REALTORS® in Texas. All REALTORS® in Texas also belong to the National Association of REALTORS®, one of the world's largest professional-membership organizations. The vast majority of the nearly 90,000 Texas members also belong to REALTOR® organizations on the local level. The TAR's values are to: Protect private-property rights Support the free enterprise system Reduce the state's heavy reliance on property taxes Promote public policies that benefit homeowners
	The NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® strives to be the collective force influencing and shaping the real estate industry. It seeks to be the leading advocate of the right to own, use, and transfer real property; the acknowledged leader in developing standards for efficient, effective, and ethical real estate business practices; and valued by highly skilled real estate professionals and viewed by them as crucial to their success. Working on behalf of America's property owners, the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® provides a facility for professional development, research and exchange of information among its members and to the public and government for the purpose of preserving the free enterprise system, and the right to own, use, and transfer real property.