We had a terrific TAR (Texas Assoc. of Realtors) Winter Meeting held this past weekend in Austin, TX. For those of you who have never attended the bi-annual TAR event (both the Winter Meeting and the Convention), this is a terrific event for learning more about your profession, our economic forecast and the networking opportunities are endless. Where else can you meet the most dynamic Realtors from other areas who may one day be a terrific source of incoming and outgoing referrals.

One highlights of the event was hearing Tim Irvine, Administrator with TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) speak at the Education Forum, who addressed many issues such as MCE course administration, on-line education and professional standards. This was a lively discussion that brought forth issues such as treating MCE students as adults and allowing them the freedom to take a call or leave the room for a short period of time while still maintaining the integrity of the course and test. Another issue brought up was the oversight (or lack thereof) by sponsoring Brokers over the multitude of agents that are basically paying a flat fee for sponsorship but are "on their own". Much was made about professional standards but in my opinion, nothing will be fixed until the Brokers' are held accountable for the many agents that they never see or train. Okay, off my soapbox... for now.

Another great item for the weekend was the yearly economic forecast delivered by Mark Doutzer of The Real Estate Center at Texas A&M. Mark is probably the only economist with a devilish wit and thoroughly entertained the standing room only crowd as well as covered a very important subject to all... the future of real estate in Texas. While I do not have his presentation at this time, you can probably download it from the web site:  www.recenter.tamu.edu  . This provides a wealth of information that all Realtors should access on a weekly basis.

We were also fortunate to have attended a TREPAC breakfast where the keynote speaker was Susan Combs, Texas State Comptroller, who was awarded the prestigious Legend Award from TAR for her extraordinary level of commitment to homeowners in our beloved State.

In closing, the TAR sponsored events are well worth your time and effort. The next event is in late September and will be held at the new Grand Hyatt along the Riverwalk in Sunny San Antonio. If anyone has questions about the event or needs more information, please feel free to contact me. I promise I will see you there as I would not miss it!

http://www.christiborden.com/

I currently serve as a TAR Board of Directors and on the International Task Force and the Education Faculty Committee.