What You Should Know in February

We received calls from the media every few days asking about our opinions on whatever the tax reform bill contained at that moment. We couldn’t comment since by the time we might have the legislation would have been changed, so ours comments would have been out of date. Now, we have the final, passed law that changes many aspects of the U.S. Tax Code. You may read more here about how that might impact you and your clients.

We also now have the final numbers for real estate sales in the greater Houston area from 2017. Even with the effects of Hurricane Harvey, it was a record-breaking year in terms of sales and pricing. You may read all about it here. And the market seems to continue to show signs of strength in 2018, with Pending Sales up substantially and Inventory still tight. We shall see if 2018 is even stronger as we move through the year.

If you don’t keep up with commercial real estate news, you might have missed that the technology provider who powered Commercial Gateway abruptly declared bankruptcy late last year. That left our commercial members in the lurch while we found the best possible alternative, which we think we have. You may read more about the new, “rebooted” CommGate here.

I want to encourage anyone who is interested in taking their career to the next level to apply for the Texas REALTORS® Leadership Program (TRLP), which is one of the most rewarding and informative things you can do with your time. The group has a year-long program of seminars, guest speakers, leadership exercises and more to make you better REALTORS® and better citizens. You may read more about it here or visit http://trlp.har.com to apply. The deadline is March 23, so don’t wait until the last minute.

Finally, on behalf of the 37,000 HAR members, I want to congratulate fellow HAR member Logan Lester for being crowned Miss Texas USA 2018. You may read an interview with Logan here. She’s one to watch in our industry—and competing at Miss USA later this year.

Until next month,