Chelsea Buchholtz

Buchholtz has been the executive director of the Texas Real Estate Commission since 2020. Under her leadership, the executive division implements the decisions of TREC and the Texas Appraiser Licensing and Certification Board. She leads daily operations, manages major initiatives, and coordinates with stakeholders among her many responsibilities.

Say goodbye to paper applications

This fall, TREC plans to launch a new system that will allow you to submit payments, renew licenses, and other tasks through our website. I’m excited to have a modern system that gives license holders more self-service options and eliminates a lot of paper.

Avoid calling around lunch if you can

The best time to call is any time other than 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. The times with the lowest call volume are 7 to 10 in the morning or 3 to 6 in the afternoon. Our average hold time is about a minute. And you can always email us at information@trec.texas.gov.

Accountability in our industry comes from you

Everyone can help raise the bar for professionalism. You can help peers and colleagues in a kind way to make a correction. You can report bad actors to their brokers. And, if need be, you can make a formal complaint with TREC. If we expect excellence among real estate license holders, it’s important to correct wrongdoing to protect the consumer.

TREC is here to help

We don’t have to be scary. TREC does have an enforcement function, but that’s not all that we do. Folks may not know that only 1% of license holders ever get a complaint against them. There’s this idea that TREC is ominous, but to 99% of license holders, no action is taken against them or investigation made. We also have a lot of educational elements. We prefer dealing with things beforehand and helping you answer questions if you are not sure how to do something.

Every day is different

On a typical day, I meet with staff in our divisions to learn what’s happening. I provide leadership and coaching when necessary. I have a lot of internal meetings. I’m working with our elected representatives during the legislative session. My favorite days are the ones in which I can interact with license holders. I try to say yes to any invitations to meet with local REALTOR® boards.

Check us out online

You can watch our meetings live or later on our website. We also have recap articles that are very helpful if you want to find out what’s going on. You can also interact with us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

We’re not making changes for the fun of it

I think there are some misconceptions that we like to surprise license holders with constant changes. All rule changes are made through a process and include a 30-day comment period. Comments are considered and changes are made because of those comments. We rely on your feedback. It can feel like we’re always changing contracts. In fact, it only happens once every two years. There’s the lead up, the slow work of updating, the conversation, then the implementation. But when you’re working in real estate, it can feel constant.