In his State of the State message, Governor Bredesen acknowledged that times are tough and pledged to help Tennesseans get through these rough times. “We are going to guide state government through these economic times, but I will be frank and say that I worry about a lot of my fellow Tennesseans tonight, including some who work for the state of Tennessee.” He said.  “Jobs are so important; they give confidence and a sense of independence, they let you provide for your family, they offer security. For me, jobs are a part of my identity; I've never been unhappier or more adrift than when I've been unemployed.”

The Governor added that, “We can't fix the national economy, but we can do everything in our power to support the people of our state through these times. And we can keep our eyes on the basics and make sure we are positioned in the best possible way when the economy improves again.”

Despite a General Assembly that has a pro-business Republican majority and a Governor that recognizes the value of jobs, the Tennessee Real Estate Commission seems bent on raising fees and making it more difficult for education providers to do business in Tennessee.

The Tennessee real estate industry is not in good shape. The housing market continues to decline taking real estate related jobs with it. Real Estate firms are closing, builders are going bankrupt.

More than 44,000 Tennessee properties went into default or foreclosure last year, a 70 percent increase over 2007, a state agency said Monday.

Shelby County, which includes the city of Memphis, accounted for more than one in three filings in the state, with 15,516 documents filed in 2008, the Tennessee Housing Development Agency said. Davidson County ranked second in the state with 4,203 filings, and Knox, which includes the city of Knoxville, was third with 2,599 filings.

In the meanwhile, the Nashville real estate market experienced its slowest month in more than 15 years, as the faltering economy and fallout from the housing bubble continued to hammer sales.

Fewer homes were sold last month — the least since February 1993 — and the median price of a single-family home slid further down, according to data released Monday by the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors. Firms are closing and sales agents are dropping out of the business.

Real estate educators fee the pinch also. Of the 2500 plus courses on the books last year, only about 1300 applied for renewal. Despite having only around 50 percent of the course providers elect to continue to do business with the TREC, Chairman Charles Haynes when speaking of the course providers stated that, “They better be prepared to pay the piper.”  Following up with that comment, the Tennessee Real Estate Commission voted to double the fees for course application, and then shorten the time of approval from 4 years to 2 years in effect raising the fees more than 200%.

Additionally, all instructors will be required to apply separately for an authorization to teach, so technically the fee really could quadruple.  Currently the instructor applies with the course and is not charged a personal application fee. The only exception to the costly instructor application would be instructors that teach their class at no cost. The TREC displayed cronyism in this decision because teaching for free is usually only done by the local associations of Realtors. Even then it usually isn't free as members pay through dues or the cost of the event is picked up by sponsors.  Seven of the nine members of the TREC are Realtors and it appears that they are favoring their trade association against traditional real estate educators.

If all that wasn’t enough, in the same January meeting, the Tennessee Real Estate Commission violated their own rules and cancelled the authorization contracts with all providers of the remaining 1300 courses and resetting the expiration dates. The courses had been properly approved for the mandated 4 year period.

The Tennessee Real Estate Commission is supposed regulate the real estate industry not destroy it. Video tape of the TREC meetings display rude and demeaning behavior on the part of these political appointees toward professional staff members. Executive directors have been fired, and other employees publicly chastised during meetings.

TREC members are appointed for political favor not for extreme qualifications. While most have been in the business for a long time, most operate small firms and are not real estate scholars. In fact, with few exceptions, they appear to be a bunch of “good ole boys” and often act that way feeding off each other’s ill-conceived ideas that seems determined to make tough times tougher..