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Texas Real Estate Commission finalizes RAMP go‑live, warns of brief license‑processing pause
Summary
The Texas Real Estate Commission said it has set a go‑live date for its new licensing system that will coincide with the fiscal year change in late summer and warned of a planned short pause in license processing during the transition. Commissioners were told the agency will push communications encouraging early renewals.
The Texas Real Estate Commission said it has finalized a go‑live date for its new licensing and case management system, known as RAMP, and that the switch will likely require a short pause in online license processing.
The commission's executive director, Chelsea Buckholtz, told commissioners the agency "has finalized a go live date that will coincide with the change of our fiscal year. So August, beginning of September," and that the transition will include about a two‑week pause in license processing and a move away from paper applications and check payments.
The message followed reports from the agency's customer‑service and IT leaders showing the commission has largely recovered from a December spike in call volume caused by holiday closures and an unexpected facility power outage. Robert Hood, director of the customer relations division, told commissioners the December average hold time rose to about 4 minutes 30 seconds because roughly 24% of the month's calls arrived on the last two business days of December; hold times returned to about two minutes in January.
Tom Watson, the agency's IT director, described RAMP as the commission's "core application" for licensing, exams, enforcement and finance and said the agency expects substantially higher online utilization once the transition to mandatory online transactions is complete. He said current online renewal and initial‑application rates are about 90 percent and should approach full online use after the rollout.
Buckholtz told commissioners staff will begin an intensive communications campaign to encourage early renewals and prepare license holders for the transition. "We will likely have about a 2 week down time or pause in license processing," she said, and urged license holders to renew early during the transition window.
Commissioners were also told the RAMP rollout will remove paper forms and paper payment options. Finance and licensing staff said the pause is needed to migrate historical records and to launch online payments and registrations.
Commissioners asked staff to expand outreach across local associations and at upcoming events. Buckholtz said the commission will provide demonstrations of the new system for commissioners and license holders ahead of the go‑live.
The commission scheduled its May meeting outside Austin in San Antonio on May 5 and said RAMP communications will be part of the outreach at trade events leading into the rollout.
