6 weeks of intensive Real Estate training by Zephyr. In addition to working full time, I spent every day, Monday through.. well... Monday, packing my brain full of real estate laws, best practices, horror stories, tips & tricks and very important lessons from the fantastic brokers @ Zephyr. This training included more than 30 action packed training classes that covered such things as: contracts, open houses and floor calls, agency relationships, disclosures, the MLS, writing and presenting offers, financial planning, technology for real estate, forms, condo and TIC issues, listing presentations, property inspection , farming (moo!), marketing properties, marketing ourselves, negotiating, home warranties, taxes, escrow, title (I can finally explain the value of that title insurance!), time management, financing, rent control, probate, disclosures, competitive market analyses, disclosures, managing a customer base, disclosures. Did I mention disclosures?
Other happenings:
- A field trip to Probate Court to observe & learn
- A seminar on property co-ownership by non-married individuals
- A seminar on TIC ownership by one of SF's leading TIC specialists
- Toured over 300 properties in San Francisco. Single family homes, condos, TICs, multi-unit buildings. I aways jot down notes for each property with my nerdy little clipboard, and endure endless "comments" from other agents about how they've never seen anyone with a clipboard before. Really? It's that unusual?
- Hosted 6 Open Houses on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.
- Toured the new high-rise developments in SOMA to learn about the neighborhood development and new luxury condos.
- Bought my first smartphone and bluetooth headset. (For a technology person, I am somehow a late adopter when it comes to gadgets! I was forced to abandon my old philosophy of leaving work at the office for a more appropriate one of working all day, every day, from the car, from the nail salon, from the.. well.. that wasn't a flush you heard, that was the...errr.. garbage disposal. Anyway, I'm now wired 24/7.)
- Set up my laptop so that I can write and submit offers from anywhere in the world as long as I have an Internet connection. Made A.T. promise that I would have high speed Internet and a fax before agreeing to go away for Thanksgiving. (WHAT is happening to me!!?)
- Finally sent out my announcement emails (If you didn't get one, please let me know and I'll send you one!)
- Worked on my business plan. Almost done!
- And the best part.. working with my awesome clients (and writing offers!). It's amazing, the wide variety of personalities, tastes, and levels tolerance for things like noise, people, remodeling, height, numbers.. you name it, every one's got an opinion about it. Everyone is indeed a unique and special individual and I love getting to know them. Some are forthcoming, some are not. Some trust you automatically and others instinctively distrust you. Some are organized and prepared, and some leave that part to me. :) Overall, it's a wonderful experience to get out and meet all kinds of people that I wasn't exposed to before when I was confined to the cube and interacted primarily with other techies and businesspeople. Nurses, police men, musicians, entrepreneurs, dog groomers, event planners, caterers. All kinds of fascinating people.
Strangely that doesn't seem to convey everything that I've been doing. I wish that there was a less graphic way to say "running around like a chicken with my head cut off". But really, that's it. Y'all know how anal I am about keeping my little to do list up to date. I have been enduring endless stress over not feeling like I'm doing enough, while actually moving at 160 mph. It's crazy. So much to learn. Always so much to learn. Even after 10 years in the business, there will be a lot to learn. But the good news is that I LOVE IT. Never a second thought. Never a doubt. This is what I am meant to do.
For fun?
- Hosted our annual Roof Deck Party
- Welcomed AT's dad to SF for his annual visit
- Our annual pilgrimage to central PA (Yeee-hawww! Ask A.T. how he liked being TAKEN for a ride on the 4-wheeler (ATV) by my 5-year old nephew.)
- Passed one divine Saturday tasting wine and dining at the French Laundry with our favorite L.A. friends Mitch, Cynthia and Heather (and two friends).
- Barely went to the gym or exercised
- Barely slept
- Hung out with Tania, my spectacular Little Sister
- Didn't cook a single meal at home. (Okay, cooked 2 meals in 2 months!)
- Enjoyed Lisa and Kris Bagchi's visit to SF
- Went to Melicob's fabulous Pig Roast and Western Bday Party
- Enjoyed a night of cocktails with Tod Stenger, visiting from Denver.
- Ate a delicious meal with Shelley "Boots" Sanner from DC, who I have not seen in YEARS. Found out at the end of dinner that the guy at the next table had been carefully listening to every single word of our very private conversation, when he asked if he could comment on our discussion. (!!!!)
- Joined the Commonwealth Club and attended several very interesting lectures.
- Kevin & Kristen's lovely SF wedding (Kevin is my next-door neighbor)
- Dinner with Nicole and Adam from Los Angeles (visiting SF with their fun friends Orion and Jamie)
- Keeping Stefan out of trouble during his visit from Boston to SF (okay, we failed at that mission)
- Laughing with Gabriel "I'm not fat, I'm fluffy" Iglesias with the BGI girls @ Cobbs Comedy club.
- Multiple crazy, fun NEFF happy hours
- Adam's going away party :-(
- Attended the NOPA neighborhood meeting with Andrea. She wanted to see Gavin Newsom and I wanted to find out what's going on in that neighborhood so that I can keep my clients updated. I felt like a complete impostor at this very neighborhoody meeting, but alas, we sat in the second row and both stared at Gavin like crazed little schoolgirls. He is mesmerizing. Truly mesmerizing. Although after we left, Andrea said that every time I pulled out my notepad to write something down, Gavin looked down at me with a quizzical look. You know the look because all of you have done it. You think I'm writing something about you, when really I'm writing exciting reminders to myself like "pay for health insurance" or "drop off skirt for alterations". Sheesh. I guess no-one is immune to the self-consciousness that my handy dandy notepad evokes!
Okay, I've wasted enough time on personal things. Time to go back to work. It's 9:00pm. Where has the day gone!? Oy!
