Where I Have Been

So, two years ago I put on the O'le Bucket List "getting my broker's license." And life got in the way. This past summer, despite getting debilitating sick, I interviewed at a few different brokerages just to find out the grass really wasn't much greener.

But the one major aspect I took with me from me shopping around for a different company, was simply: If I want to leave my brokerage I need to be my own boss. And, because I still own the name and rights to my now-defunct accidental business, it wouldn't be hard to start something up again. In fact, I checked with the Secretary of State's office. Yep, the name is mine for the taking, if I so desire.

Right now, I don't desire. But I may reserve "my name" again, just in case.

A few weeks ago, I decided to just bite the bullet and enter broker school. Getting one's broker's license is like a PhD in Real Estate. It is useful for a myriad of reasons, inducing being one's own boss--but you probably gathered that.

Broker School--which is nothing at all like being a broker--is like getting a PhD in Astrophysics crammed into three weeks. Well, it was three weeks, but after a lively round of food poisoning last week, I am now stretching it into four weeks. I go to school 10 hours a day. I am currently vitamin D deficient because I am not seeing daylight much, as I have been studying most every waking moment.

I finish classes now (thanks to a questionable chicken quesadilla) on Feb. 11. I take the school test shortly thereafter. If and when I pass the school test, I then have a bunch more hoops to jump through, including but not limited to, taking a state and federal test. I also have to turn in a criminal clearance card and turn in the broker recommendation letter to the Department of Real Estate. And oh yes, for the privilege of this process there are a lot of agencies who get a bunch of money from me.

Anyway, while all this is going on, I am still managing Alabama. Or, more like coaching Marty Sunshine to manage a few things. The rest of those action items are just on hold. But, more on that later. The true reason for this post is that I wanted to explain my absence to you three readers. And, I wanted to use my tried and true stress reliever--writing--before setting off to study all sorts of stuff that I swear has nothing to do with selling real estate.