Want to Buy a House.....

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about Real Estate and new Cherry Dr. Pepper. Really, I love that stuff. I can’t get enough. It’s awesome!

Now, if you haven’t seen it or tried it, you might ask, “What’s new about it? Isn’t that what Dr. Pepper is, cherry?” No! Regular Dr. Pepper is Cherry Cola. Cherry Dr. Pepper is CHERRY. Not too sweet. Not too tart. Not too artificial. Delicious!!

Anyway, I digress from my main point which is really Real Estate. I have been thinking a lot about it lately, too. It’s been almost 6 months that I’ve been “retired”, and while it’s been fun doing all of the networking, and volunteer work, and launching hundreds and hundreds of cover letters and resumes into cyber-space, fixing up my basement a little, and hanging around surfing the web, all that hasn’t seemed to have gotten me anywhere. At least if I had been drinking the Cherry Dr. Pepper all that time I would have had some cavities to show for it!

About 6 years ago I decided to get my Real Estate license. Actually, because of where I live, I studied and got two, one for Pennsylvania and one for New Jersey, and I worked in a Real Estate office for about 6 months. I never sold anything. I never listed anything. I did see a lot of houses and talk to a lot of people. It was interesting and fun, but in the end, it wasn’t bringing in any money, so when I had a chance, I decided to go back to my real job. Not that Real Estate isn’t a real job, it is, and it is a hard job, especially getting started and getting that first sale or listing, and you don’t get paid until you finalize that sale.

Well, I’m kind of back in a similar situation now, and I’m thinking maybe it is time to try a different tactic and follow a new course. I’ve always paid my fees and taken the required continuing education courses to keep my licenses active, thinking someday when I’m “retired”, I might want to go back into it.

True, the Real Estate market isn’t necessarily red hot right now. The latest reports released today in fact show that sales of both new and existing homes are down again. But, there seems to be some hope and some movement in the lower end market for first time buyers, especially with the $8,000 stimulus package and super low mortgage rates, if of course you can get a mortgage. Also, hanging around in a Real Estate office might seem to give me more of a chance to get lucky and make some money than continuing to hang around my basement “office”, if things continue as they have. I could additionally continue to look for other work at the same time.

So, the other day I visited a few Real Estate offices to scope things out, see what the market potential is, see what some of the offices were like, and see if anyone would be interested in having me join their staff. I have more appointments next week, but the initial reception and impressions were positive. The two Office Managers / Brokers who I spoke with both said that there was potential, that if I was really interested they would work with me and provide the tools and training to get me going (I guess not too many people are lining up to sell Real Estate these days), and eventually, all those homes with For Sale signs will sell, one way or one price or another.

Some interesting options to think about, at least. I do need to do something soon, though. My wife will be retiring in June, and if I’m still home, I think she will kill me. I just thought that I would put that in writing in advance, in case a body is found!