Ugh, Day 2 and I’m still suffering from jetlag. Of course, in typical fashion, I scheduled an interview with my real estate instructor for the very next day after touching down. Last month, after meeting up and attending trainings with the Burlingame realtor I met through LinkAges, I was finding myself quite enamoured with that office; however, after being away and thinking things over, I started getting second thoughts, mostly about the schmooziness of the trainer and other agents in that office. After meeting with my instructor this morning and seeing some of the other associates in the Silicon Valley office, the vibe here just feels much more my style. And honestly, that works out better, bc this Santa Clara office is a far easier commute (10 minutes), plus it’s located in the region that I want to cover: Mountain View, Sunnyvale, Los Altos, Palo Alto.

My conversation with the instructor M went for a long while, and then he gave me a packet with tons of information about business fees (for use of the office), commission splits, coaching fees, membership dues, etc. Real estate really is a whole other world, and with it being so sales-based, there’s just a lot to learn. After our meeting, I attended one of his tech trainings that covered creating graphs on the market data: pretty easy stuff given my level of comfort with web tools and Excel. Still, it was a really good reminder that I have a lot to study up on. For example, all during our time in Taiwan, Dad was tracking real estate: like he knows which construction projects are new in the city, what the prices are per sf, what the unit sizes are per building, latest sales prices… he is constantly moguling. And my instructor said today, to be a good realtor, you have to become your area’s real estate economist. Ugh. So many things to remember! Also, I sucked at economics in college! Long story short though: I felt pretty good about the meeting: this could be a strong fit.

When I got home, J and I grabbed lunch and I shared some of the info. From the get go, J has always pushed for me to join an office closer rather than farther from home. We talked over some of the numbers. The business model at this particular company is actually really different from other real estate companies so then of course, business-minded Bubbey had all kinds of questions about how this company is even able to make money, etc. My Bubbey is so damn smart. I dunno how it all works: I suppose I just go by word of mouth, magazine articles/rankings, and cultural vibe.

By the afternoon, we both hit the wall again and fell asleep. I still managed to shoot off some emails, setting up interviews with a few more companies and offices (to gather data points) and reconnecting with my own realtor/friend D. She’s the one with three kids, all under 6 y/o, also the former owner of Buddy. She’s always super last minute with scheduling, but she said she could meet tonight after 7:30pm. I was feeling really tired, but I figured it would be a worthwhile meeting to get her feedback on the package my instructor gave me and just to see what other insights I could glean.

Of course, my relationship with D is sometimes complicated. She was an awesome agent for us, but as I’ve blogged about before, her style can be very assertive and borderline pushy. She gave good advice today, and then we talked about Tony Robbins, who is doing his Unleash Your Power event in San Jose next week. I really do admire her passion for pushing outside the comfort zone, and I find her to be quite astute business-wise, in terms of leveraging money and trying to grow wealth (using money to make money)… She reiterated the possibility of working together in several months, after she figures out what she wants to do with her real estate career that is currently on hold for the kids (she homeschools). I think we could potentially be a great team, but I also have reservations. We’ll see. Certainly, I can deal with that bridge when I get there.

But now I’ve been up again since 4:30am, and I’m just feeling anxious. People keep telling me real estate isn’t rocket science, but I’m afraid. I go back and forth, questioning my people skills, whether I’ll be able to understand what clients need, esp when what they verbalize may not necessarily reflect their true thoughts… I wonder how long it’ll take me to ramp up. Maybe my negotiation skills aren’t that great… there are so many factors. My instructor made an analogy today about people’s “why,” essentially their motivation and goal behind entering real estate. If real estate were a seafood restaurant, are you wanting to be a cook; are you wanting to be the owner; will you go out and fish; do you want to own a bunch of seafood restaurants? Those motivations don’t have to be clear or defined immediately at the start; sometimes, they emerge later. I suppose for me, I’m just tired of working for other people in an office monkey kind of capacity. I want to have more autonomy and control over what is possible– this idea that I can throttle and control how big I want this to grow appeals to me. And then ultimately, I want to be successful at something, to the point where I don’t feel like my life is simply me riding on the coat tails of a wealthy father or a successful husband.

But I worry. About so many things. The fears won’t stop me from trying. They won’t keep me from pushing myself to do things that are uncomfortable. But I still feel uneasy. And I’ve been feeling a bit more skeptical lately… perhaps it’s the influence of J who is always questioning things from a business and motivation perspective. I’m not super savvy and sohpisticated with the complexities of life and the world, you know? Like I tend to take things at face value and I understand things in a very black and white manner. Will I miss something? I don’t know an exact scenario that I’m fearful of, but that whole Advocare thing comes to mind… sometimes I think of sales in those contexts: either I’m easily charmed and too trusting, or I’m totally on guard. How will I tell the difference for the right circumstance? Argh!

Well, first thing’s first. I’m going to continue with a few more meetings into next week, and then plan to hang my license (hopefully, it arrives in the mail soon) with a broker by the middle of November. Meanwhile, I am starting to study all the housing numbers and trends for Mountain View. One step at a time.