Category Archives: Getting Shit Done

Friday Night Call

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Well, it never fails that dad calls me either on a Friday or Saturday night. Yep, prime times for going out and having a life… I mean, who is surprised. Since my college days, dad has always used these time slots to call and make sure I was in my dorm room studying. Now, he still expects me to subscribe to his fear-based “don’t go out at night” philosophy.

So today was kind of a shitty day. You see, last night, really late I got a Rover request for a doggie boarder starting TODAY. The lady mentioned that her dog should get along well with Marty, and then I had to tell her that Marty died. It’s in my Rover profile that he passed last December, but I still have him listed as a pet in my profile bc well, I just haven’t been able to bring myself to “delete” his profile. Long story short, that sent me down a rabbit hole looking at pictures of him and Remy and reading my old blog posts about the days we said goodbye. Goddamn, they were high maintenance in their golden years. Then I started crying. Went to bed and left my contact lenses in by accident.

Woke up in the middle of the night with my eyes super puffy bc of the damn contacts. Met with the new Rover client in the morning and then went doorknocking for my open house. Met some nice neighbors in that community. Also met some not so nice people who cut me off and shut the door on me. Fine, whatever. Then prepped all my materials and got a call in the afternoon from the list agent: They just got a super strong offer on the house I’m supposed to host. Granted, the list agent was kind enough to give me the option of whether or not I wanted to continue hosting the property. I decided to proceed. Maybe they can use a backup offer. I dunno.

So I finally get home, eat dinner, then dad calls. He can’t access his iphone, bc the text is monstrous and there is no accessible way to unlock his phone. This has happened before and I had no idea what he did to get it into zoom mode. Last time, he had to go to the AT&T store and have them fix it (double tap with 3 fingers at once). This time, I told him to do the same thing and he said it didn’t help. Then 30 secs later, it worked. Who the fuck knows. I mean, it’s so frustrating, bc I have gotten dad a decent laptop (upgraded every few years) for well over a decade and still, all he can do is basic plane tickets, stock trading, bank transactions, and scanning. He still can’t really email, doesn’t know to forward or reply or attach. He still reads too many junk/forwards and just gets hung up on something every other day. And I have showed him a bunch of times!! Same shit with the iphone. Can’t text. Doesn’t read email on the phone. Just looks at stock apps and uses the basic phone function (but not even voicemail). So freaking annoying. He’s a smart guy. If he can figure out stock/investment shit, he should be able to do more functions on the phone and PC.

So today he tells me he wants to upgrade to iPhone 8. How much, what are the specs, when is it available. I don’t fucking know! I’m not even looking to upgrade. Maybe he asks bc he knows John will upgrade but John almost always gets top of the line (different use case than my dad) and he buys direct from Apple. So Dad says, “oh you know, if you have time, maybe you can research it for me.” Fucking A. Yeah, I’m just sleeping and lounging around all damn day. Sure, I can research it.

So I go to AT&T chat and of course, I cannot get any info from the rep without logging into Dad’s account. What is your account and pw. Don’t know. On chat for about 45 fucking minutes, going through various iterations to finally get a working userid and login. After that, I have to learn the differences between upgrading via AT&T vs. Apple. And all the installment plan options. Basically, 90 minutes later, I have sufficient information to proceed. You know, just a simple thing to research on a Friday night. SMH. And more than half the time, I waste tons of time researching shit for dad and in the end, no action. We’ll see if this is the case regarding the iPhone.

A Sunday Off

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My mind is all over the damn place these days. John’s been commenting that I am spending way too many hours of screen time. I agree: it’s just that there is always SOMETHING to research– be it for work, for family, for play, for future, whatever.

As it were, I took this weekend off from doing open houses. Originally, I’d tried to get something scheduled for Sunday but that didn’t happen. Then for Saturday, I had signed up for a house tour up in Orinda to scout out a project done by Connect-Homes, a modular home company based in LA. A year or two ago, John and I had checked out Blu Homes up in Vallejo and found that we loved the design but the price tag seemed very high. So we wanted to gather a different data point from one of the competitors. Interestingly though, looking at the Blu Homes site again now, it seems they have expanded their design options and also come down a bit in price.

Anyway, the reason we’re investigating this is, bc eventually we want to buy land and build a modular home on it. Not sure if it’s for retirement or just investment/vacay, but we’re looking into it. In fact, the idea to have additional property has been on my list for a long while, but now with big strides in faster, greener, more sustainable construction, I’m growing more interested. Then again, you know us: we are research fanatics, and we could very well get into analysis paralysis mode with this (e.g. the dog situation).

As a side note about the dog search: I really do have a growing fear that the next dog just won’t be as good. Like I dunno: what if s/he has anxiety or isn’t sociable or whatever… for some reason, I have a fear of investing energy in this path and then the juice not being worth the squeeze. I mean, I know I have a good track record but you know, just as with Rover: Some dogs I really fall in love with. Others are just there, super aloof, not that engaging… I dunno. I’m sure I’m overthinking all of this as usual…

In other activities, I’m still keeping my eyes peeled for new products and/or ideas to change my life, right? Sadly, the magnetic lashes didn’t pan out for me. My friend M, however, got the accent pair, and they are working out great. What else.

That Realtor life, man. My stuff takes up SO much space. As it were, our garage that was renovated about two years ago was descending into major chaos. John set up his leather shop there and then we were just dumping piles of crap. Last month, I spent some time clearing all the boxes. We also rearranged the wire racks to create aisles with shelves for his leather supplies and my real estate crap. It’s much better but still a constant struggle.

Likewise, my home office space is getting way disorganized, so I’ve been scouring all the furniture sites for ideas on additional storage. I finally settled on Ikea drawers, a small striped colorful rug, and an accent cabinet from Wayfair. The space is coming together but an Ikea run is pending… Yeah, I spent last night measuring for those and today, I drove over there thinking I would get this shit cranked out since I wasn’t working today. Plus, maybe it would be a good way to practice my tolerance/patience. You know, try to be a calm person. Well, before all of that, I had to return a damaged cabinet to Walmart. Not a good start. Then I mentally prepared and got as far as the Ikea parking lot. Shit man. That place was mobbed, so I aborted. Yep, drove there only to abort. So much for tolerance. My rational mind says Monday will be a much smarter time to go.

Fashion-wise: I finally completed my shoe search. That quest succeeded. Earth Shoes, Dr. Scholl’s, Rockport, and Aerosoles for the win. I mean, I add sticky cushions, but good enough.

Foodwise, we are trying to do portion control, so we are trying out Sunbasket. At first, we resisted bc the setup seemed too dumbed down for someone as advanced in the kitchen as Bubbey. But the first week was a good experience: with new flavor pairings and I mean, we went to bed hungry, so I guess it was working. We’ll see what this week brings.

Other things I’ve been researching: doggies. Yeah, even though we concluded that the new year is our new timeline (too much travel until then), I still look at the rescue sites. I am all over the place: puppies to old dogs. Puppies are so stinking cute, but the oldies remind me so much of Remy and Martin. Aged but still so sweet and deserving of a stable home. Pepsi is the latest apple of my eye. I can’t quite bring myself to see any of these dogs in person. I think it would be too tempting. I know, I need to prioritize my time better. Oh well, so far, this has been an enjoyable Sunday!

Double Duty

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So one of my big epiphanies while I was in NC helping out my friend N had to do with level of cleanliness. Seriously, I dunno how on Earth I made it to 41 y/o without knowing this, but I’m coming clean now. Good, you caught the pun!

I always thought clothing after some period of time, would eventually just become stained and a bit dingy. Not so much outside clothes, but def like undergarments… you know, like those tank tops I wear under my shirts/blouses or like undershirts (John’s Hanes tees). I figured, after a while, the sweat and periods, not to mention food stains, would just eventually win. And I was totally fine with that. Sometimes John would comment on my undergarments, like, are they supposed to be THAT stained? And I would respond all annoyed, like, You have no fucking idea what it’s like to be a woman. Bleeding outta my body is a messy thing and it’s a pain in the ass so fuck off.

So when I was staying with N and her mom for a week last month, I did glamorous chores like folding laundry, and truthfully, I was shocked and amazed by how clean all their stuff was. WTF, have I been living under a rock this whole time? When I went to do a load of her laundry, N instructed me to put in TWO pods of detergent, not one. I think she told me, bc she knows I come from a family of immigrants where you ration shit to death and use every last drop (e.g. add water to the dish soap bottle and use diluted soap until forever). I mean, yes, we use detergent sparingly, bc we have some fear that the soap will not wash clean and there’s no way I’m wasting water by doing an extra rinse. But anyway, while I was doing N’s biddings, I did as she said and I have to say, the whites were brighter and the other clothes were definitely cleaner. This was a game changer for me.

After I got home, I decided to test this new method out. Two pods. At the same time, John’s sister E turned him on to some new laundry product called Laundress. I also added that supplemental color-free bleach to the load. And holy. crap. This is what clean is!! I know, for my scientific method friends out there (you know who you are), I changed two variables at one time: both the detergent AND the bleach, so to accurately attribute the new level of clean properly, I need to wash with only two pods and then wash another load with one pod + the Laundress. But at the moment, I know the shit gets to a new level of clean with the double whammy. Thankfully, the extra detergent still washes out without a soapy residue. So life is good. Who knew John’s t-shirts could ever get so damn white? And stained undergarments are no longer the norm. Haha, I am always learning new secrets.

Are You Sleeping?

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Seriously, my father says the craziest shit. The other day, I woke up before 9am (like every day) and planned to call Johns Hopkins University Medical to make an appointment for mom to see the neurologist at their research center. Mind you, getting to this point has taken FORever, bc JHU wants to review her records before advising whom she should see. Now my mother’s records, bc they span various physicians in various states and countries, are in multiple forms: several photocopied pages of lab reports, doctor’s notes, plus CDs for which my father has originals only (and I can’t burn copies bc no one has a CD reader anymore), plus these latest notes from the doctor she saw while visiting in July. Bc of medical privacy issues, I am not able to request her docs and then when I tried to set up her online account, I ran in to issues that basically thwarted that access.

Long story short, it’s been over a month and the best I could get (unless she herself calls from Taiwan, which is NOT happening) was for the doctor to mail a copy of his notes to her home address in MD. Dad received those last week; he scanned them to me, and now I have most of her docs, minus the CDs. So I’m ready to call JHU.

So what happens that morning? Instead, my father calls me about 10:30 am, and he always asks me this when he calls anytime before noon. “Are you sleeping?” I mean, I get that he doesn’t think I work very hard, but dad, it’s 10:30. No, I’m not sleeping. WTF?!?!?!? I mean, some days I really wonder what it is he thinks we do. I’m, maybe I might be sleeping if I weren’t getting parental calls at all hours of the day, from my mom who can’t get the time zones right and from my father asking me to do logistics and research and travel planning and vendor calls and business emails and whatever the fuck else. Not to mention the mental stress of trying to figure out what the hell my parents are doing between here and Taiwan. Ugh. Anyway, I didn’t go into it with him, bc on this particular morning I was getting another fucking assignment.

The day prior, dad received some email from United announcing their latest round of fare sales. He did some research and found the exact flight/route for him to go back to Taiwan in October and return in November. Now, like I’ve said a gabillion times before: NOTHING for my family is ever straightforward or easy. Here he thought I would just do a couple of clicks here and there and bam, travel arrangements would be done and I could go back to my nice little nap.

Well, I won’t bore you with the minutiae, but basically, he insisted on a very specific flight leg out via Tokyo (not SFO) and his return needed to match up with a return flight for my mother. Oh, and btw, he has a flight voucher he wants to use and for mom, he wants to do one-way with awards. Blah, blah, blah, Almost TWO HOURS later after having multiple windows open to view both of their accounts separately and after researching various flight dates and one-way/round trip/award flights from November through February to get his price point, PLUS two phone calls to customer service discussing terms and conditions for using the voucher, I FINALLY get the itineraries set. Jesus Fucking Christ. Not that I had ANYTHING to do that morning before my lunch with a prospect.

John heard me on the phone back and forth with dad and customer service and he was like, what the heck is going on? Dude. You have no fucking idea. And then he just said, well, that’s how you’re gonna be when you’re that age, esp with the price hunting and coupons. Ouch.

I mean, fine. I’ll give you that there is an OUNCE of truth to that: I am hardcore about my deals and that’s why I’m good at executing these insanely tedious tasks. But shit. I ain’t ever delegating that level of complexity. Once I’m unable to get ‘er done, it ain’t getting done. I’m not subjecting other people to 90+ minutes of back and forth bullshit.

I suppose on the bright side, I learned a lot about United travel credits and award miles. The credits do NOT apply to codeshare flights, and the award points rarely apply to the route through Tokyo. Honestly though, is it so damn difficult and inconvenient for my parents to just tie the Taiwan trip in with a stop over in SFO for a few days??? Parents. I swear they make NO sense. SMH.

Marvels of Medicine

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Well another busy week has come and gone. After my candid camera open house incident last Saturday, I hopped a red eye to Wilmington NC to help my childhood friend with her knee replacement surgery.

Long story short, the good news is that surgery went well, and she is already up and moving with the help of a walker. I mean, the entire knee except for the patella was replaced so to me, what another fucking marvel of modern medicine. I was worried at first about her getting the procedure done in small town Wilmington but as it turned out, the hospital staff were incredibly nice and with Wilmington being a big retirement spot, lots of knee replacements are getting done! She seemed to be in very capable hands.

The downside of this trip was basically the realities of adulting. When you're a working professional without a spouse, without many close friends, plus you don't have a workable relationship with your mother, shit gets real real fast.

N is probably my longest friend but she has quirks that make her difficult, esp when she is under excruciating pain and you're a caretaking newb… Man, I was losing my own damn patience, of which there was very little in the first place. Honestly, some days I think it's a shitty deal to be a responsible doer kind of personality. I mean, look at my brother. All he has to ever care or worry about is himself. Doesn't even have to provide tech support, buy plane tickets, call vendors and contractors, research random things, provide any kind of help or support to anyone. And he just skates on by…. Fucking bastard. Oh well. My life is what it is. I'm privileged and lucky on so many other levels. Interestingly, my father shared a Chinese saying the last time they were here: the one who is most competent does the most. I have seen how this plays out with my father and his marriage and family. Sigh.

Anyway, I'm relieved N's surgery went well and it was good to be there as a buffer between her and her mother. I, of all people, understand that. I know too that it meant a lot to have me there, bc N was anxious. Still, eventually, I had to go home, and now she and her mother are left to figure recovery out together.

The whole thing just really highlighted for me how much a spouse contributes to a relationship. I mean, having a partner in life isn't just all about the good times. There are situations where you really need help and support, and so this trip made me see that all those compromises I sometimes complain about… they are worth it bc ultimately, love is a beautiful thing. It requires a shit ton of work so I won't say it's a gift that just gets handed to you, but there is so much comfort and security in knowing that someone really has your back during your most vulnerable moments. Even with all the good friends that I have, I can say with certainly that few people can really fill that space in urgent times of need. I used to always say friends are the family we choose for ourselves. That's only partially true. Sure, friends are helpful and wonderful assisting with the day to day but man, when health problems and life/death shit come into play, it's a different beast. I can use myself as an example. I'm super great friends with J&J, but when they wanted us to be custodians for their kid should anything happen, I declined. That's just not something I'm going to take on. I mean, if I'm not willing to take on kids for my own parents, I'm not going to do it for friends. I guess that really highlights how there are still differences and limits.

I was eager to help N but thankfully, it was a very short period… From her perspective, she definitely could have used more help, you know? Anyway, the recovery is going to be a bitch. She definitely has a very long road ahead. She's off work for a month. Her rental apartment is on the second floor of an old Victorian house. The stairs are crazy narrow and uneven. Thankfully, her mother's house is all one level and there is enough space… but they might just drive each other bonkers. I dunno. It will just have to be worked out.

Meanwhile, in vanity news, my face is all kinds of breaking out. The cysts are back. Of course I got shit sleep while I was in NC. It was seriously like being back in the hospital with my grandfather when he fell. There was minimal down time. Between the constant discomfort requiring adjustments or meds or water or icing or re-propping of pillows and towels… there was a lot going on. Maybe if I had kids, all of this would be NBD. I mean, obviously N's the one going through the thick of it but fuck man, caretaking really kinda sucked.

I'm now on my flight back home. I'm beat, but I'm slated for another open house this weekend. Like I said, I'm still in that mode where I just can't be bothered to chill the fuck out. Not yet.

Candid Camera Strikes Again

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Before my flight out to North Carolina on Saturday night, I hosted an open house in Santa Clara…

What can I say, it was bound to happen: I got a bad tummy ache and had to use the bathroom pronto at my vacant and staged open house. The toilet clogged, and I had no suitable tools. After using a bent up cardboard sign without success, I had only one option right before the doors were set to open. It was NBD thanks to my solid waste engineering background… That said, the problem did NOT resolve.

Then, I had to wait three hours for my open house to end before going next door (the seller lives there) to ask for a plunger. Instead of the old grandpa guy coming to the door, the seller's Dave Navarro son answered. He was chill about my request, but seriously, where are the hidden cameras?!?😫

The plunger resolved the problem but man, what a day! #siliconvalleyrealestate #shithappens Literally. #donttouchthetowels JK!

Another Weekend, Another Open House

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So I spoke with my bud G recently, and she asked me how much I was working. I always feel like I can be more efficient than I am, so I kinda just threw out 45-55 hrs. I mean, sure, I’ve been saying that I am in Startup Mode, but I dunno: I haven’t really been tallying my hours and it’s kinda hard for me to estimate if I don’t really have productivity/results, you know?

So afterwards, I asked John just to see what his gauge was. He was like, “Um, it’s way more than that. I mean, what else have you been doing other than real estate?” Ok, touche. Yes, I seriously have been living, breathing, eating real estate. So fine. He guesstimated at least 70 hrs/week. I suppose I have been working every day of the week. And like today, I had a buyer consult in the morning followed by my open house, followed by research/emails all evening to try and “win the buyers” before their decision tomorrow…

It’s weird, bc I really do lose track of time. Like both my dad and Bubbey are telling me to step away and get some rest. But I’m in the zone! And there’s always so much to think about. I suppose the good news is that I am liking all this stuff. The bad news is, I’m really concerned about scoring my next deal, esp now that I will be away for seven days in North Carolina. I have a major fear of losing momentum.

My buyer consult this morning went well. At least I felt it did. I was meeting a Chinese couple– the guy used to work with Bubs. And Bubs, on learning that they were researching investment properties, actually plugged me to them! OMG, J and I got into a fight about it too, bc I was relaxing a few days ago and didn’t reply immediately to the guy’s email to set up a meeting. In fact, I was crafting a reply within 15-20 minutes of getting his message, and I was proofreading my reply just as I always do (I used to work in communications, for fuck’s sake!), and Bubs jumped on me about taking too damn long. ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? I was so goddamn pissed. I ask him to do a few things and he drags ass for DAYS and eventually never even gets my requests done. Now he’s harping on me about taking 20 minutes? Fuck off. I was so angry by the audacity. Seriously. I’ve been busting my ass, doing real estate since November. He plugs me to a friend/acquaintance for maybe the THIRD time ever, and I’m supposed to drop everything? I was SUPER angry.

Anyway, I met with the couple this morning. We had a good intro conversation for nearly an hour. I mean, the conversation flowed naturally and easily, but of course, I had anxiety all last night. Couldn’t sleep then woke up with all kinds of bowel issues. I crammed a bunch of data and stats before 9 am. I’m telling you, I never know what to expect so I over prepare like a crazy woman.

Anyway, I tried to do what Bubbey suggested to me before, which is to demonstrate my knowledge/competence through storytelling and anecdotes rather than just unemotional, factual statements. So for example, we talked about preparing strong offer packages and I mentioned what I did with my last buyers to help them win. Then we talked about crime/safety and I shared how someone at my open house was all concerned about seeing trash scavengers or RVs parked on the street. I explained how the crime reports/heat maps provide some information but ultimately, safety is subjective. People have different tolerances: like scavengers and RVs would freak my parents out but most tech millennials I encounter at the open houses don’t seem to mind a little bit of scruff in the ‘hood. And they laughed when I mentioned my safety-obsessed parents bc they could relate.

They were also concerned about HOA docs and inspection reports. I said that part of my role is to identify what issues are serious and legit and worth negotiating with the seller. I explained that a lot of times first-time buyers worry about every little thing that comes up in the reports, bc they don’t really have a grasp of its severity and the cost to fix it. I once combed through a report that said the electrical panel was a brand that had malfunction issues. Is it a fire hazard? Does it need to be replaced? Look: this is not a new house. The sellers have been living with that panel and using it for six years without issue. Not going to be addressed.

They asked how well I know the neighborhoods in San Mateo. It’s been eight years since I lived there but I have several friends in the area and all of them live in condo/TH communities. Then I rattled those places off… so yeah, I really tried to elaborate with personal info rather than just give yes/no answers.

After the meeting, I drove off to prep for my open house. It was another scorcher of a day and the property had no A/C. Once again, placing my signs was a beotch. MV is such a pain bc there are no good places to park near the intersections, so I have to drive a ways off, find a lot or space, and then walk back or cross the train tracks or whatever. And my Dr. Scholls loafers are giving me blisters, so there’s that. And then at the open house, it was busy yesterday but totally dead today until the final hour. Then a bunch of people came at once and I didn’t gather all their info bc I was talking to one couple while the other two ran off. And then, every. damn. time when I’m closing up shop after 4pm, someone shows up wanting to have a look. Mind you, all the lights are off and I packed away my flyer and snacks and supplies… fucking A. So annoying but I always let them look. Needless to say, I never finish my open houses on time and then I’m like hot, sweating, hungry, tired and I have to get those fucking signs again. Yeah, I was cranky today.

After I got home, I had to write the post-session report (I always get compliments from the listing agents for my detail and thoroughness) and then follow up with visitors. Around 7pm, I took a break to watch Married at First Sight and cram my piehole. Then, I was thinking more about my buyer consult this morning. After our meeting, I had sent a thank you email and they replied that they would be making a decision tomorrow. I was going to just wait and hear the news tomorrow. Then, OCD Vix kicked in. I mean, have I done everything possible to get the gig? Nope. So I culled together all these stats and ran a bunch of searches and scanned through properties. Seriously. Excel spreadsheets, line graphs, then the explanatory email, edited a gabillion times, blah, blah. Next thing you know it’s 11 pm. But I HAD to do it, bc I knew if I got bad news tomorrow, I would only beat myself up about it.

Oh btw, laptop update. You know how I got a new laptop bc my other one wonked out in the middle of my transaction? Well new lappie finally arrived (a week late) and I immediately fell in love with it. Now it has an audio problem. A component issue that can only be repaired by shipping it in and by being out of commission for two weeks. Um, my laptop is my livelihood. I cannot have NO laptop for two weeks. HP would not help me out, so now I had to purchase a second laptop so that I can move my data from this one to the new one and then return the defective one. Meanwhile, the second laptop still hasn’t shipped. Argh. Technology fail, but at least I can return bc it’s within the return period.

Ok, time to wind it down.

The Subtlety of Sexism

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Remember several months ago when I complained that John and I would basically communicate the same things to our bathroom contractor but then the old dude would not understand me but totally get John? And yet we said the same exact information? I complained about it in my blog, bc yet again, I was a woman not being taken seriously, not being listened to, and not being understood. It reminded me a bit of Shanghai when my uncle there would listen to John and me conversing in English, and he insisted that I spoke English with a Chinese accent. John would laugh it off and tell him that my grammar and English skills were way better than his (I was also teaching English as a Second Language at the Arlington Literacy Council), and they still didn’t believe my English proficiency was native level. (I was born in Maryland, btw.)

Well something similar happened again recently. I was over at the house I sold meeting with my buyers and a Chinese contractor they invited to survey the kitchen for renovation. The contractor was Chinese, so I spoke in Mandarin, talking about the load bearing wall and other layout options. I had prepared for the meeting beforehand by culling through tons of home pics on the MLS. I looked for similar home styles in the same neighborhood and then reviewed their interior photos to get ideas for how other owners updated their kitchens. So when I was onsite I told the contractor: one idea I saw was that the people walled up one of the THREE doors to the kitchen so visitors would come in via the front door, walk down a short hallway, and then turn left to see the open concept kitchen. It was better flow. The contractor even commented that my vocabulary was surprisingly advanced bc I used the word “flow.” Anyway, the meeting continued and then at the end, my buyer said he liked the contractor’s idea to seal up the door to the kitchen. Say what? Dude, that was MY suggestion. The meeting ended and I was a little bugged that once again a woman’s comment not only got dismissed but was subsequently credited to a man. Whatever. I went home and shrugged it off. Maybe the buyer got confused and thought the contractor mentioned it.

Then this week, I drove by the house and I saw the same contractor parked in the driveway. I came out and chatted. He showed me the work they started. Then, he specifically said, “we adopted your idea to remove the door and flow the kitchen this way.”

I felt so redeemed. I mean, maybe this comes across as some small, petty, insignificant thing. Think what you will. I know these moments add up. These subtle, seemingly insignificant instances are why women still don’t have equal representation in corporate leadership. This is why women continue to earn less for the same work. Smh. It might not have been deliberate or intentional. The point is, sexism persists. Women still have a ways to go. The next time I meet the buyers, I will have to express pride in seeing my suggestion come to fruition. Haha.

The Startup Lifestyle

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There are no two ways about it: I am currently living the startup lifestyle. I say that not to glamorize anything, but rather to describe the 24/7 live, breathe, eat-mentality of my current season. Having worked for a startup many years back and well, being the spouse of a serial startupper, it’s times like these when I’m so grateful to be childfree. Seriously, if we had kids, they would surely starve and die bc my tunnelvision is no joke. Remember how I gave myself UTI as a kid? Yeah. Even now as an adult, I will forget to eat. I’m not bragging about it: it’s not a good thing, but I’m just crazy that way.

Part of it is that neither J nor I have ever been good at balancing and compartmentalizing. We are also chronic overthinkers and in some facets, we are perfectionists. So being in this place where the work and industry is new and I’m not knowledgeable or experienced, it taps into insecurities that I can only counter with work obsession. And then bc it’s like my own business, there are a gabillion other things to keep afloat, like what’s my next lead gen activity, what’s my marketing piece, how do I figure out closing gifts, what am I doing to cultivate existing leads, etc. Like I was supposed to start farming new neighborhoods with mailers, but I haven’t done any of that. And I need to be doorknocking again… it never ends. The good part is that I like working. The bad part is I can get very single-tracked when I’m in the zone.

For example, ever since J left his last startup a year ago, he’s wanted to hit up Europe. But I had that sales prospecting class in May and then things finally started to warm up… I just wouldn’t take the time off. Honestly, I just want to keep pounding. Thankfully, Bubs realized soon enough that he needed to make his plans without me, and he was fully prepared to travel solo. Then Susan decided to join last minute. They get along well together, and given the last year they’ve had, I’m happy she is accompanying him.

So while Bubs is on his European jaunt, I’m holding down the fort. Still scheduling open houses every weekend. I’m aiming for one in-office appointment per week. I’m also dogsitting Stormy (16 days). She’s a great dog, who is active and playful but also I’m so glad she’s super low maintenance. It’s working out well.

I have to say, I’m very excited for my first commission check coming July 10. I’ve been basically bootstrapping the business since late November: between association memberships and dues, office fees, equipment, infrastructure, gas, etc… it all adds up. After almost 8 months in, I’ve racked up about $8k in expenses. Yeah, my laptop crapped out and so I needed a new one. Same with our home printer. Plus gas from all that shuttling around… It’ll be nice to get my first chunk of change. That said, I’m already itching for the next deal…

Today is July 4. I already made a followup call to some potential buyers who came in for a consultation last night. Mind you, my colleague referred them to me earlier this week bc the clients wanted a Chinese-speaking agent. Wowee, they were REALLY Chinese. So the entire meeting was done in Mandarin. I felt like I communicated decently with them, but there was definitely a little bit of Taboo going around, where I didn’t have the specific real estate terminology so I had to describe around it…

In preparation, I had called my parents the night before and I had also consulted Google translate, but they weren’t much help. Today, the buyers are backing off a bit, a little gun shy, bc they are first-time homebuyers and the house they’re keen on needs fumigation (NBD for this area) and a new roof, among other repairs. My colleague wants to still put on the gas and retain them as clients… I dunno. We’ll see where that goes.

I’m headed to a BBQ tonight and while I’m down in San Jose, I’m going to preview a few homes in the area where the buyers are looking. Might as well be efficient about my travel time. 🙂

Paper Pushing

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In my trainings, there’s this saying: “The fortune is in the followup.” Yes, project management and followup is one of my biggest strengths. It IS my jam. But man, with real estate transactions, that shit is taken to a whole other level. I mean, I have never talked on my phone so damn much in my life, and every day, there is so much checking on the status of this, pushing and prodding for that, trying to get docs here and there. Man. I am amazed how businesses get things done, bc I am seeing a lot of inefficiencies and schedule creep. I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’ve met a lot of really nice and helpful people. But that said, I’m realizing that every transaction involves a shit ton of players. Yes, that’s why the pie gets sliced up into so many different pieces. There are SO many people from each party. It’s mind-boggling. And I dunno, I’m getting the feeling that the constant back and forth is very much just the nature of the business. Sigh.

My hope is that as I meet more people and learn more about their personal workstyles, ultimately, I can create tribes where the people working together gel and move things along at a more consistent pace with matching levels of urgency.

I swear, for two weeks I had THE worst time getting ahold of the solar company and every time I pushed them for docs, I was told flatly, “we’re working on it.” No ETD, nothing. It seriously drove me bonkers.  Clearly, I’m still just learning how the sausage gets made.

Sure, the July 4 holiday is also throwing a monkey wrench into things, what with people taking off days to make it a long weekend… I dunno. I’m in full-on intense work mode, so I guess it’s hard for me to be more understanding. I want to hit the iron while it’s hot and all, you know?

I hustled really hard this week to keep up my open house hosting streak, but I was only able to score for Sunday. Just as well, I had a friend’s separation anxiety dog over for several hours on Friday and Saturday night. Today, it was nice too to sleep in and putz around the house. After cleaning the house and watching too many episodes of Married at First Sight (yes, I’m back on that wagon), I previewed a number of homes and also prepped for the open house tomorrow. Overall, it was a chill day.

Tomorrow, I’m hosting another condo/townhouse property– this time in Santa Clara. Naturally, I skimmed through the disclosures and HOA policies (so many darn rules!) and reviewed comps. My brain is stuffed full of data. Tomorrow it’s time to turn the charm back on: Wish me luck. Hope buyers come out in full force.