VICTORY!

I can breathe easily now!  I took my real estate Broker's exam yesterday afternoon (after much anticipation/slight anxiety) and passed!!
Can't tell you how much of a relief that is -- and truthfully I have been delaying this moment for an extremely long time.  Mostly because I dread taking tests.  But with some preparation & lots of extra prayer from friends & family I passed!

ahhh.....breathing easy right now.... :)
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Bite The Bullet

Alright it's about time I bite the bullet.... I've finally signed up to take my real estate exam. 
I've been working full time with & for my mom in her office since I graduated in 2008.  I think having always "worked" with my mom since I was little I have dragged my feet about it.

There's something about working with your parent all that time -- I sometimes get a little worried/consumed with anxiety/fear that I'm doing this to please my mom or be the dutiful daughter.  But then there are times when I even catch myself off guard by how good I am (not to sound like an ego-maniac) at what I'm doing here.  The positives right now outweigh any fear I have, and I'm sure as time goes on I'll see how I fit & exactly what I bring to the table each & every day

So I'm not going to delay this any further -- rather than just talk about getting my license, I'm going to to do it.  My test is scheduled for February 16th.  Meaning for the next 30+ days I will be studying my rear end off, taking the test simulator multiple times over, and praying I'm not one of the fateful many that fail the first time thru.
Say a prayer for me as the day draws near...
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Problem Solving to the Test!

This week must be either a joke or a serious test of my problem solving skills...
Day one of my mom's vacation (mind you, she's taking a "mother/daughter" cruise to Alaska with her friend Laurie & Laurie's mom Jan....sans her daughter...i.e. ME) we get a phone call from a nervous nellie agent about a flood plain disclosure for a transaction.  Saturday my mom's partner gets a frantic call from his clients about another transaction we have and they're freaking out about that house being in a flood plain... hellooooo you want to live in Keizer...near the Willamette river...in OREGON -- almost everywhere is in a flood plain!!!

Then yesterday Eric calls me to tell me one of our vacant listings got tagged over the weekend.. thank you "187 gang" for being incredibly stupid and juvenile. And then to follow it all up this morning - I went to check on another vacant listing only to find that the deadbolt is locked (for which I do not have a working key) as well as the kitchen window was busted out & the kitchen faucet left running. 

Is this a week of flood plain & vandalism?! Sheesh!  Well for the two listings I did what I was supposed to do - notify the sellers & let them know I am available to help in any way I can should they need me.

As for those transactions.... it's time to figure out if we can keep them together...praying we can.

Yeesh! I'll keep you posted if any other crazy events take place while mom is gone....
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Whirlwind

Today has just been a crazy - hectic - full day.  From beginning to end it has been non-stop.  Started off by rushing around to get an addendum signed, to get a file updated, so that I could get at preliminary HUD submitted to a bank for final approval & clear to close with wire instructions for my escrow officer. PHEW!  I realize that probably didn't make a whole lot of sense to anyone outside the real estate world... but that was just the start to my day! 

I am so looking forward to going home early (running has been canceled tonight -- my best bud Mo's grandfather passed away yesterday & they are making plans to head south to CA, please think of, pray for, & send good thoughts to her) and getting some much needed laundry washed, dried, folded, & put away!  I may even open a bottle of wine to get through the ordeal.

3 more days and I'm off to San Diego to meet up with the little brother.  We're going to be driving home from his current duty station at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base.  For those of you who don't know, my awesome younger brother is an E-4 Corpsman with the United States Navy.  I'm super proud of him -- not just for his service, but for the man that he is becoming.  God is doing a good thing in him and it is so fun to see how all the pieces are coming together!
Here's a pic of the two of us from his boot camp graduation

He's by far the best brother a girl could ask for.... Love that kid.

Hope everyone has an enjoyable evening too!
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Changes

Things they are a'changin' in our office.  We have an agent leaving the team - and that is actually alright, and out right good!  But this change is leaving a few things within our office that will need more coverage...  So what does that mean for me?  Simple...I'm getting my R/E license to help with the distribution of the work.  I think it will be good.  I'm not certain if real estate is what I will forever want to do, but for this season in life, it will work.  I'll still maintain the administrative piece of my job primarily, but this added element will open me up to do some real work for commission.  Which I think will be cool.  Thankfully it's not a super pressure thing from my boss (aka mom) to be doing real estate full time right away.  We'll see how this all works out & comes together.  I'll keep this updated about that journey.

It seems like the closer I get to leaving for vacation the farther away it seems or the longer it seems to take for the days to pass.  No matter.... it'll be here soon enough! Just hope that I have everything ready for the trip!

Countdown: 6 days!
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