Anthony's Life
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Below are the 15 most recent journal entries recorded in the "eron15" journal:
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11:19 am
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196.5
WOO HOO!!!!!!! lost 20.5 pounds. :-D go me.
Unfortunately I just BINGED on desserts yesterday, but I will make up for it today. :)
I'm still trying to get a house sold. It's been a real bitch to do. The market sucks and no one is really buying. :(
O well. Gotta do what you gotta do. :)
Current Location: work
Current Mood: Torn
Tags: real estate, weight watchers
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08:26 am
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The wide world of work.
So my first deal has fallen through. The homeowners accepted a better offer. But not to worry, I sort of expected it to happen. Little back story. My clients wanted to buy a cute little house that I was doing an open house at. The problem was they had to sell there own house first. We put in an offer for the asking price (after negotiating back and forth) but we had to puck a contingency that we could not buy the house until their house was sold. We wait over a week to hear back from the sellers agent. The sellers had 2 other offers and are waiting on one more. So we wait, and wait, and wait some more. I finally get a call from the agent yesterday saying that the sellers accepted a offer that was 20% higher than ours w/o any contingency. I was a little bummed, but not surprised. My clients haven't even started showing their house yet.
On the flip side, my clients still want/need to sell. The house they are in is way to expensive for them. They are just barely making the mortgage and have no additional money. We have been looking at several other homes in the area. They have 4 kids, yes 4 kids, and do not want to have to switch them out of the schools that they are currently in. We are going to check out another house tomorrow. Hopefully this one will work for them and we can get another deal going. I also still have there listing to sell the house so, hopefully, that will come through soon.
C had an interview on Monday for a English Supervisor's position. He aced it. He was called back yesterday for a second round interview today. He is one of 3 candidates. The only drawback to the position is that the commute. The district is almost an hour away from where we live. He doesn't know if he wants the position, but I have an odd feeling he will take it. He will get use to the drive. :) Plus his salary will go up a nice chunk. Fingers crossed.
Current Location: work
Current Mood:  excited
Tags: real estate, supervisor
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08:57 am
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REAL ESTATE UPDATE
Things are going much better than expected. I have my first house on the market.
http://www.weichert.com/search/realestate/PropertyListing.aspx?P=24471041&cityid=37868&ptypeid=32&minpr=300&maxpr=350&type=wei
On top of that, I am INCHES, away from completing my first sale. I have been going back and forth with the sellers agent trying to come up with a final number. My clients have bit the bullet and gone to there max. We are hoping that her clients take the offer. If so, that will be one less thing to worry about. The tough part is that the people who are looking to buy the new house own the house that I am trying to sell. Because of this I have to sell the first house before they can buy the second one. They don't want to be stuck with 2 mortgages, which I can understand. SOOOO... anyone looking to buy a house in Old Bridge NJ.
I also have another client that is brand new to home buying. She has been leasing for a few yrs now and her lease is up at the end of may. She is hoping to purchase a house before then so she doesn't have to a)renew her lease or b)move back in with family. I took her to see a few houses in her price range (max 300g). They were all in need of a fair amount of work, more than she was looking to do. So now we are looking into condos. I found several below her max in really nice condition. Plus, she is a first time home buyer, so she gets the gov't credit applied to her purchase, saving her more money. I will, hopefully, hear back from her soon.
In other news, we attended Caroline's wedding on Saturday. It was really nice. I did feel bad about the entire situation. It was/has been and is going to be really tough for C's family, but we made the most of it and had a good time in the process. C does owe me big time though. Between Britney Spears the Fri before and missing Lunacon for the wedding, he owes me.:)
Current Location: work
Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Its all about the green-Wedding Singer
Tags: real estate, wedding
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01:23 pm
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Real Estate update
As of Thursday I will have my first house listed. These are the same clients that are going to buy the house from the open house i did 2 weeks ago. So if this works I will get not only the commission from selling there house but also from them buying the new house. SCORE 2X. Anyone want to move to Old Bridge NJ. :)
My friends are still on the house hunt. We went hunting yesterday at a few fixer uppers, but nothing that was to there liking. They were either too much work or just no character. I found a few more that we will look into.
So things are looking up in that respect.
My "real job" is starting to get a little busier. Still not as good as it was last year, but better it was last month.
C is really stressing, still. Our lives are so crazy, we hardly see each other. I am stuck going to this wedding on Saturday for his sister. UGH, Id rather be shot by a red-headed sniper. :) But I have to go. C got roped into doing the music at the wedding. Fortunately that is the only thing he got roped into. They wanted him to do the favors and centerpieces..etc. I'm surprised i wasn't asked to make the wedding cake. O well..it is what it is.
Current Location: work
Current Mood: OK
Current Music: Love is a Many Spelndid Thing-Grease
Tags: real estate, wedding
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11:03 am
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A rise in the housing market!!!!
Well for me at least. As of this past week I have 3 very good clients.
First-A close friend of ours that is looking to buy a second house in the Central Jersey area. They are looking for a fixer upper near the train to be able to travel to NYC and Philly easily.
Second-I did an open house in Old Bridge for a colleague of mine. A gentleman came in. He told me he lives right around the corner and is looking to downsize. He has his house on the market before but they did not have a good agent the first time around. I gave him my card and asked him to call me.
I got a call from his wife wanting to see the house this coming Monday. This could mean both a buy and a sell for this family.
Third-I get a email from a guy who lives in Edison township (in Middlesex County where I live/work). He is looking to move to Monmouth County (the county next door to Middlesex). The guy wants to rent a town house and has a budget of about $3000/month. I sent him a few listings and also told him about possibly buying a house. With that type of money he could afford to own rather than rent. Plus if he is a first time home buyer he gets the $8000 credit on his purchase. I am waiting to hear back from him. The best part is this guy found me on Manhunt (a gay chat site). I have it posted there, and on several other sites, that I am a real estate agent. Why not, its free advertising and it paid off.
We shall see what becomes of all of these. I will keep you posted. FINGERS CROSSED.
In other news, C is almost done with his schooling. THANK GOD!!!!!!!!! June he will be finished with his administration classes, have his certification and finally be able to regain some of his time and sanity. We hardly see each other between jobs and his schooling. It's rough, but we are getting by. We knew it would be a little difficult, but it still sucks.
We decided to go on a cruise this year. 10 days to the Caribbean (the same trip we took a few years back). As per what I was just saying, we need time to ourselves. We didn't go on vacation last year due to the fact that we had no time. This year we made the plans, forcing us to make the time. Either way I'm excited.
Tags: cruise, real estate
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12:27 pm
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REAL CHANGES
For anyone that does not know, I got my real estate license about 6 months ago. Since then, I have been working at Century 21. I didn't like it at all. The training was bad and the atmosphere was very stuffy. I started talking to a guy online who works for Weichert Realtors. Can I tell you, I learned more from talking to him over about a months time than I did from working at the C 21 office for almost 6 months. Because of this I ended up transferring to his office and he became my mentor.
Since starting there I have learned a heck of a lot and I am feeling a lot more confident about me succeeding in real estate. I want to give you a heads up, I will be sending out a blast email soon with all of my information. This is to just give a general hello of who I am and where I am working. Pass it out to friends and neighbors.
C is totally stressing, but this time it's legit. He is almost done with his classes. 4 more months and he will have his certification to become Admin. in the NJ board of ed. The problem is he doesn't want to do it now. Part of his studies requires him to shadow principals in there every day work environments. That was a MAJOR turn off for him.
For example, he just worked with one Principal that had to ride home with a bunch of kids on the school bus. Why, because the bus driver complained that the kids were being rowdy. So she rode to the bus stop with them, got off, spoke to the parents, got back on the bus and went back to the school.
Earlier that day, the nurse called out, so the Principal had to play nurse for the day. C was completely turned off by all the BS that she had to do. I KNOW he would not want to do any of this, But he has to finish the program. The amount of time and money he's invest is not worth quitting now. Plus, the certification does not expire so if he decides he wants to for Admin in 10 years. he can.
Today, he is working with a Principal at an elementary school. This will probably be the deciding factor if he pursues this or not. I hope he doesn't, but we will see.
That's it for now. I will keep you posted if anything new fun and exciting happens.
Current Location: work
Current Mood:  bored
Tags: real estate, school, work
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08:00 am
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On the job front
WORK SUCKS!!!!!!!!
the end-
Seriously- My job decided that due to the economy..blah blah blah, They were going to cut hours. Ok no big deal. What sucks is that they are cutting MY HOURS. I got a call from my boss saying that my hours were going to be cut, which I expected. What I didn't expect is for them to cut my shifts a total of 5 hours and "ask" me work an additional shift to make 40. WTF- They expect my ass to work an extra shift to make the same hours that other agents. I was pissed, absolutely pissed. How can they ask me to do that. I understand we're suffering, but come on. What made it worse is that the other 2 agents I'm with at my hotel, were not affected. One is Salary, so there would be no effect on her check, but the other is salary and has been with the company less time then me. Now I don't wish for anyone to be screwed, but they could have cut us both an hour or 2 and made it fair. But nope, my head was on the chopping block.
So anyway, I am working with my boss the next day, so instead of saying/doing anything stupid I decided to wait to see him.
I walk in the door the next morning, ready for a fight, I'm not there 10 min and he says, don't worry about the schedule, I was able to work things out so you'll get your hours. HUH!!! I was all ready for a confrontation and he drops this bomb on me. OK
Now I figured it's not worth saying anything now. He said he's going to give me my hours I'm pretty sure he will. Sure enough I got my schedule, 38 hours. It's not 40, but its not 35 either, so I can't really complain.
As for my real estate, that has been off to a VERY slow start. My problem is that I don't have the time that I would like to be able to dedicate myself to doing the real estate. I can attend the meetings and the call nights, but that's the extent of it. I can't attend the weekly meetings nor can i go on the caravans to see new properties. But I will do what I can. Keep your fingers crossed.
In other news life is getting to damn expensive. C just got a bill for his propane heater for his greenhouse..almost $400. I wanted to kill him. That was more than our total bill last year when we had electric heaters in there. O well, wake up call.
In addition, my car needs new break pads and new front tires..another $300. I owe the dentist $175 for a cleaning that I later found out wasn't covered. Then just general life. Just one this after another after another. I didn't get a bonus this yr (another reason I hate my job) so there was no extra money coming in to cover extra holiday expenses. I know everyone is going through this, but it just really bites the big one. We have to budget ourselves to want to order Chinese food or go out with friends. It really sucks.
That's my rant for the day.
Current Location: work
Current Mood: crabby
Current Music: Money Money Money-Abba
Tags: life, money, real estate, work
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02:18 pm
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FUN TIMES
Hello all. I wanted to give you a little update on life as it appears to be right now.
First off C's back problems. For the past 2 months C has had major problems with his back. We bought heating pads and a temper-pedic mattress cover. He hasn't been to the gym since this happened and could not get a good night sleep for the longest time. He finally broke down and went to the doctor, typical guy. It turns our he had an inflamed muscle or a nerve or something like that. The dr. gave him an inflammatory med to take. He's been on the meds since Tues, he's been fine. No pain whatsoever. WHY ARE MEN SO STUBBORN?
I attended my first call night at the real estate office on Thursday. It was very interesting. We started with a little meeting and role playing of different situations. They passed around a marker to see who would go first. OF COURSE, it landed on me. But I gave it my best and used what I know in my current sales position and tried to apply it to real estate. I didn't do too badly.
After a few rounds we had a bite to eat and proceeded to get our lists and make cold calls. Since it was my first time attending, I shadowed a few of the other agents and watched how they worked. The point of the night is to try and get appointments with potential sellers. The draw of the night is for every appointment you make that evening you get $5 cash. THEN for every one of those appointments you can turn in to a listing you get an additional $50 cash. It might not seem like much, but you make 4 appointments, one of which turns into a listing thats $70 you get just for doing your job. And if that listing turns into a sale.. that can be a lot of money, just for making a phone call.
So i watched the different approached agent made to talking to people. I got my own book of scripts to look over and I look forward to trying my hand at it soon.
Tomorrow is my first open house. I will update everyone on how that goes.
Wed I went to go see the Marvelous Wonderettes. http://www.playbill.com/events/event_detail/16014.html I must say i was pleasantly surprised. It was a very cutesy performance. A nice show to see if you don't want to think that hard. I would recommended it to others.
My normal job is soo slow and boring. The hotel is close to dead and no one is buying. It can get frustrating, but I have to be happy I still have a job.
Next weekend is Philcon. YEAHHHHHHH!!!! That will be fun. I am looking forward to it.
That's all for now
Current Location: work
Current Mood: bored
Current Music: Lollipop
Tags: back, broadway, real estate
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01:54 pm
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Just an update
Hello all,
Well, I FINALLY got my real estate training off the ground. Took me FOREVER to do, but at least i got my foot in the door. I went to a company meeting on Thurs, very interesting. Sat there, took notes and pretended like i knew what they were talking about. I was able to network a little and find an agent at my office that seemed Compitent enough to make a day/time to meet up with me on Monday and get me started. YEAHHH
My current job sucks. It's been very slow. Totally not what it should be like this time of the year. We should be getting bombarded with guests. HOPEFULLY, things will pick up soon or this is going to be a sucky Xmas season.
Christian has it in his head to renovate the kitchen. We have NO MONEY and NO EQUITY to pay for any sort of renovation so I have no idea what he is smoking...but it's definitely strong shit. LOL
That's it for now.
Tags: kitchen, real estate
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08:22 am
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Real Estate Blues
Ok so i get a text message, not even a phone call, a text message from Yvette (the real estate agent) saying that she had a closing that morning (Monday) and then had to go see her grandmother. This was on Wed morning/afternoon around 1.
I call her back to let her know i got the message and that I was available the rest of the afternoon and tomorrow if she wanted to get together and get the ball rolling. I DON'T HEAR BACK AT ALL. I'm going to call KT again (shes only in the office Tues and Fri) and let her know that once again I didn't get a call back. Nothing to even acknowledge that she got my message.
My other concern is that if I am supposed to be doing this on my days off, how am I going to get anything accomplished around the house. I'll, basically, be working 7 days. I do the food shopping, laundry, THE BILLS, when will all that get done.
These are things that are making me think more and more if this is a good idea.
I will keep you posted on any new developments.
Current Location: work
Current Mood:  aggravated
Tags: real estate
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07:29 am
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What a waste
I hate inconsiderate people. I was supposed to work with my mentor at the real estate office yesterday. I emailed her on Thurs. to let her know i was free on Monday to work with her. She emailed me back saying to call her around 8:30-9ish to make sure she was in the office.
So i get up at 7am on my day off, get dressed and ready to go. I wait till around 8:45 to call. No answer. I call the office after 9..she's not in. Ok no problem I'll just wait. And wait...and WAIT!!!!!!!
10 rolls around she calls back. She had a client and is running late. She will call me when she gets in. Ok fine. 11:30 rolls around I give up. I get out of my suit, change into jeans and go about my day. She NEVER ends up calling me back. WTF. I wasted my entire day, not to mention running around all day Sunday getting done what I normally would have done on Monday. So now im stuck at home with NOTHING to do.
I call her back around 3, of course she doesn't answer. I leave a message wanting to make sure that everything was ok. Really I was asking where the heck she ran off to. I never hear from her the rest of the day. :(
I have to call the main office again today to find out what to do because this isn't going to work if I have to chase her down every day we are supposed to work together. I understand a lot of this is going to be learning on my own, but I still have to get my paperwork done.
I have 45 day before my temp. license expires and 6 months from when i started taking my classes to get my actual license (I stared them in July) So I need to get the ball rolling on this before I lose everything. Hopefully I can do the paperwork sometime this week. We shall see.
Not much else going on. My concierge job is bad right now. No one is buying the TKTS booth (the discount ticket booth in Times Sq) just reopened. They now accept credit cards (only use to be cash) and they have more windows to the lines move faster. That is not going to help us this holiday season. Are sales are tanking, the numbers at this hotel, and almost all the other hotels, have dropped considerably. My job is secure, because they need agents who can sell, which I can do but this is going to be a bit of a bumpy holiday season for us. :( O well, nothing I can do but grin and bear it.
C has finally come to the realization that he does not want to be a principal. ALLELUIA!!!!! He realized that working 12 months a year..6-7 day a week till 6-7 o'clock at night is not worth the extra 20g..at least not right now. So he is going to continue/finish his classes, get his raise for finishing the classes and that's it. The certification doesn't expire, so in 10/15 yrs when he is tired of the classroom he can look into moving up. I just have to make sure we can both retain our sanity's till he finishes these classes in June. We've gotten this far, another 9 months should be no problem.
Current Location: work
Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: Let the River Run-Working Girl
Tags: concierge, principal, real estate
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01:20 pm
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Spend to make
So, I had my first meeting with someone at the real estate office yesterday. She goes by the initials KT. I knew that had to be a sign of something good.
She went through the general information of Century 21..what kind of training you go through its affiliates..etc etc.
After about an hour she asked if I had any questions/concerns. I asked her first about the scheduling. Since i currently have 2 jobs (concierge at the gym) how to schedule in THIS endeavor? She says not to worry (a standard answer) we can only do so much.
Next was the money. Not how much am I going to make, rather how much I have to invest to get started. K T could not give me exact figures but she said it would be around 600-800 investment. WTF-....between business cards..lock boxes and keys.. promotional stuff..MLS fees etc. I have to see where I'm going to pull this money out of.
Plus with the way the economy is I'm more and more nervous about starting this. But there is only one way to find out.
I will keep you all posted.
Current Location: work
Current Mood:  nervous
Tags: real estate
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04:57 pm
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Real Estate
I PASSED MY REAL ESTATE EXAM. ALL I HAVE TO DO IS GET MY FINGERPRINTS DONE AND PAY FOR MY LICENSE.
YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Other than that, work is slow and boring. Nothing else fun going on here.
Tags: real estate
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02:10 pm
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Thurs id D day
Hello all,
2 days till I take my state exam for my real estate license. I'm nervous and excited all at the same time. I met with the Brokers assistant yesterday to find out whats the next step. She was very excited to meet me and told me that once i pass my test and get my fingerprints done that she will meet up with me and set up my business cards and set me up with someone to train me. I am looking forward to this.
In other news, my boss has not bothered me in a long time.. which is always a good thing. The less i have to deal with him the better. Work has been pleasant because of it.
Nothing new on the home front. Dogs are good, C is C.
That's it for now.
Current Mood: happy
Tags: real estate
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09:22 am
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Life is boring...
...and yet crazy. I have been taking my Real Estate classes, started last week, and it seems to be going great. A lot of information, but after reviewing it over and over AND OVER, it starts to make sense. We shall see.
C is done with "work" and starts his own classes full time (Mon-Thurs) till the end of July. So it looks like August is going to be the extent of our vacation.
C has been in pain, not a pain, in pain for the past week. It seems that due to the fact that he grinds his teeth at night his jawbone is out of alignment and now he gets migraine headaches, feels nauseated and just not himself. The dentist has taking an impression of his jaw so he has a custom made mouth guard that he has to sleep with to realign the jaw. It's going to take 2 weeks to get, that was about a week ago. But once he uses it he will see results in the first night. I hope he gets it by "TNE" or he might not be able to go. :(
That's it, back to work.
Current Location: work
Current Mood: happy
Tags: real estate
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eron15's journal