Catch Up in June and July

I went to California for the entire month of May and felt a lot of pressure when I came back to New York to have a busy, productive and lucrative summer in real estate.

Things didn't exactly unfold as I might have expected and there were lean times in the hot weather. I tried to stave off the feelings of incompetence and failure, because that shit never helps. I did notice some sad and depressed feelings hanging around in my space, probably leftover energy from last summer, which was such a sad time for me. Despite all of the doubts and insecurity, I managed to stop feeling like a new real estate agent sometime around July.

The paragraphs and entries that follow are edited versions of emails I sent to friends in the last few months, chronicling my attitudes and experiences.

Real estate is going ok. I am trying not to get beat out of $1000 by some shady agents in my office and also trying to stay positive and look forward. I expect paperwork from a Russian guy for his daughter by tomorrow morning, and I have a showing at 11. I think the guy should take the apartment because it has what he describes he wants. I have to get back on my ads, which have slid in the last two weeks. This morning a client stood me up at 8:15 in the morning on the upper west side. Who does that? Lame, but moving on.

(I got my $1000--actually it was more like $1200--because I stood up for myself. The Russian daughter flaked and took a sublet from a friend. She contacted me through an ad a few weeks ago but then never responded to my email. The stand-up guy was actually very nice. He also called me a week or two after he stood me up and we saw three or four apartments together. It seemed like he was on the verge of renting this place I showed him in Williamsburg but then he went MIA again.)

I understand the wall of work. I, too, have been embedded in one since I got back. It has been a challenge to find time for myself, especially time to take care of my body. The South American is driving me up a wall (of work) with his prissy self. He needs closets. He somehow manages, without a social security number, to get a New York City landlord to agree to rent to him, and now he wants closets too? I am trying really hard to just let go of the whole thing (that sounds like a paradox), since it has been nothing but a headache from the beginning. Did I mention I will probably only get about $900 for 2 months of work with them? If that. I am venting. I am really tired. In fact, I am engaging in some childish pretend time management mishapping to get out of someone's birthday drinks on the Upper West Side. The whole thing makes me want to burst into tears, which is just fine, since I have the house to myself tonight. It's all too much to even blog about.

I just learned a new way of updating my ads that I hope is real, because it is waaay less work than the other way, which makes me want to run screaming from the computer or at least play solitaire for 5 hours. I had a good month of July, but I still have to fight for some money which should be coming my way but I don't totally expect it--long story...

(This next one was to some friend of a friend who has some mysterious Williamsburg real estate connection--a developer or something. I am still waiting to hear more..)

Sorry it took so long for me to email you after our rainy encounter. I am officially contacting you to learn more about the real estate biznesse situation we talked briefly about. I'd like to know more and if there is a way I can participate. Maybe there's a way I can integrate what you've got going into my plan??

My deal is this: I work Manhattan rentals for now, but I'm planning with a few colleagues to write and teach a free class in Brooklyn/Williamsburg about home buying, mortgages, etc, tenancy in common, forming small co-ops, etc. to buy property. I call it Home Buying for Hipsters <©>. After the awesome and dynamic presentation, there's a rock show! Bands to be determined. The idea here is to present myself in a positive, professional light, counteracting the automatic feelings of mistrust most people have for real estate agents by first giving away something for free, then associating myself with coolness. Get it? What's your deal?

(This was right as I started working with biz partner #1)

Summer is hot and kinda fun, not wildly fun. Real estate is tiring but hopefully becoming more lucrative, now that I am working with a friend at work. She's a little spazzy and messy but will do some of the things I don't like to do and vice versa. We shall see...