May 15, 2023. I made a life changing phone call. I could already tell that dispatch was probably not going to work out for me. There are several reasons, some of them I won’t mention here but one thing that I feel is bothering me is to sit still constantly for 12 hours straight. I am used to move around, lift and use my body. Not sit still. I hate sitting still. I have during the time I have been in dispatch gained several pounds and I have constant headache from the computer screens as well as other symptoms that I didn’t have before. Knowing that there won’t come a prince on a white horse to save me from this, I had to take serious actions myself.
For months my landlord where I have my horses, Misti, had tried to persuade me to go into real estate. She has a brokerage with her daughter. But up until that point I was happy working on the truck. I loved helping people. But dispatch was different. So first I called Misti and asked her to tell me all in and outs of the business. Pros and cons. What did they have to offer me and how would I go ahead to do this. What school was the best. She gave me the number to The Real Estate School of Saledo. I hung up with Misti and called right away. And before I knew it I had signed up for all basic classes plus 2 years of CE. What in the world was I doing? I have no experience of real estate whatsoever. I have owned a couple of properties but that was years ago. Back to school it was.

And I dived into this full force. More hard core than I thought I would from the beginning. I loved it. I loved learning about it. Decided that it was anyway summer and Harlequin Tea could take a little break in the summer heat anyway. The class was online so I could sit in front of my computer on my own time. Every single day for the past three month has gone to studying. I decided early on to not tell a lot of people about this project. I didn’t want all the questions. I didn’t want the pressure. I put up the goal to have it completed in 3 months. August 15th. Would that even be possible? I work full time, have animals to take care of etc etc etc. I put my heart and soul into this. Twix & BamBam thinks I am the most horrible mom there is on this planet sitting on this chair. When I worked nights I brought the ipad with me to work and read all the material to keep me awake at night between calls. In total there was only 8 people who knew.

It came closer to exam. As with EMS, there was a testing site, Pearson Vue, you have to go to. I chose the same as I did 4 years ago, in Tyler. Not even the eight people who knew about school knew exactly what day I was testing. They knew this week but not what day. I have so much test anxiety I didn’t want that extra pressure on me, in case I failed. I am such a horrible test taker.
8 am this morning. Came to the test site. Chose the same locker as last time… #21. My lucky number. At least worth a try. The test consists of two parts; a national 85 questions and a state 40 questions. You have plenty of time… 4 hours I think. So you don’t have to stress about that. I had heard that the state part was the hard part. Yeah, that is correct. The national part went decent. I thought I had made that once I was done. The state part certainly was a slap in my face. I was more confused about everything. Questions that I know had not been covered in the curriculum. How many days do you have to respond to an email from another broker? what???? The alternatives was 24 hours, 3 calendar days, 3 business days or 10 days. I guessed 3 business days. Other questions were just simply tricky in the answers. I absolutely didn’t think I passed it.
Came out from the testing room and the man gave me my paperwork with a smile. I passed both tests!!!

OMG… OMG OMG OMG. And this is the point when you are supposed to be quiet and contain a professional manner. Not me! People from the other office at the elevators came out to congratulate me. I was bawling in the elevators. The receptionist downstairs asked if I was okay and all I could say was “Yes, happy tears”. Three months of hard work had paid off. I passed the test on my first attempt.

The first person I called back was Misti. I will be joining her brokerage Star Spangled Real Estate & Property Management. Then I worked the list down to tell the people who knew. And I called the school to give them an update. I met my goal, to get my nationals and state test done within 3 months! And I did it with 5 days!

When I came home I went and booked a fingerprinting. Could have done that before I tested but I was busy with first monday and honestly completely forgot about it until Misti asked if I had done it. There were openings in Sulphur Springs this afternoon so I drove there and got that squared away.

So now is another week of waiting. TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission) takes a week to go through all document and background check etc and then will decide whether to (or not to) issue a license. Not that I have any criminal history so I’m not super worried about it. But it is still an agonizing wait for something. And until then there is not much I can do except wait.

And what now? No I am not leaving dispatch just yet. That would be stupid. I need an income. To get your feet wet in real estate takes a couple of months. But I will put all my efforts into learning the in and outs of the job on my days off. I will follow Misti and her husband Chad along on everything I possibly can. Be a spunge and learn. Then we will see when I have an somewhat income so I can go part time to begin with. So no, I’m not leaving for a while. My goal is to maybe be able to go part time in October… don’t know if that is possible or too short timespan.

So there you are… If you have read this far down, thank you! I am about to head to bed now. This mental stress has been huge and it’s been a roller coaster today. So glad I did the test first thing in the morning. Working all weekend so that will keep my mind busy and time go fast!