How Do I Right My Ship?

[William Hall]

Question: What jobs are available in the real estate field that fit my education and experience, where I could make 35-40K to start, hourly or salary, not commission? I have had 4 unofficial assessments all saying I should be working for no less than 75-100K per year (just about what I was making when business was active and good), but is it that there are no non-commission real estate jobs (that don’t require another certification), or am I just not marketing myself right? Any answers or food for thought would be appreciated.

Education: A.S. in Business from community college, worked on my Bachelor’s in Business Admin in the 1990’s, but dropped out about 1 ½ yrs. short of graduation. I am currently back in school and have one exam in front of me to graduate. Trained as a medic and LVN by the Army (did not complete my rotations b/c of the back surgery I just had).

Experience: I can't say I have one particular thing I am certified in. I have always had a summer of after-school job, mostly working for my grandfather, who owned a window and door making shop, and he was grooming me to take over, but he passed when I was still too young to really grab the reins. However, I got to see the construction process first hand. I continued on in school, and worked part-time for my stepdad who had a govt. program to fix up and re-sell HUD homes. The requirement was that he had to help high school dropouts get their GED, and learn construction trades at the same time. For him, most of my work was going out to represent him in his place at meetings he couldn't fit into his schedule, facilitate relationships with potential donors for grants, and/or stand in his place when something needed to be taken care of with his oversight committee. I eventually broke away from him after I found out that some of these people, especially in the oversight committee really liked my presentation, and so he sabotaged me when they offered me a job in the oversight committee.

After that, I worked a year stint for Infiniti in the customer service dept, which helped me get over my shyness; we had to make a minimum of 80 contacts a day. Shortly after that, I got my real introduction to rel estate helping my paternal grandmother manage the rentals left behind by my paternal grandfather and his sister. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial streak, so at the time, I had a car dealer’s license to buy and sell used cars. Eventually, helping my grandmother with management became a full-time occupation. The problem here is that she was dead set on keeping things exactly how they were in 1980 (by now we’re talking about 1998-99). I actually discovered she was going into her retirement $200 a month to maintain her rentals, and she had kind of a weird logic: if I would just give them more attention (literally just stare at them and don’t touch anything), they would fix themselves.
I learned what not to do under her, and bought my first fixer in 2001 with a 10K loan from Dad and a business credit line. I really took off from there, then I found myself dealing with accountants, inspectors, attorneys, agents , inspectors, etc., on a daily basis, and doing it successfully. Paid Dad back, off and rolling. My bread & butter was cruching the numbers on a deal, then get the ugliest house on the block, and turn it into the top dog in 6 months!

Unfortunately Grandma could come up with a crisis just as fast as I could turn a deal, and it started looking like I needed a 2nd job just to keep up. I got myself squared away financially around ’04, and did earn a real estate license in Georgia in 2006, but then had to move back to California in 2007, just as the market began to collapse.

Since then , it seems like other than joining the military in 2009, I am either not qualifying for or searching in the right places to make use of all the knowledge I’ve accumulated, because I don’t really have a name for it or have a Bachelor’s degree, but I can get just about any problem solved. I am tired of hearing how capable, well-spoken, well-written, creative and sometimes overqualified I am, but yet the only things that seem to come my way now are just above minimum wage. I would even be happy with something that would pay 35-40K a year (even though I believe my skill set is still worth 100K or better). Obviously, I mean, I’ve even humbled myself enough to join the military after being my own man for a number of years. The military enlisted as a nurse, and have even labeled me nurse practitioner material (so I can become a commissioned officer at my age), but so far, even medical jobs have been hard to come by, since it’s entry level and starting all over. I want to be able to meet my monthly bills consistently again, and be able to put away enough cash to start investing again. I think I have a ton to offer that’s sitting unused.