Thursday, October 16, 2014

My Real Estate Journey...!




It was truly determination and discipline!

For the last six years, I’ve had my own travel agency that provides vacation home rentals.   Our business is well-established and we continue to get repeat customers and many referrals.  Many of our travelers have inquired about investing in Florida real estate and I’ve always referred the business out to a real estate agent.  I was recently discussing my 2015 business plan with an old friend.  We went over a few investment opportunities with international buyers and he immediately suggested that I get a real estate license.  My response to him was “I am too busy to GO sit for a license.”  He walked away and said “GO do it.”

I started thinking about and analyzing my schedule, pending projects and future plans and said to myself “there is no way I can do this.”  I know the studying and time it takes to get certain licenses having gotten my life insurance and mortgage brokers’ license in the past.  I went in circles for about a week and one night I finally said “I can do this…GO ALY GO!”   The next day I completed the state application and signed up for a three week real estate course.  That following Monday, I went to work as usual but at 6:00pm that evening I had my very first real estate class.   Every day for three weeks (after a long day at the office) as I was on my way to class, I thought “why am I doing this?…I just want to quit and go home.”  It felt like the longest three weeks of my life.  It was very intense with lots of information.

I made the decision to go back to one of the most important principles of success; having discipline.  My days started at 6:00am and ended at 2:00am. I continued to run my business, attended class from 6pm to 10pm, read every chapter and completed the homework.  I took a two hour break during the day and visited the library to study the next chapter in class.  The course was finally over and after studying for more than 16 hours over the weekend I passed the class exam.   With the class exam out of the way, it was now time to schedule my state exam.  I immediately became nervous and overwhelmed. I took three days away from the world with just the course book and ME.  My brain was dead and I was mentally exhausted from lack of sleep.

It was on a Thursday when I drove to Lakeland, Florida to test for the state exam.  I felt confident and ready until I sat in front of the computer.  The questions might as well have been written in another language.  I was so confused and overwhelmed but, I confidently responded with my best answer until I reached question 65 and my brain died.  I became very anxious and decided to take a break to walk off my anxiety.   After regaining my composure I came back and finished answering all the questions. I was so nervous walking out of the testing room to get my results.   With trembling hands I grabbed my test results. “Pass!”  I laugh thinking back to when the lady said “Congratulations” and I responded “Thanks, that was very hard and I think I’m going to cry like right now.”  Tears immediately started flowing. It was a joyful moment to know that my determination and discipline paid off.



Today, I look back on those six weeks of sacrifices and lots of commitment to studying. I am happy to say I successfully completed the 45 hour post licensing requirement and passed the state exam.  It is extraordinary to say that I passed three exams when my excuses and fears were fighting with me every day to give up.  We are now finalizing our business plans for 2015 to help international buyers with their real estate investments.  This milestone is truly an example of discipline and determination. 


This is GOALYGO!


Yanira ALY Nazario :))

No comments:

Post a Comment