So….ya wanna buy a house?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

As those of you who have been following my adventures (both of you), undoubtedly know by now that I was laid off from my programming gig in May. I’d been a programmer for most of the last 26 years, except for a brief (3 year) side trip into construction and real estate about 15 years ago.

Well, after several (okay, 4) months without even an interview, Mrs. B. and I decided I should get my real estate license again and go to work in the office she is associated with. So I studied a bunch and took classes, and a week ago, Saturday the 19th, I took the Oregon Real Estate Brokers exam. I was real nervous ‘cause there’s a lot of tricky questions and it’s generally a tough exam all the way around. It was 200 questions and they scheduled 5.5 hours to complete it, if that gives you an idea.

Well, I got my test results back last Saturday and I kicked butt! I scored 94% on the National section, passing all seven divisions, and 90% on the state portion, passing both divisions. Yeah me!!! So we’re sending in my license application today, and in a few days I will be a Real Estate Broker in the State of Oregon.
***note: in Oregon everyone is called a broker now, with the folks who used to be called brokers now being called principal brokers or designated brokers. Just another in the state of Oregon’s continuing efforts to confuse the Hell out of everybody.

And if that isn’t enough, I’ve got an interview tomorrow with a guy who might want to contract me for a CISC to RISC conversion project, and possibly a 2 year software conversion project. I quoted him $60.00/hr. and he seemed okay with that. I know that sounds low, but contractors are starving around here right now.

So either way, it looks like my life of leisure is over and I’m going to have to go back to work.

I sincerely want to thank everybody for all of their help and encouragement these last few months.

That’s all I had to say.

Carry on.

2

Hey Bumb. Congrats on the broker’s license. If I’m ever in Oregon looking for a house, I’ll be sure to look you up.

3

I don’t know how the laws work in Oregon, but in California a real estate license also allows one to act as a mortgage loan officer. (Delightfully, in Michigan, you don’t need any kind of a license at all. Oy.) I don’t know if you’re planning on doing strict real estate, but I’d definitely look into doing loans if I were you. I’m a loan processor, and it’s a really great industry. I’ve worked in a couple different offices, and both were/are excellent work environments. You can make an excellent living, and really help people out, too.

4

I don’t want to live in Oregon, but I do want to offer my congratulations. :slight_smile: Best of luck in your new job.

5

Yes, I want to buy a house!

Too bad I’m looking in the next state up from you. I’d like to buy a place in Bellingham.

Congratulations!

6

Go Bumbazine!

I’m a confirmed renter-type (owning is too much hassle for my lazy ass), but congrats on your new gig.

7

Congrats and cool beans!! I’ll be selling my house soon, but I’m kinda as far away from you as a person can be and still be in CONUS, so we can’t do business. But I still think that’s great! Yay for you!

8

Thanks very much everybody. It’s about time something went right in my life.

FCM good to see you back. I hope you’re feeling better.

9

That’s a relief…I started reading about how you’d been out of a job and all (I’m not one of the 2 who’s been following, sorry!), and I was worried that you had to put your own place up for sale because of it! Glad to hear things are working out much better than that! I hope you enjoy your new career (if thats what this leads you to!)