Broker's License

I just got my California real estate broker's license in the mail. As you can see, the certificate is rather cheap and non-official looking. I guess that's what you get in a state with a $20B+ deficit every year.

Anyways, I got the license mainly so that we could collect the buyer's agent's share of the commission when we hopefully find a good home to purchase this year in San Francisco. Real estate professionals always tell people that having an agent represent them is "free." Well, that's kinda true, but only because it's already been priced in by the seller.

For those of you unfamiliar with the business of real estate, here's how things usually work. First, the seller of a property usually enters into a listing agreement with an agent. This agreement typically stipulates that the seller will pay some percentage of the sales price as a commission to the listing agent if the property is sold within some period of time, usually 6 months (indefinite or automatically renewed listing contracts are not allowed). The listing contract also specifies that the listing broker is to share that commission with the buyer's broker. In San Francisco, the total commission paid by the seller is usually 5%, with 2.5% offered to the buyer's broker. Technically the commission is negotiable and this is actually spelled out explicitly in bold in the standard listing contract. However, in reality, almost all transactions involve the standard commission rates.

Notice that because the seller pays the entire commission to the listing broker, who is then obligated to share that commission with the buyer's broker, if the buyer does not have anyone representing them, the listing agent is entitled to the entire commission! In San Francisco, where real estate is absurdly expensive, most places we've been interested in have been around a million dollars. At that price, the buyer's agent share of the commission would be around $25,000, not exactly chump change.

So starting last October, after a failed attempt at purchasing by using a Redfin agent (they offer to rebate half of the commission that they earn by representing you back to you), I decided to work towards getting a broker's license, which would let me represent anyone (including myself) in a real estate transaction and collect the commission. People often assume that one must obtain a real estate salesperson's license first and work as a salesperson full time, for several years before being eligible to be a broker. However, in California, there is a convenient exception that allows anyone with a bachelor's degree to forgo the experience requirement. The other requirements remain, namely passing 8 "college-level" real-estate courses and a broker's exam administered by the state's department of real estate. After shelling out a few hundred dollars to some online real estate courses and maybe 100 hours of very boring reading, I finished the course requirements, and really wished they could have just waived those as well for people with PhDs.

I took the exam a few weeks ago in a testing center in Oakland. The exam itself was 200 multiple choice questions, split into 2 sessions, each 2.5 hrs long. The first session started at 8:30am and the second at 11:30am. This was quite annoying as I finished the first part in less than an hour and had to just wait around for the second part. However, at least this particular testing center (there's a total of 5 around the state) offered computer-based testing, which was nice. Scantrons and #2 pencils would have been way too reminiscent of high school. In addition, you get your results right away after you finish the second part. Nothing like instant gratification (or disappointment).

The exam is pass/fail and you just need 75% to pass. They only give you your raw score if you fail, so I don't know how close I was to not passing. However, I do know that I missed quite a few questions on the first half of the exam. That break between the first and second half presents ample opportunity to psyche yourself out. I noticed several of the other examinees were actively availing themselves of this opportunity.

Well, now that I have my license, I better put it to good use. So if any of you are intersted in buying or selling property in the bay area and have any questions, let me know. By the way, because I have not and do not plan on joining the national association of Realtors, I can't call myself a "Realtor", as it is a trademark. Given the image of Realtors these days, that's probably not a huge loss :)

Extra-curricular activities

Over the past month, we have spent our weekends chauffeurring Ruby to her various baby activities. On Saturday mornings, we go to our baby sign language class held at the local Sports Basement. One of the moms in my playgroup teaches the class. Baby sign language came about from studies showing that children raised in households with one deaf parent and one speaking parent showed increased language and communication skills. The idea is that babies are able to communicate their needs and desires long before they develop the physical dexterity to speak words. Therefore, signing alleviates the frustration during the period of time before babies are able to easily communicate through speaking.

There are lots of videos on Youtube of babies signing, and it's pretty amazing to see.



Ruby is not really doing any signs yet, although it's hard to tell if she is trying to sign milk (opening and closing the hand like milking a cow) or just grasping at imaginary air objects. On the other hand, Steve and I now have a pretty good sign language vocabulary and could carry on a rousing conversation about colors, animals, and family members. We don't know how much baby sign language will help Ruby communicate because she seems like she is a pretty vocal baby, but Ruby always has lots of fun in class.



Perhaps an indication of the kind of student Ruby will be, she always sits attentively and listens for the whole hour of class.



On Sunday mornings, Ruby has her baby swim class at the UCSF pool. The class is quite popular, so there are usually dozens of babies bobbing around in the pool, including a fellow playgroup baby and a fellow birthing class baby.



Each class involves having the babies practice swimming on their tummies and on their backs while kicking their feet. There are also several water-related sing-alongs such as Old McDonald Had a Pool and If You're Happy and You Know It, Make a Splash. It took Ruby a few classes to warm up to swimming. During the first two classes, she squished her face against my chest and hung onto my swimsuit for dear life. However, in the last few classes she has acclimated significantly and is quite happy to paddle around and kick her little feet.

With these classes and our working moms playgroup meeting every other week, our weekend schedules are always filled with baby activities. This I'm sure is indicative of how our weekends will be for many, many years to come. Long gone are the weekends of sleeping in, reality TV on Bravo, and breakfast at 3pm.

Skyping

Since Ruby was born, we have utilized Skype a lot to keep in touch with far-away family and friends. Everyone is always very excited to see Ruby through the webcam, and Ruby has learned to recognize many of her regular Skypers.

Since Skyping is not quite the same as playing with Ruby in person, people have to get creative with ways to entertain her.

They have serenaded her with exotic instruments.



And enticed her with fruits.



There is always much celebration and rejoicing at seeing Ruby.





Do you have a Skype account? If so, you can join in on the fun!

Social interactions

Ruby and I have always enjoyed her playdates with her baby friends. When it comes to babies, I say the more the cuter. In the beginning, whether or not the babies were actually aware they were playing with other humans was questionable. One of the most interesting things to see over the past couple of months has been Ruby and her friends starting to become aware of and starting to interact with one another.

One of Ruby's favorite playmates is her little boyfriend, Julien, who is only 3 days older than Ruby.



Not only are Ruby and Julien in the same playgroup, they also have weekly playdates on Wednesdays when I am at home. Ruby and Julien have been playing together since they were 3 and a half months old. In the beginning, there was not much more interaction than an occasional inadvertent kick to the face.



However, recently Ruby and Julien have embarked on the type of social interaction that will likely define the rest of their childhoods. It goes as such:

Ruby takes a toy from Julien.



Julien takes it back.



There is some swatting and pushing.





Ruby seeks assistance from Mommy.



We tell them to play nice and share.

They say, "Who, us?"