As I mention in my bio on this site, I did my post-graduate work in Mathematics and after working as a research analyst at Bank of America, I held a teaching position at the University of Hayward for 11 years.
I loved teaching. But I had to leave when the State of California cut the pay of all non-tenured faculty by 20%; the cut was demoralizing — not to mention how the resulting lower salary was impossible to live on for my large family.
This was back in 1994. Around this time, my then-husband and I were in the process of buying our home in Piedmont. With four children to educate, the increased price base of the homes in the area, relative to our former Oakland neighborhood of Temescal, was compensated by the thousands of dollars in tuition (x 4!) we would save over the next several years, since Piedmont’s public schools are rated among the best in the Bay Area and the state.
During the buying process, the agent representing us kept saying to me how impressed she was with my knowledge of housing, as well as my creativity and tenacity.
Our agent strongly encouraged me to switch careers and become a realtor.
I was petrified when I made the move — teaching was all I felt I really knew how to do. I set a goal for myself: I would give it six months and if I did not have clients or a paycheck coming in, then I would find a “real” job.
At about the six-month mark, I opened five escrows; one-a-week for five straight weeks… and by the end of that first 12-month period I had closed 30 home sales, earning the “Rookie of the Year” award with my firm at the time, Mason McDuffie.
The rest — as they say — is history.