You're the Best!

Hi All,
I think it's time for me to branch out and create another blog. I did a lot of thinking during my blog break, and this seems like the right way to go. I'll call the new blog "Finding Her Voice."

It looks like I will have to work on the parnassah (making a living) part of my life for the time being, and that requires a lot of focus. Of course, I'm doing that mainly in order to be in a position to make aliyah, but since my daily focus cannot be on making that move at this time, it doesn't seem appropriate to keep writing regular "life" stuff in an aliyah blog. So I will start a new blog, which you can find on my profile page, if you are interested. (And I hope you are interested!)

If I lose you, my audience, it will make me sad, but I will understand! After all, you came to this site expecting to read an aliyah blog. You've come to virtually know me during a pivotal time in my life: after I had taken a long sabbatical to focus on what I really wanted my life to be about. Now that I've answered that question, it's time to make it happen.

Another reason for a blog switch is that I want to explore what the whole Christian Zionist experience could mean to me. I may try writing some about that, and I wouldn't quite feel comfortable or respectful writing about those explorations in an aliyah blog.

The ironic thing is that now my aliyah hopes are closer to coming true than ever. My family is actively helping me-- sending me the necessary documents for the Jewish Agency, being emotionally supportive of my decision, and it's more than I could have ever dreamed of! I will post about those things in my new blog, as they come up. (It would be strange to keep going back and forth between blogs, so I'll just stick to the one for now.)

My mother and I will be visiting Israel in June, and she may indeed try the IDF volunteer program, or a kibbutz experience, either of which would be very exciting. During that time, I would most probably rent an apartment and start looking for a community and an investment property to purchase and rent out until I'm ready to move in. I am now also hoping my great uncle (and perhaps his long-time companion, Debbie) will join Mom and me on our trip. We shall see!

The cocktail party experience will continue on "Finding Her Voice," and I still plan to post those stories every Monday. They are just too crazy to keep to myself!

I hope to see you in the blogosphere,
Your friend,
Yaakova

Hors d'oeuvres, Anyone? (Installment Numero Uno!)

Please note: you may want to read the preceding post before reading this, as it explains the new weekly feature!

Theme of the cocktail party: Pretentiousness, apparently.
Food served: salmon en croute, caviar appetizers, sushi, prawns, mini-Caprese salads, creme brulee (Sorry, these events are never kosher!)
Service: mixture of buffet and circulating waiters
Beverages: a variety of beers and wines, soda
Beverages I consumed: one glass of White Zinfandel
Location: private home in the Sweetwater Oaks Country Club community, in Longwood, Florida

Wow. This party was notable for one thing: it's pretentiousness. After a very busy week with my overseas client, I had really been looking forward to some good food and nice conversation, so this kind of ambience was not what I needed!
As I checked in at the gate house, I thought, "This is going to be fancy!" I had no idea then about the sharks that awaited me. I was a lamb among wolves, I tell you. I proceeded through the gorgeous, oak-lined winding streets, edged with gated entries galore. Some of these places would have put Tara to shame!

I finally pulled up to the house, no, mansion, sized at a mere 8,000 square feet, set on 3 acres! (By comparison, an average 3 bedroom, 2 bath house has about 1500-2500 square feet.)

To start with, this house party had valet parking. I'm too cheap for valet parking. I'm happy to give my money to a good cause, but I don't consider paying $5 to have someone park my car, when I could use the extra 10 steps of exercise, to be a good cause. Especially since they parked all the fancy cars (Jaguars, Porsches, etc.) on the front lawn next to the house, so they would get noticed. That's just tacky. So when I told the guy I would park my own car, he said, "Oh... (long pause, staring at me) I guess you could do that..." Not an auspicious beginning to the event.

Next stop: the front door. I was greeted by a man who was so annoyingly self-effacing that I'm surprised he didn't offer me his own kidney. Please. My mind shut off somewhere around the time he mentioned that the house came with "His and Her garages." You can't make this stuff up!

I finally got past his schpiel and made it to the hors d'oeuvres, which was a big improvement! A bit of good caviar will boost my mood any day!

Then I took a look around the house. Holy crap. Can you say spontaneous consumption?? Who needs 8000 square feet?! Do these people realize that there are starving children in this world?? A few notable tidbits: this house had a circular atrium for the children's wing (complete with a rotunda and recessed lighting), a separate "Christmas room," and a jacuzzi that would fit well over 20 people! And I'm not even exaggerating!

But the features that really got my attention were, get this--- the two enormous laundry rooms! My living room is smaller than either of their laundry rooms. One laundry room in each wing. As a lady joined me in the 2nd of them, I exclaimed to her, (a complete stranger; I assumed she was a Realtor like me), "Two freakin' laundry rooms?! Are you kidding me?!!" She responded with "Yes, I thought it was good idea. Do you like them?" OMG, I was talking to the lady of the house!! Well, I quickly adjusted my tune after that, then excused myself, a little embarrassed, to the bar.
Anyway, I don't know what she was doing there. The home's sellers are not usually encouraged to attend Broker's open houses, as agents need to candidly comment on the features and price if necessary. Which, by the way, was $4,900,000. Yes, you read that right. Almost 5 million dollars.

I found the bar and got a glass of wine, some more food, and looked for a nice person to sit and chat with. I picked the wrong person. As soon as I sat down by this woman and introduced myself, she barked, "How long have you been in the business?" Not a good way to start. Even though I've been in the business for four respectable years, anytime someone starts a conversation with that question it's because they've been in the business a hundred years, and they just want to hold it over everyone.

There are a lot of these nasty types of Realtors in posh areas, who were apparently raised devoid of any manners or class whatsoever. They can be so territorial about "their" areas that I wouldn't be surprised to see them marking on the marble columns!! I spent the next 5 minutes evading her demeaning attitude and questions. Yuck.

Fortunately, I can keep up with the best --worst?-- of them (if I have to). So I made a few offhanded --yet true-- comments about my upbringing, which thankfully shut her up. Feeling at once self-satisfied and ashamed for stooping to her level, I escaped her presence and wandered into another room, where a presentation was taking place.

As I walked in, a guy was using a powerpoint presentation to introduce an upcoming and extremely pricey home community. The individual house lots in the community (not including the houses themselves) start at an insane $800,000. I listened to him drone on about "We like to think that we're creating a community of unpretentious luxury..." (to which people chuckled and snorted audibly!) When he got to the part about "The gate house alone cost over four million dollars," I thought to myself, "If I wasted 3.8 million dollars of my future residents' money, I wouldn't go around, broadcasting it publicly!" and I took that as my cue to get out of there.

From the snarky attitudes of so many of the unbearable attendees, I can confirm what we all know to be true: money certainly doesn't buy happiness.

Hors d'oeuvres, Anyone?

Introducing a fun new feature to my blog: the weekly cocktail party experience!!!

I've often admired bloggers who post fun weekly features on their blogs, but I never knew what contribution I could make. Until... could it be? Could I write about these (mostly) real estate cocktail parties that I attend all the time?! Some of them are pretty noteworthy, for all kinds of reasons. Sometimes it's the personalities, other times it's the properties, or the food, or the party's theme, or whatever.

To explain my intentions a little further: I used to be an elementary school teacher. If there is a less glamorous job to have, I don't want to know what it is. (Though trash collector and stay-at-home mom come to mind as potentials, which are honorable and, just like teaching, undervalued careers!) But I digress. When I was teaching, I remember muttering to myself "I just wish someone would serve me something on a toothpick!" I would have killed for a cocktail party back then. My work environment was dingy and dreary, save the charming kid-art that cheered up the classroom walls.

I used to see people in cocktail parties occasionally, whether I was walking through a hotel lobby or passing by a restaurant. And as I watched, I wished so much for a chance to be among the invitees. Mostly, as I said, because my life at that time was completely devoid of any glamour or luxury. Now, as a Realtor in an area where development has positively exploded in the recent past, I get invited to more "Broker's Open House" events than I could ever have time for. And glamorous they are, so I thought (perhaps) my readers would like to have a "fly on the wall" vantage point!

As I look toward the possibility of aliyah, I recognize that my days of swanky cocktail parties will in all likelihood come to a close. Not that they are so important to me anymore; I've been to so many at this point that I've become jaded. But once they're in my rear-view mirror, I'll feel pretty wistful and nostalgic about all the ritzy parties I attended! So I do this as a remembrance of my glamorous days, and also for any of my readers who could use a little "glamour infusion" into their daily lives.

I think I'll post my installments of "Hors d'oeuvres, Anyone?" on Sundays, for those of you who are in Israel and could use a glamour shot to start off the week. I went to two parties last week, so I have a lot of good material to write about. Believe me--what it will lack in good taste will be made up for in entertainment value!

Finally, a disclaimer: these are not meant to be advertising of any type. In fact, if you live in Central Florida (or anywhere else) and want me to be your Realtor, please DO NOT read these posts! :) Especially since I plan to "call it like I see it." I may occasionally use links to the property advertisements, for the sole purpose of giving you readers a view of where I've been, particularly until I find my digital camera's battery charger. But I don't mean those links to be used as advertising (unless you see something you like; then by all means contact me via a comment on the blog, despite what I write about the cocktail party!)

I hope it's a fun read for you.
But most of all, I hope I don't get sued!

Yay! Shabbat is coming!

Where do I start?
Here I am blogging again, a little earlier than I'm ready to, but since two of my meshugeneh readers (you know who you are) guilted me into it, here goes!

My commercial client is on the plane back to Ireland now, and we had a very successful time together. I did a LOT of work for him prior to his arrival, and we viewed many commercial properties during his visit. It's so important for foreign --or any-- investors to get a good feel for the market before diving in, so I spent a lot of time educating he and his adult daughter, who has also become much more active in the process.

We had the closing on a small office condo yesterday, Hallelujah!! And though we were unsuccessful in getting an accepted contract on another contract during this trip, he did get a great feel for the market. In his absence, I will continue searching for properties that match his specific investment requirements. I also introduced him to:

• 2 international tax/investment attorneys to set up the LLCs (limited liability companies) as well as provide legal guidance
• 2 international commercial accounting specialists
• a fantastic int'l. commercial lender (who I sort of, maybe, might potentially like romantically)
• an insurance agent
• an internationally-oriented property manager

It was a full week. Between getting to the appointments, property showings, setting up all the appointments, getting the closing documentation all ready and so on, it has me worn out. But nothing that a good Shabbat won't fix! Yay for Shabbat!!

I haven't written about this before, but on a spiritual note, I think it's ridiculous that the church holds to the Sunday sabbath concept. How anti-semitic and filled with Replacement theology can you get-- "We don't want to share our holy day with Jews, so let's change it! Poof! It's changed!"

Humph, I wonder what G-d thinks of that logic. After all, G-d gave the commandments about Shabbat early on, and it applies to all people, not only Jews. So I advocate returning Shabbat to the correct day, please. As for me, I'm just going to follow the Bible. In the unlikely event that you're confused, Shabbat is Friday at Sundown until Saturday at sundown. There, I've said it. If you don't agree with me, well, I don't know what to say to convince you. Research it yourself, it's pretty darn clear.

OK, enough of my soap box; where was I? Oh yeah, so here's where my client and I stand: He feels that his family owes me a debt for my assistance, and must welcome me to Ireland! Well amen to that! Let's go!! I sent him off this morning with good investment reading material for the plane trip, and a packet to take to his brother, who is interested in buying a condo in the Walt Disney World area. Incidentally, I am very proud to say that almost all of my business is by referral, which means I must be doing something right! I'm grateful that my past clients know that I will take good care of their friends and family.

Do you see why I didn't blog for a week? Looking over this, I think, "Who wants to read this stuff?" And yet, it's pretty much all that's occupying my mind at the moment.

Of greater interest to the average person would be the whole real estate commission subject. As you can probably tell, I absolutely love helping people. I have a great time helping them get oriented in a new community-- it's one of the many things that I love about my job.

But there's another part of being a Realtor that I don't love, and many people outside the real estate industry do not understand it at all. I don't love being taken advantage of. And in real estate, it happens all the time. I mean, so often that I frequently consider just working as an investor, because I get sick of people-- my own clients-- taking advantage of me, my time, my work, my expertise, etc.

Consumers think that Realtors are greedy and dishonest-- and many are, but I certainly am not one of them. But much of the confusion also comes from Realtors becoming jaded and "sharkish" because so many people have taken advantage of them. I know a lot of people have had bad experiences with Realtors-- believe me, I've heard many horror stories on both sides-- and I don't mean to negate anyone's experiences.

Maybe this would be a good topic to flesh out in another post, as now it's nearly 3 p.m. and my house desperately needs a pre-Shabbat cleaning.

Shabbat Shalom, everybody!!

Ahhh.... I have arrived

This, to me, is the ultimate in luxury. I am currently lying in bed with my new laptop on my tummy and communing with the blogosphere. I'm wireless, powered up and in heaven!!! This almost makes my last few days worth the effort.

Mind you, I'm still a complete novice at the whole laptop experience. Every other button I push is the wrong button. And this darn touchpad mouse! Will I ever get the hang of it?? I bought an external mouse as well, but I want to try being wire-free for once. It feels kinda like skinny-dipping! :)

Here's part of an email I sent out about my computer setup process, so you can "share my experience" [read: feel my pain]:
(OK, never mind,because I don't know how to select a segment of text in order to cut and paste it yet. Maybe next time..) In any case, I did a whole boatload of work to get to this point. And I ate huge amounts of sweets in frustration. Huge, I tell you. I don't even want to admit how much I ate, but the scale seems to say 5 pounds. (Just kidding about the weight, but I really did eat a ton of junk food!)

My cat just jumped up on the bed, and is extremely threatened by the laptop. I'm waiting for her to attack it like she did when I got a new cell phone a couple years ago. (My cell still bears the bite marks.) Now my other cat has entered the bedroom, and is eyeing the new arrival with suspicion.

I had wanted to write a bit about the week's very challenging and educational experiences in commercial real estate transactions, but that will have to wait as I don't want my cat to destroy the computer. Maybe she's jealous, because the laptop has taken up residence on my tummy, which is prime real estate in her mind.

Blog Break

Hi,
Wanted to let you all know that I'll be taking a blog break for a little while. My out-of-town client is flying in, and I will be very busy with him. In a business kind of way.

When I come back, I'll be using my new laptop! Yay! This old dinosaur that I'm using now is ridiculously slow and is taking all the joy out of the internet! If you know of anyone in central Florida who wants for a free --and slow-- PC, just leave a comment on my blog.

I'll still be reading all of your blogs (ahem--except Maureen's, because she still doesn't have one-- hint to Maureen!) I won't be commenting on ChayyeiSarah's or EmahS', because your blogs aren't allowing me to. Grrr... But I assure you, I will be reading them, and wishing I could put in my two cents! Just so the authors know, I've written many a witty comment on the aforementioned blogs, which unfortunately didn't publish! :(
Of course, I'll be keeping up with Baleboosteh's and Evan's blogs, too! And even though they don't read mine, I'll keep reading Yael's and Eugene's blogs, as well as many others!

As you can see, I finally learned how to hyperlink! Next, I'll learn how to blogroll.

Ciao, everybody!
Yaakova

What a day

Once again, I'm exhausted. Today was primary election day, and I was a poll worker. I was in charge of the touchscreen computerized voting booth at the voting precinct. These booths were mainly intended for disabled voters, but since they are brand new here in Orange County, everybody and their brother wanted to try them out! I worked from 6 a.m. until 8:45 p.m.

Our neighborhood association did this as a fundraiser. Our coffers are pretty empty after a recent unexpected payment, so a group of us volunteered to donate our payment for the poll work to the association. I am the 1st VP of said association, so of course I also volunteered. I tend to do a lot of volunteer work; I'm not sure if it's because I'm single, or what.

At this point in the day, I don't really care why I do it. Who has the energy to be analytical?

Hasta.

Busted!

Ever get the feeling that someone is watching you? Namely, your own mother?
I think my mother learned my blog's URL --via Uncle Bud, no doubt-- and now my family may be reading my blog. It's a little disconcerting, but that's life. Maybe I'm just paranoid, but just in case it's not all in my head:

Note to Mom: Hi! Feel free to read my blog, I don't mind.
P.S. Please don't tell our other relatives about this. Thank you. :)

Sorry for yesterday's pathetic freak-out blog post. My readers deserve better.

I talked with my mom today, and she clarified a couple things. She isn't actually considering relocation, but rather going to Israel to do some volunteer work. She's interested in volunteering in a program that the IDF runs, which permits civilians to help out. She may also be interested in working on a kibbutz for a while. (Unlike yours truly!)
I would love to see her get involved with these types of opportunities, and hopefully at a later time, she may choose to live there as well. I mentioned that perhaps during a summer, I could rent an apartment while she works on a kibbutz or with the IDF volunteer program, and she seemed receptive. This seems like a much better and more manageable idea.

Exhausted, Overwhelmed and Grateful

A big "thank you" is in order to all my blogger friends for your kind words!

As the title states, I'm not starting out this week with a whole lot of energy. Good things have gotten me to my present condition, so overall, I'm happy. Obviously the news about my mom was huge. Really huge, and unexpected. I just-- Wow. It's great.

But now I have a million thoughts running through my mind.

When is she thinking of doing this? Will it be before I have my savings in place? After all, if I wait too long, will she still have the health to do all she wants in Israel? (Will I??) And will we both still be motivated to go? How much will she be looking to me for financial support? I want to be able to support her, and I've made a commitment to doing so in her retirement. (Even though she insists that's not necessary.) So many things to consider. I don't want to be poor. And I definitely don't want my mom to be poor. I've been poor before, and I'd rather not repeat the experience, thank you. Not if I can help it, anyway. I'd much rather arrive in Israel with the ability to bless others. And I'm scared that if I don't pick up Hebrew (Does anyone call it Ivrit anymore?), then I won't be successful in real estate there. If I don't have enough saved up prior to going, then of course a job will be a necessity!

Random thoughts: maybe I'll win the lottery. (It might help if I bought a ticket!) Maybe NBN will accept my application, though I seriously doubt that. To tell the truth, I don't even know if I'll bother applying to NBN. I use their website all the time, but I don't feel like setting myself up for rejection, although the assistance they provide would be priceless. (I definitely won't be applying for their financial assistance.)

The first step is for Mom and I to take our initial trip to Israel next June, to see how we like it! Our trip was postponed from last month until next June. Incidentally, both Mom and I have moved internationally without ever first visiting our new country of residence, so I suppose that's why we feel comfortable talking about moving even before visiting Israel. We are exceedingly adventurous.

I'm getting ahead of myself, I know. But it's my blog, so I'm just writing what's on my heart. Even though I've said many times that this is what I want, having the possibility so real and within reach is terrifying!! It's such a dream come true that my mom is considering this, but I'm used to being self-centered. (Did I mention that I've never been married? And I'm 39?) Factoring in another person's plans definitely adds more layers of ...well, everything.

I had a conversation with an Israeli guy today, and I couldn't even properly say "tzedakah." It was discouraging, and hopefully not a sign of things to come! Tomorrow, I'll try to blog about the conversation and where I went today. It was interesting.

Good night, All. I have a feeling it will be "counting sheep" kind of night.

Uncle Bud Saves the Day!

There is happy news in the blogosphere! You won't believe what I did. I was too bashful to actually call up my great-uncle and ask him about "The Letter," so I emailed him a link to my blog. Yikes! Anyway, he read it and responded in what I believe is the affirmative. Very good news, indeed!

I also called my mom today, and ~wonder of wonders~ she said she's also considering a relocation to Israel!!! She said it as if it were her own idea!! (Maybe it is??) She said that she feels she has skills that Israel needs. Now this is funny. Keep in mind that my mother is over 60 years old. Here are her "skills" that she would like to bring to Israel:
Her ability to (happily) shoot a gun of just about any type. Not to make fun of my mom; she truly is skilled in marksmanship. But I think she may be let down when she finds out the IDF doesn't encourage grandmothers to take up front-lines positions. (Let's just not tell her! Wait and see what happens!)
Her second skill is being a paramedic. It does not seem to faze her that she retired from her job as a paramedic --disabled-- over 10 years ago, and became a professional artist. Never you mind; she still wants to help out in Israel.
Personally, I applaud her spirit!
Ahh, the apple does not fall far from the tree...

So... look out, Israel! Here comes my mom!
Shabbat Shalom, everyone. :)