Kory's Real Estate Blog

Since my last update and for quite some time, I have not visited the KGB website.  I did somewhere around three hours’ worth of work and they deposited about $10 into my bank account.  I still would like to pick up some extra cash if I’m not doing anything much more profitable, but I don’t want to get too caught up in it.  At the very least, I’ll try working for twenty hours over the next month and posting how much I earned for that time worked.
As for the real estate license, I filled out and sent all of the forms required to get the license.  I’ve checked my bank account and the check I sent to them (for about $125) to get the license has not yet been withdrawn from my bank account, so I’m guessing it hasn’t been processed yet.  I did send all of these documents via USPS certified mail and confirmed that they did indeed receive the information, so now it’s become a waiting game.  I shipped out the package on the 15th (the day after taking the exam) and they received it the following Monday.  I’m guessing processing is just taking a little while.
Finally, and unrelated (even more so) to the purpose of this blog, school has re-started up again, so perhaps expect updates less frequently (maybe at the rate of one per week, hopefully not fewer).
Anyway, pretty tired now, so going to try to get some sleep.

Well, as people who know me know, I’m 23 years old and have never had a driver’s license (I had a permit when I was 16, but something about driving scarred me back then and I haven’t come back to it since).

So I’m 23 and learning to drive right now, which is nothing in which to take pride, but I thought I’d explain the process for anyone who might be in the same boat.  Essentially, the DMV will guide you right through their process, which is pretty quick and efficient (if you can hear them over all the noises), but if you’re a bit worried you might want to read further.

I walked into the DMV, was given a number and before I even had a chance to sit, the number was called to a counter, I walked up to that counter and told the person behind it that I was there to get a driver’s permit, she asked for my state ID, which I handed to her and she filled out and handed to me a piece of paper with a bit of information on it (she asked if I wanted to register to vote — I already am and asked if I wanted to be an organ donor — I did not) and she directed me to the cashier’s counter.  I paid the cashier $10 (because I’d previously had a permit), and the cashier directed me over to the eye exam & testing person, passed the eye exam, the guy handed me the test and I filled it out, handed it in and was given nothing back (but told I passed, and to go sit in the picture area), went to go sit in the picture area, and about a minute later I was called up and handed a permit, the whole process took about half an hour (which includes all the lines and the test, from walk in to walking out it was 28 minutes, rather amazing when you hear the DMV horror stories, but it worked out well).  So that’s that, after getting insured and practicing, I’ll be going back to the (probably that same) DMV and taking the driving test, and after that I reckon I’m licensed, as for practicing real estate, I’d probably go with a four-door sedan so I’m able to drive my clients around (even through I’d prefer a Civic coupe, for a mixture of gas mileage [main reason] and sunroof [my most-wanted non-standard feature on most cars]).

Gah, best of luck to anyone who’s too ripe to be getting a driver’s license!

I opened up the forums, if there’s problems, please feel free to let me know (admin at virlo dot net) and I’d be happy to take care of it, otherwise, if you’re a real estate professional or consumer in Illinois (or anywhere else, or someone somehow associated with the KGB as a special agent, prospective special agent, quality agent, etc.; or just anyone interested in discussing relevant subjects at all) go ahead and join the forums.

So, if I’m honestly going to attempt to turn real estate sales into a “college job,” how can I go about this?  This is the question I’ve been asking myself constantly, so the following is just a bunch of stuff that has come to my mind:

1. I don’t drive, if I am allowed to be a salesperson, how would I get to showings?
   1. I do plan to get a license before year’s end, and could perhaps borrow a friend’s car
2. What would I do for the office?
   1. For useful experience, I would be willing to do essentially anything, though I’d prefer to manage escrow accounts, be doing the math or be an active salesperson.
3. How often/when would I be working?
   1. Very strictly, I cannot work during hours when I have class (currently, during the day on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and just before lunch Tuesdays and Thursdays)
4. Why would I hire me?
   1. I have a broker’s license and am earning a degree in finance from a local school, I am reliable and, so long as class isn’t interrupted I’m responsive and willing to work around other peoples’ schedules.
5. What do I hope to gain from this experience?
   1. I’m interested in gaining experience, and let that lead me in a direction, if I feel confident in my abilities, I may want to open my own firm somewhere else in Illinois after graduating, or if I’m uncomfortable with the idea of opening my own office, but enjoy the industry, I may stay with the firm that hired me in college.
6. How long would I want to stay in the employ of another broker?
   1. Well, as mentioned above, it all depends on my comfort level after graduation, if I like what I’m doing and am comfortable where I am with no want to proceed further, I’ll stay at my original broker’s office, if I’m feeling ambitious, I may expand out and open my own office, probably closer to Chicago.
7. What’s the bottom line (how much will I get paid)?
   1. This is almost impossible to tell because it would depend on me and my ability to attract buyers and sellers, though (according to the website Payscale), the wages for full-time salespeople (hence, not brokers and probably not owners) is competitive with average salaries in the area (35k in Macomb, IL and ~40k in Chicago, IL)
8. What can I expect, how long will it take (and how much will I spend) before I’m a profitable salesperson?
   1. Again, too tough for me to currently tell, through I have read that it can take 60 to 180 days to become profitable, according to Century 21.
9. If I’m only doing this on a half-time or less basis, can I be consistently profitable (even if the profits are razor thin, I need to make some money: I can’t go bankrupt for all the experience in the world)?
   1. I honestly think I could be, I’d be committed to the job at least 70% of my free time on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, as well as the afternoons of Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, this gives me quite a few hours to work, so as long as buyers and sellers could work just a bit around my schedule, I’d be available and I could do the office work in the afternoons, including the fees I’d have to pay my broker from MLS access and office space, I’m sure I could make enough to be in the black.

After reviewing and thinking about all of that, after I obtain my broker’s license (whether that be before summer’s end or before spring session starts), I’ll talk to my teacher and see if she can’t get me a job down at Century 21 in Macomb, if that’s not a possibility, I’ll talk to my friends to see if any of them know a broker who may be willing to take a chance by hiring me and try that, and if that fails or nobody knows anyone, I’ll talk to the local (non-franchised) office, Key Realtors® and attempt to get hired by them.  Finally, I’d try to get hired by the non-Century 21 franchises (RE/MAX and Coldwell-Banker).  If nothing works out at any of those offices, I guess it’d be safe to assume I wasn’t meant to work in real estate while in college and I may give up until I graduated, or perhaps altogether and I’d just keep my license for its own sake, but I rather doubt nobody would hire me.

I just got the following e-mail from KGB payments:

from: Special Agents Payment

Special Agents and Shadowees,

We’ve deposited payment into all of your accounts for your work from June 1st – June 30th, and have once again disregarded the $40 minimum. Great news!

We wanted to publicly congratulate our top five (with ACE Quality!) in two categories – Top Earners and Top Questions Answered. Some cool kgb_ swag is on the way for this group, plus some free texting credits!

Drum roll, please…

Our Top Five Earners – including contest winnings – for June are:

Special Agent Sean C (seancoa…) – $1,115

Quality Agent Pandora F (thesimpl…) – $835

Special Agent Kaci B (lendra…) – $830

Quality Agent Ashley A (ashley86…) – $750

Quality Agent WL C (idein…) – $729

Our Top Five Questions Answered for June include:

Special Agent Sean C (seancoa…) – 10,725

Special Agent Kaci B (lendra…) – 8,107

Special Agent Kay G (krwg…) – 7,727

Special Agent Josh E (joshtheha…) – 7,633

Special Agent Jeremy B (jbb3…) – 7,488

Everyone, keep up the great work and thanks so much for all that you do.

Regards,

Special Agents Payment

So, wow, it looks as through some people are really making bank, I’d like to know how that Sean C guy can have 10k+ answered questions in one month, I don’t think I could click quickly enough to get 10,000 questions answered.  I’m not sure I’d even want to answer 10,000 ore more questions, think my time might be more valuable than that, but it all depends on what kind of questions KGB routes to me after I’m “active” (still training now, and it’s not paying well at all, trust me, any normal job (perhaps besides minimum wage, but not even sure about that), even part time, would outpay the KGB, and $1000 isn’t all that much, anyway, but it might be something for which to strive, especially if you can pull it off by working only 5 hours a day.  Be interesting to find out, but I’m still not sure if it’s worth it.

Yea, I know this is going to sound like an advertisement or something, but I’ve actually been (practicing) day trading in the forex market.  So far, 75% of my trades have been successful and, starting with $25, in one day I’ve kicked that number up to $34, so not bad I’d say.  Most of my trades stay open for less than an hour, and I have one trade that is currently long term (days, weeks, possibly months, whenever it’s stop is hit is when the trade will be closed).

That’s pretty much the reason why I haven’t updated my status on the appraisal portion of the broker exam that’s coming up, it has quite a few pages of material and I should definitely give it some thought, but have been wasting time with the above nonsense.  The teacher said she’s going to give me a quick review before taking this portion of the exam, so hopefully that’ll help, as the quizzes don’t appear to be overly difficult (at least one is exactly what I’ve taken before, for the salesperson portion).  As usual, I’m expecting to be prepared to take this exam (hopefully more so than the previous one) and I’ll again pass it.  I have, unfortunately, been contemplating delaying the acquisition of my broker’s license until winter break (December-January), but I’d still like to be at a milestone (like having completed all of the office’s tests, for example) before school begins on August 20th.

I’m currently working as a KGB Special agent, between 4 PM EDT and 10 PM EDT.  It is pretty boring, and I’ve actually been pretty busy (more so then my job last year, where I worked 10 hour days and made 40k/year).

I’ll keep chugging along for a little bit to see how it turns out, but it’s not very therapeutic for me, I’d rather be thinking, reading or just relaxing, but it could be better, it’s worth hanging on for a bit to see if I like it more or if something changes that will possibly lead to me liking it.

I have set up two shifts with KGB: Wednesday and Thursday, both between 3 PM and 9 PM CST.  I’m excited, but unsure about scheduling, as I run an inconsistent schedule, especially over the summer and while I’m at home, hopefully when I’m in school, things will stabilize and I’ll be working more consistently, if I’m still with KGB (again, depending on what kind of inflow it creates).

I’ll post my results when appropriate, and will probably update often at first and then slow down in an attempt to show a bigger picture.

Ultimately, planning in the short run (before I can stabilize a schedule) will probably be my personal biggest difficulty, as I’d still like to fit getting a broker’s license into the summer.

Anyway, I’ll let everyone knows how it goes tomorrow and probably update often for a week or two then slow down to show the bigger picture.

Wish me luck on today’s salesperson exam and KGB shift and I’ll be in touch!

I received the following two e-mails today (2009/07/07) at 10:12 AM CDT from the Knowledge Generation Bureau (so they just barely made their predicted one-week time frame):

E-mail 1:

Hi there,

Our team of Quality Agents has looked through your answers.

Check out your reviews and see how you did: N/A

(Your username and password is found in the email we sent you to first access the Simulator.)

A recommendation has been made and we’ll let you know what the outcome is of that recommendation within the next few days. You are required to read your reviews before you hear the results.

Special Agents Training

E-mail 2:

Great work on the Simulator!

Now that you have successfully completed Special Agents Training, you are ready for the next step – Special Agents Registration. Here, all you have to do is complete the required paperwork.

There are four steps in the Registration process:

Step 1: Enter your Personal Data – including name, address, phone number, etc.
Step 2: Read and agree to the Independent Contractor Agreement
Step 3: Submit your W-9 (will need to input your SSN or Taxpayer ID #)
Step 4: Enter your U.S. bank account information so we can direct deposit your Payment (includes bank name, routing number and account number)

After you complete all four steps above, your details will be transmitted to kgb_. Data transmission is protected through SSL encryption.

You will have two days (48 hours) to complete Registration.

Register Now: N/A

Your password was sent to you when you first accessed Simulation. Please reference that email for your password.

After you complete Registration, we will send you details on scheduling your Shadowing shift within the next five days.

Any questions, email us at N/A.

Special Agents Registration

I’ve reviewed their comments, mostly positive with some small mistakes (not supposed to cite wiki sources, and did get one question technically wrong [it had to do with comic books and they thought my answer was decent, though not perfect]).

Next I had to give them my information, including social security number (or EIN), bank account (routing number and account number), home address, etc.  This is all standard procedure for an independent contractor.  So, it looks as though I’m expecting to hear back from them in the next five days, hopefully it’ll be less than that, but that goes without saying.

Best of luck to prospective and current applicants, it seems like a nice, (possibly easy), straightforward and cool way to pick up some extra change.  Hopefully they are not overstocked with agents so the agents they have are actually able to make somewhat decent money, as if I’m not able to pick up at least $100/month for doing 6-10 hours of “work” per week, it probably won’t be worth my time.  Although it may help my social skills a bit and make me a bit faster on my feet, which would be a nice added value and something to take into consideration after working there awhile.

Anyway, best of luck to all and will update when I hear back from them!

Update:

I’ve created a forum for discussion amongst KGB Special Agents or those who are prospective of the position: http://blog.virlo.net/forum/kgb-special-agent-discussion/.  Feel free to direct all questions/comments to that centralized location!

Original Post:

I’ve received a question about my status as a KGB agent; however, was not able to respond because the contact form is broken.  Please either leave a comment on the post of interest or contact me at admin at virlo dot net.

Now, to answer the question that I received via the contact page, KGB has not gotten back to me, but they still have one more day to get back to me, as the last e-mails I received from them was from June 30 at 2:34 PM, so they still have until tomorrow.  And they did add the qualifier “should,” so it would be within reason that if they were extremely busy with new applicants, it could take longer than their predicted week.

Here is the entire contents of the latest e-mail from them, received on June 30, 2009 at 2:34 PM CDT:

Hi there,

Well done on completing the test!

We’ll review your answers and let you know how you did. You should hear back from us within the next seven days.

Remember, the possible outcomes are:

1.  We are delighted with your efforts and you will move on to the Registration phase.
2.  We think you have the potential to be a great Special Agent, but need to make some improvements.
3.  At this time, we do not feel you are compatible for the role. In 30 days, you are eligible to re-apply.

So keep an eye on your email inbox to see how you have done. If you do not hear back in seven days, please email us at SpecialAgentsTraining@kgb.com.

Thanks,
Special Agents Training