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  I’ve checked my bank account and the check I sent to them (for about $125) to get the license has not yet been withdrawn from my bank account, so I’m guessing it hasn’t been processed yet.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 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.

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

I’ve taken the special agent simulation portion and am now waiting to hear back from KGB about what to expect, I was told to expect one of three responses in the next seven days:

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.

Still not sure what I’m expecting, I did well throughout the training and will let you know what their response is and update accordingly (if I failed the last portion and they send me the #3 answer, I don’t expect to attempt to re-apply).  In any case, stay tuned until then!

Well, I’ve applied to become a KGB “Special Agent.”  I’ve passed the initial challenge and have gone through the initial training session and am waiting to start a third battery called “simulation.”  It doesn’t promise to pay very well at all; however, I do have to look at my position: I am currently an unemployed college student and KGB looks like a good way to pick up a few dollars a month (I’ll update on exactly how much I earn on average after [and if] I’ve been there for awhile).  I’d hope and be happy if I could earn in the area of $200/month, certainly not enough to live on in the States, but not a bad supplement to most college incomes.  I’ll be sure to keep statistics and post relevant updates on my status with this company in the future, within any legal limit.

What I’ll be doing is answering text message questions ranging from people who need serious information (like stock quotes) all the way down to people who are just texting the service for fun or to try it out, with a nice base in between.  They promise to pay $0.10 (ten cents) for every answer and $0.05 (five cents) for each confirmation.  At the end of the month, if your balance is $30.00 or more, it will be disbursed to your bank account; however, if the balance is less than $30.00, it will be held until the next disbursement date, so if you earn $10.00 one month, $15.00 the next month and $20.00 the third month, it won’t be disbursed until the third month’s disbursement date.  I’m not sure what the difference is between an answer and a confirmation, but I’m sure in my time working with them, I’ll run the gambit and will hopefully either be average or above average, and therefore I’ll be able to report what I did and what kind of compensation I’m getting in return.

They do ask for a social security number and bank account; however, because I’m their indpendent contractor, this information is necessary and I’m not worried about handing this out to them.

Hopefully, I’ll be taking the simulation in a few days and will have some more meaningful information towards the end of the summer.

I’m attempting to draw traffic to the site, and hopefully from multiple sources (and thus different types of people), I’m interested in all brokers, salespeople, leasing agents, and prospective students as well as consumers and current clients, I’m excited about having a central location for which prospective students to discuss and current licensees to explain and socialize throughout Illinois (and perhaps even multiple states).

What’s even more important than getting traffic (and, ultimately, the reason why I’m attempting to get traffic), is to get people to visit the site and get them asking questions, so I understand what people are most interested in knowing about real estate and the process through which I’ve been going and even getting current licensees to post their stories (and thus bring more authors to the blog). I really hope my efforts work to this end, as I’ve noticed there is nothing to help prospective students decide whether they want to become salespeople/brokers and there is nothing that explains the process of starting a firm and the necessary steps, these are two of the largest goals of this website, though current issues and questions are certainly welcomed and encouraged.