I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and great start to the new year! It has been a rough couple of days getting back into the groove here. I truly love what I do, and was ready to get back to it. I think being off for as long as I was and getting hit with freezing temperatures stalled out my neurons. I am not one to make New Year’s resolutions. I see everyday as a new start, if you want to change something, but I understand the symbolism of the new year bringing change.

I’m like the first flower of winter, blooming but with much ahead of me.

The only thing I am resolving to do is keep stepping out of my comfort zone. I was really sort of amazed at myself last week. A friend called and asked me questions about buying a house. I am no expert on the process, pretty good with numbers though. The topic was interest, and why you want to pay over your mortgage payment and work on your credit to get the lowest interest rate available. We worked some numbers and found that an owner financed $90,000 house will triple in price just about at 10% over 30 years. These numbers may not be exactly correct, only verified by an online mortgage calculator. I gave her advice on buying and refinancing for lower interest ASAP. I wish I would have realized just how important credit really is when I had my first Mastercard.

Growing and Flowering

Anyway, the amazing thing is that last April, I knew nothing about this. I would have suggested that she come in and talk to Lee. Which I still did, but I was able to answer some questions and go over a rough estimate for housing repairs based on what I have seen contractors estimate. Wow. When did all of that get into my head? How can I still feel like I know nothing, but know so much? In the grand scheme of this business, I still know very little. That isn’t saying I don’t know a lot. This business is so expansive when it comes to knowledge, that it will take me years to learn about half of what I need to know. To do this, I must step out of my comfort zone.

If anyone has questions about office stuff, I am your gal. I can schedule just about anything and put systems in place for many, many things. I am really good at this. I enjoy this. I also enjoy learning. If you remember I felt so wonderful seeing a young couple with kids purchase their first house from us and all I did was show it to them, schedule times for them to meet with Lee, and file the paperwork. I want to be more involved in someone getting their first home than just those things. Those things are important, but they are old news to me. I want to have to replace myself here because I get so busy doing what Lee does that I can’t keep up with it.

*Side note! Yes Lee, I really just wrote that.*

Can you tell I love my job and both the “Hermit” companies?

I know how I feel about the house that I am buying, and I want everyone to be able to feel that. There’s such excitement, impatience, calm, discomfort, and joy behind knowing that I am buying a house. It’s a big leap. I have prepared as much as I possibly can, and I have to stay on this path and I will achieve my goal. Not only in buying my house, but on this career path as well.

Getting Established

When I was growing up, my mom put a good deal of emphasis on establishing myself. Even after I was an adult she always brought up how important it was to be established. I always considered retired people as being established. People who are at the highest point in their career are established. I spend too much time learning new things to be established. I am always changing something in my job description to take on more. Isn’t established being at the end goal?

I was talking to someone I had just met about the house I am renting, the one I am buying, and work. He said, “You sound really established.” I had to pause a moment and ask myself if this is what Mom was talking about all of those years? Could it be that Mom meant to put down roots, but keep growing towards the sky? I think the answer is yes. I think being established can be different for all of us, but it is the same amount of importance. Perhaps it’s feeling grounded enough to keep learning and doing things that make us leave our comfort zone. I know where home is, and I also know that I do not have to settle for good enough when my best is waiting on me. I will get there, and in between here and there I will write about what I learn, how it feels, people I meet, and the circumstances that surround it all.

I know we “flip houses.” I did not realize that the core values of the Hermits had the strength to flip people.