About me!
I grew up in between Cupertino and Redwood City. My mom lives in Cupertino, and my Nana and aunt live in Redwood City. I went to school in RC so that I could spent time with the Nana after classes. When I was a little girl, around 8ish, the house next door went up for sale. I said "mommy, you should buy the house next door!!! Pleeessse!" She said "no, I don't have enough money to buy the house next door!" and I said "you'll have less money later...." During the Dot Com Boom, she said "I wish I had bought the house next door!" and I said "I told you so." By this time, I needed to remind her of our conversation, as no one really pays attention to an 8 year old. ...During middle school, a friend of the family would talk to me about his investments in multiple properties, and how he rented them out and used the appreciation to buy more houses and buy a race car and dirt bike. I thought this was pretty cool and wanted him to explain "appreciation". Looking back, these types of conversations are a little odd to have as an 8 to 14 year old. I should have figured out my predisposition to real estate a little sooner!
Though, for High School I went to Notre Dame Belmont, and was convinced my goal in life was to save the rainforest. (I have also always really liked plants :) Because they have a great biology program and I thought this was the best way to go about saving the rainforest, I went out of state to Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon . I took chemistry at the same time I took pysch 100 and drawing. This contrast of subjects made me realize that perhaps I do really want to help save the rainforest..... only in my own mirco-living ways ....and I want to live in a real house and not a tree. (Although, a functional tree house with all modern upgrades would be fun ;) I also really liked pysch and art. So, I received a BA in psychology and a minor in art. (Coincidentally, Lewis and Clark has and awesome psychology department! It's got amazing professors and a small amount of students per class ...because most people go there for the science.) There was no particular goal in mind when I majored in psychology, except that I loved the classes and thought that I should get a degree of something ...because it's a reasonable level of societal status to get one.... and the something might as well be something I love to do, especially if it's going to take me 4 years! There were obviously ideas in my mind of ways I could progress in the field. Being a dancer, I thought it would be neat to study body perception. In the end, I chose a career in Real Estate over one in Psychology. I also started the swing dancing club at LC, which I believe still exists. Yes!
Senior year, I wanted to live off campus and the cost of rent was pretty much the same as a mortgage plus roommates. So, one day at a barbecue get together I announced I'd be buying a house senior year, only with my mom's money and credit. She and the other guests laughed and we continued to eat. I went back to Portland two weeks before I needed to, for house hunting. (No - house hunting takes longer than two weeks. I was kinda idealistic at the time!) Though, after those few weeks had past, I had found a Realtor, a loan agent, and had the loan agent and my mother talk over the phone so that he explained to her that is was indeed possible for her to buy a place in Portland. By early December, my friends and I moved into my new home :) Throughout escrow and afterwards, my agent, loan agent, and friends and family had all at one point or another asked me if I had ever considered being a Realtor. ....or said flat out that I should be a Realtor. I confessed that the idea had been at the back of my mind since the project was started and that was what I had intended to do :)
Buying the house was a huge learning process, and one that I could never have had any other way. A few months after buying it, another learning process started. It turns out that just because there's a window and a closet, that doesn't mean that the room is a bedroom. Unless a room is a bedroom, it is not habitable. The roommates that were making my home have a positive cash flow had to move out because they did not live in bedrooms. Oh, that sucks! So, my parents and I started to sue the guy who sold us a 4 bedroom home, which was really a 2 bedroom home. This was a long 2 year process of mediation and arbitration. In the end, we won and the seller was found guilty of violating the UTPA acts and committing fraud. He was sentenced to give us a little amount of money (not enough. it never is.) and to pay for the cost it took to drag his ass to court. Arbitration is supposed to be final. A day later, the retired judge/arbitrator issued a letter saying that, because it took two years to get this guy to court, we spent more money than it was worth (in his opinion) and so the guy didn't owe us anything. What!?!? Ok, I'm going to go ahead and say that anyone who has made a profitable livelihood by committing fraud on a regular basis and getting away with it, just miiiight be hard to get in the court room. Really, common now! I'm also going to say that any judge who changes his mind the day after a court case is finalized has had a little help from a third party. Anyway, this particular horrific experience has a couple of upsides for me and my clients - I always make them aware that if they want to make sure the seller's being accurate in their bd/ba/sqft/etc count, then they need to go to the permit department. Also, sad to say, the SF permit department is years behind, so my clients may never get the answers they're looking for and they have to make sure they're ok with the risk factor that all files were not up to date when they bought. The risk is lessened by going to check the permits; yes, but, there's not really a black and white answer like they'd like. (That's generally true of life anyway.) I am also damn good at explaining the arbitration/mediation clause in the SFAR contract. If anyone has questions about this usually obscure topic, I can bring real life implications to the subject. Yay! Well, you know, I got to make the best of what happened ;) ....anyway......
After graduation, I decided to take a "trip" to San Francisco to spend the summer with my long distance boyfriend that I had met the summer before. The next year I took classes, got my license and started working at Zephyr. I moved originally for the guy, and stayed for the awesome swing and blues dancing over in SF! Plus, the city is amazing and has so many great things constantly available and going on! It's been three years since I moved back to the bay area and, ironically, said guy now lives in Seattle.
My daily routine now consists of being a Realtor, hanging out with friends, and trying to help out with the dance community in San Francisco. (Also, wanting to save the rainforest, I recycle a lot, reuse, and don't patronize a lot of companies that hurt it.) Since I moved to the city, the scene's gone down a little in quality, so there's a continual debate about how to improve it and bring it back to par. I am constantly exploring San Francisco and learning new things about it all of the time. This city is one where you may never truly know it all. It's very complex and kinda like a person. It's always changing, but there are some consistencies to it which make it a good place to feel at home.
The End.
For now.
Though, for High School I went to Notre Dame Belmont, and was convinced my goal in life was to save the rainforest. (I have also always really liked plants :) Because they have a great biology program and I thought this was the best way to go about saving the rainforest, I went out of state to Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon . I took chemistry at the same time I took pysch 100 and drawing. This contrast of subjects made me realize that perhaps I do really want to help save the rainforest..... only in my own mirco-living ways ....and I want to live in a real house and not a tree. (Although, a functional tree house with all modern upgrades would be fun ;) I also really liked pysch and art. So, I received a BA in psychology and a minor in art. (Coincidentally, Lewis and Clark has and awesome psychology department! It's got amazing professors and a small amount of students per class ...because most people go there for the science.) There was no particular goal in mind when I majored in psychology, except that I loved the classes and thought that I should get a degree of something ...because it's a reasonable level of societal status to get one.... and the something might as well be something I love to do, especially if it's going to take me 4 years! There were obviously ideas in my mind of ways I could progress in the field. Being a dancer, I thought it would be neat to study body perception. In the end, I chose a career in Real Estate over one in Psychology. I also started the swing dancing club at LC, which I believe still exists. Yes!
Senior year, I wanted to live off campus and the cost of rent was pretty much the same as a mortgage plus roommates. So, one day at a barbecue get together I announced I'd be buying a house senior year, only with my mom's money and credit. She and the other guests laughed and we continued to eat. I went back to Portland two weeks before I needed to, for house hunting. (No - house hunting takes longer than two weeks. I was kinda idealistic at the time!) Though, after those few weeks had past, I had found a Realtor, a loan agent, and had the loan agent and my mother talk over the phone so that he explained to her that is was indeed possible for her to buy a place in Portland. By early December, my friends and I moved into my new home :) Throughout escrow and afterwards, my agent, loan agent, and friends and family had all at one point or another asked me if I had ever considered being a Realtor. ....or said flat out that I should be a Realtor. I confessed that the idea had been at the back of my mind since the project was started and that was what I had intended to do :)
Buying the house was a huge learning process, and one that I could never have had any other way. A few months after buying it, another learning process started. It turns out that just because there's a window and a closet, that doesn't mean that the room is a bedroom. Unless a room is a bedroom, it is not habitable. The roommates that were making my home have a positive cash flow had to move out because they did not live in bedrooms. Oh, that sucks! So, my parents and I started to sue the guy who sold us a 4 bedroom home, which was really a 2 bedroom home. This was a long 2 year process of mediation and arbitration. In the end, we won and the seller was found guilty of violating the UTPA acts and committing fraud. He was sentenced to give us a little amount of money (not enough. it never is.) and to pay for the cost it took to drag his ass to court. Arbitration is supposed to be final. A day later, the retired judge/arbitrator issued a letter saying that, because it took two years to get this guy to court, we spent more money than it was worth (in his opinion) and so the guy didn't owe us anything. What!?!? Ok, I'm going to go ahead and say that anyone who has made a profitable livelihood by committing fraud on a regular basis and getting away with it, just miiiight be hard to get in the court room. Really, common now! I'm also going to say that any judge who changes his mind the day after a court case is finalized has had a little help from a third party. Anyway, this particular horrific experience has a couple of upsides for me and my clients - I always make them aware that if they want to make sure the seller's being accurate in their bd/ba/sqft/etc count, then they need to go to the permit department. Also, sad to say, the SF permit department is years behind, so my clients may never get the answers they're looking for and they have to make sure they're ok with the risk factor that all files were not up to date when they bought. The risk is lessened by going to check the permits; yes, but, there's not really a black and white answer like they'd like. (That's generally true of life anyway.) I am also damn good at explaining the arbitration/mediation clause in the SFAR contract. If anyone has questions about this usually obscure topic, I can bring real life implications to the subject. Yay! Well, you know, I got to make the best of what happened ;) ....anyway......
After graduation, I decided to take a "trip" to San Francisco to spend the summer with my long distance boyfriend that I had met the summer before. The next year I took classes, got my license and started working at Zephyr. I moved originally for the guy, and stayed for the awesome swing and blues dancing over in SF! Plus, the city is amazing and has so many great things constantly available and going on! It's been three years since I moved back to the bay area and, ironically, said guy now lives in Seattle.
My daily routine now consists of being a Realtor, hanging out with friends, and trying to help out with the dance community in San Francisco. (Also, wanting to save the rainforest, I recycle a lot, reuse, and don't patronize a lot of companies that hurt it.) Since I moved to the city, the scene's gone down a little in quality, so there's a continual debate about how to improve it and bring it back to par. I am constantly exploring San Francisco and learning new things about it all of the time. This city is one where you may never truly know it all. It's very complex and kinda like a person. It's always changing, but there are some consistencies to it which make it a good place to feel at home.
The End.
For now.
Labels: about me, My life story, rainforest, real estate, San Francsico
posted by Jenny Hunt at
1:40 PM
1 Comments:
Wow.. you smile the same way you used to.
Remember those days when we used rush to to your Nana's house from elementary school and watch the new Gargoyles series or sometimes to play pretend that where were making a new secret language by switching around the consonants of words. You taught me how to catch caterpillars and raise them until they were butterflies. You used to talk about building a house on the delta, a place which I had never seen or heard of but which you made sound like a marvellous place to live when we grew up. Then we had to graduate from Roosevelt Elementary in the sixth grade, the last year they would have that grade, and we sadly parted ways as I went off to JFK Middle School while you went to private school and onto greater things.
You know, my little brother, who was so small then, used to call all my girl friends Jenny for years afterwards. I still think of you from time to time, and always with the fondest of memories. I cannot pass by Grand on Roosevelt without remembering. I'm so happy to see that you have done so well with you life. I wish you well in all your future endeavours.
Best Wishes,
Talisha Hibdon
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