posted May 22, 2009
I had been going solo in the computer consulting field for a few years when I decided to try my hand at real estate sales. The consulting career was going pretty well but I thought I could do more and was getting a little burned out with computers. There were a number of good stories from that time period including the strange relationship I had with a woman who worked for one of my old company's suppliers who went out with me but did not tell me the truth about her relationship with Laker trainer, Gary Vitti.
I passed the real estate exam easily enough and began working out of a Fred Sands office very close to my old high school. It seemed there were so many people around I could contact for homes for sale or buyers it should be an easy thing to jump start a new career. I have always had a good influence on people and I have been told I'm a good salesman. I was not expecting to rake in millions but to make more money than I had been making working on computers in small offices and people's homes.
The market was in a bit of a downturn at the time I entered the real estate field. It was much more difficult to get clients than I had expected. I thought my luck had finally turned for the better when my friend's uncle told me he wanted me to help him find a house. I was convinced he wanted to buy immediately. I set up a few showings for him around the Beverly Hills Post Office district and Benedict Canyon. A couple in my office had a place off Laurel Canyon, and being a good team player I set up an appointment there, too. I felt really great that morning and was confident we were going to find him the house he was going to buy as I drove to the office on JUNE 29TH, 1990.
What happened that day could be a movie all by itself. Jason hated every house. We started out the day very friendly, but by the time he refused to go into the house on Laurel Canyon I was ready to shove him off a cliff. I could lose my spot at the office for this type of an offense. The couple from my office had driven there to show it and Jason, who is not much more than a self-important wannabe celebutard (his real claim to fame is allegedly boning Susan Lucci), was threatening my position with his rude behavior all day. As I drove him back to his place, I remember thinking I could not wait for him to get out of my car and drive back to the office to apologize to the manager of our office and the husband and wife team I had just delivered a big insult to.
I have gone over this accident so many times it defies comprehension. I was driving a 1986 Subaru 4WD Turbo XT. The white Cadillac that hit me looked like a great white shark coming up out of the pavement right before it hit me. Had I not made a last minute correction there is a good chance we would have flipped and gotten wedged under the cars at the corner. Jason and I could have gotten killed that day. The impact was so great that it blew my left knee out. Eventually, I had my left knee reconstructed. Nothing good came out of that accident; I never worked at the office again, I lost money in the arbitration procedings, there was a long and painful rehabilitation process, and in many ways that seemed like the lowest point in my life up until then.
I have to remind myself; Nicole was not in the car with me, she was not in the other man's car, but it was just her birthday.
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