My Once in a Lifetime Achievement

I finally accomplished a feat that ended up achieving a goal I didn't create. While I like competition as much as the next guy -- after all, I am a Sacramento short sale agent which, by its very nature, should make me somewhat competitive -- I am not driven by competition. I don't have to be better than anybody else, I just have to make more money, haha.

Seriously, though, given a choice between celebrity status or being stinkin' rich, I'll take the money. Haven't you ever had discussions like that? Well, I did, when I was younger. Before the days of Paris Hilton and the Kardashians. Back when being a celebrity meant you had actually accomplished something, because being a famous person meant one possessed a talent that was recognized. I've never fully understood why anybody would want to be famous, though.

Famous people get mugged, strangers clamor for autographs. Paparazzi hound them to death. Look what happened to Lady Diana. You have no privacy. Photographers with long lenses take photos of you half nude on the beach. You can't ever let your hair down and just be yourself because sure as crap you'll screw up, say something that is not PC, and the media will blast you to smithereens. No thanks.

I know there are people who think I am a celebrity. I get the biggest kick out of those people. I'm just a writer who writes about homebuying for the New York Times' website About.com. I've been in real estate for so long that my longevity makes me an expert. I don't consider myself a celebrity. I sell real estate in Sacramento. For the past 6 or 7 years, I've been specializing in short sales, and I've gotten pretty good at it. So, my goal was to earn Master's Club status in the first 30 days of the year. Just to see if I could do it.

Sure enough, this January, I did it. When I first earned this status years ago, it took me almost a year to meet the requirements. But now I am a Life Member of Master's Club. And in the first 30 days of January, I met the qualifications for 2012. Not only that, but the unexpected benefit is I am also the #1 Top Producer Agent for Lyon Real Estate in January 2012. We have almost 900 agents at Lyon. This is a huge deal.

I don't have a big team. I'm not an REO agent churning dozens of homes, hand over fist. I simply keep my nose to the grindstone, and keep listing and closing those Sacramento short sales. But now that I made Master's Club in January, I'll have to come up with a new goal to achieve. Well, being the #1 Agent at Lyon is nothing to sneeze at, either. But I doubt I'll earn Master's Club status next January. I suspect this was a lucky fluke. I had closings rollover from December.