Ducks In A Tub

Taking life's adventures one day at a time.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Chapter 2: Jobs of Old

When I met my husband in May 2002 he was working for a title company as a computer software trainer. He made his rounds of the company clients and taught realtors and mortgage lenders how to use the software necessary for efficient business. The flexible schedule and self-management of the position really suited his personality and he did well. Everyone loved him and he was a real asset to the company.

In August 2004 (after we were engaged), he was offered the opportunity to become a sales rep for the title company. The real estate market in Orange County was still booming at this point and H jumped at the chance to get in on the rush. He focused his sales energies primarily on mortgage brokers and lenders. (He had difficulty working with realtors.) H was successful almost immediately after he started this, his first, sales job. Things were so good, in fact, that we decided to buy a condo, and we closed escrow right after we were married in January 2004. On the way home from our honeymoon H told me that I didn’t have to work anymore if I didn’t want to. I decided to take him up on his offer and stay home, enjoying my days of “housewife” before God blessed us with children.

Everything was wonderful. H was supporting us financially. I got pregnant. We never really had to worry about money. Everything looked great. What comes next didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. We kept living life on cloud nine. In retrospect, though, this is where things started to get a little rocky before the Crash of 2006.

Around February of 2005 H moved departments within the title company. He thought that he could make more money working for a bigger division. The new division agreed to pay him a guaranteed amount of money for a few months, while he worked on securing a clientele appropriate to the division. The job was much harder than H expected and he was not nearly as successful as he hoped he would be. When the specified time for the guarantee was over, H took a big cut in pay. He was now dependant on his commissions, which did not nearly equal what he had been receiving prior.

In May 2005, a competing title company asked if H would like to go work for them. He requested a huge amount of money for a six month time, and they agreed to pay him. So, he changed companies and started collecting those big paychecks, while trying to acquire enough clients to make up the commission for when the guarantee was over.

While H was collecting the big bucks, I got pregnant with our second child. We decided that the condo might be too small and we wanted to get a house, so we did. We bought a wonderful 4 bedroom house in August 2005.

Right after we bought the house (with a BIG mortgage), real estate started to slow down. Interest rates went up and the refinance business that made H successful previously no longer existed. On top of that, there were management problems at the title company. H got involved in the dispute. He picked the wrong side, became the fall guy for the whole fiasco, and got fired.

Our second baby was due to be born in two weeks. We were left with no health insurance and had to pay COBRA ($$$) in order to get coverage for the delivery.

That brings us to January 2006. Oh, 2006…this year has been a real trial. Keep reading tomorrow for the ups and downs, the harrowing twists and turns that this year has brought.

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1 Comments:

  • At 1:45 PM, Blogger BeachMama said…

    I will have to wait for tomorrow's installment to see what happened to the house you bought that made you rent one from the former boss guy.

    Sorry for your husbands not so great luck at work this past year, I hope to read soon that he has found another job and all is going well.

     

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