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Saturday, March 16, 2024

Recent APY Gambles

Every year, for the last 3 years I have tried to open a new CD account somewhere within the first three months of the new year with savings accrued in the prior year.

This year was no different, however I took a gamble with sourcing funds I transferred from existing high yield savings accounts I hold with American Express and CIT Bank (now a division of First Citizens Bank).

The reason it was a gamble is because the AmEX savings account has a current APY of 4.35% and the CIT SavingsConnect account an APY of 4.66%.

As shown in the first graphic for this post, the new Synchrony CD has an APY of 4% over the 5 year term of the CD. If the AmEx and CIT APYs hold for longer than I expect and also assuming CD APYs stay the same, then I would have gambled wrong and lost a little in the way of returns.

I am anticipating interest rates to go down both in terms of APY and APR and I wanted to lock in a higher rate over a longer period of time for the CD.

I have several banks used for savings and right now- Synchrony is offering the best rates on the 5 year term CD.

Why hold the savings shown- in CDs and not investment options with higher returns? I can only afford to gamble with my liquid assets in the manner I have outlined in this post.




Wednesday, March 06, 2024

Feedspot Featured

It's Personal, this blog has been featured by Feedspot as one of Maryland's Top 30 Blogs.

I am delighted to have my personal blog featured by this organization.




Monday, March 04, 2024

2023-2024 Weight Loss Journey

You really cannot tell from the photos I have included with this post, however over the last 6 months I have lost about 15 pounds.

I have one or two new outfits I wanted to showoff, however, Saturday (March 2, 2024) when I tried different hair and makeup looks for the shots, I decided I liked nothing and gave up.

I want to lose another 20 pounds by summer.




Wednesday, February 28, 2024

My Costs To Maintain My Real Estate License

When I first became eligible to apply for my Maryland Real Estate Salespersons License (Feb. 2022), I began in earnest to research the costs associated with maintaining the license as a practicing buyers or sellers agent.

The first decision I made, interview with area real estate teams to be a licensed transaction coordinator rather than a buyers and/or sellers agent. Factors involved in my decision included:

  • Legal protection for my Maryland small business, QiSoftware.
  • Acquire valuable hands-on experience with real estate sales in a team environment.
  • Avoid some of the costs associated with being a real estate salesperson, i.e., insurance, MLS fees, membership fees, etc.
  • Paycheck lower however guaranteed.

Though I interviewed with two area teams for the transaction coordinator position, they really wanted me to sign up as a full-fledged buyers/sellers agent.

In my case, I felt it pointless to continue interviewing for the licensed transaction coordinator, so instead, I decided to become a referral agent with a local brokerage.

The actual costs to maintain my active real estate license as a referral agent?

Below, a snap shot from the Microsoft Money Business software I use to track all of my financial transactions (both business and personal)- for the activity associated with my Amazon Signature Visa since last November (2023). The related transactions have a green arrow in the margin.

Though I do not need a website to renew my real estate license, I did register the domain reginathomas.studio to maintain a web presence for this service area and the related marketing efforts.

The current yearly cost to renew the domain registration is shown below.

Why pay about $200 biennially to renew the license if you are only looking to refer clients? I wanted this professional license and want to keep it. I hope some day to be in a better position to use the license as I originally intended, however right now my legal concerns outweigh my desire to actually assist clients with their needs in this area.

Home ownership is perhaps one of the most expensive purchases a couple or individual will have. Legal issues can and do come up. I have done my research. Right now, I cannot afford any legal issues- I could have avoided.




Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Finally Completed The CE Courses For Real Estate License Renewal

Over the weekend, I finally completed all of the continuing education requirements to renew my Maryland Real Estate Salesperson's license.

As noted in the graphics for this post, I completed most of the courses between January 26 - 28, 2024, however came down with a stuffy nose and cold on January 30, 2024. I did very little for a whole week.

Finally, Saturday, February 10, 2024 I took the last course- (Legislative-A) DL/Maryland Legal Update.

These courses renewed my interest in doing more with real estate, however, the last course especially, renewed my concerns with the many legal actions that can be brought against licensees working in this area.

See this related post.




Sunday, January 28, 2024

Continuing Education Real Estate Courses This Weekend (Jan. 26, 2024)

On Friday, January 26, 2024 I began taking the remaining continuing education courses I need to renew my real estate license. Refer to the earlier post on this topic.

The first course, Fair Housing- DL/Diversity: Your Kaleidoscope of Clients- that I began working on Friday morning and continued into the evening. There was a lot of material offered and I checked almost every link.

This was my first time taking a course with The CE Shop, so I am going to admit there was a bit more overhead associated with this course.

The other issue I ran into- dealt with research into gender labels and their exact meanings. Unfortunately one of the questions I missed was because I still do not understand how everything is being defined.

In my defense, I would like to suggest that not all definitions on gender labels appear to be the same.

The following graphic shows my Certificate of Completion for the Fair Housing- DL/Diversity: Your Kaleidoscope of Clients and the score I received on the final exam.

When I began taking the final, I noticed I had 1000 chances to pass the final exam. I passed the first time with the 85 score, however, had no opportunity to up the score with subsequent retries. I was also a little surprised about how long it took me to complete the course and final exam.

The second course taken this weekend (all day Saturday), Ethics-D DL/Maryland Real Estate Code of Ethics was a long course. A lot of emphasis was put on the Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice of The National Association of Realtors®. I had the NAR PDF link in one of my browsers all day and probably should credit a correct answer on the final exam to this fact.

The following graphic shows my certificate of completion and the passing score of 95 for the ethics course.

The following illustration shows the remaining courses I will take hopefully this week to satisfy my continuing education requirements.

If you are like me and your first real estate license renewal is approaching, and you also need continuing education course credits, I would not wait until the last minute. Those who have renewed their licenses at least once, probably know this.






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