Hello everyone,
I haven't been on here in a while and was reading and catching up because my husband is getting LASIK and I have some time to kill while I wait.
Moving To Orlando, I am not an owner or anything. That is owned by Razek and Ruben. Ruben decided to move to Delaware and my husband moved into the acting manager role so, that left them with no active agents since Razek hasn't sold a house before. I was asked to take over some of the contracts so the clients had a person on the ground here, as well as helping future clients on a referral basis so they get the help they are supposed to be getting. It's been pretty steady and those shows should be amping back up soon and I will likely guest appear from time to time but, I am not 'back' with MTO nor employed by MTO or anything like that. Pete did sell his half to Ruben for $1,000,000 but the actual rules of the payback are very loose. Doing some quick math based on average sales and their terms, it should range between 300-700 years before he is paid. (I'm not exaggerating) - had he sold it to me, the math comes up to a 8-12 year deal, so best of luck to him.
Debating Pete being rich leaves out some context. He does have the money to do nice things that are tax writeoffs and to buy things that are fancy. So, if thats rich, then hes rich. He is certainly not wealthy, but I could get on board with possibly rich. That said, I just see a lot of debt. Anyone would argue that Whitney Houston was rich but she died 20 million in the hole. Pete can't afford his lifestyle without the company maintaining its pace, at minimum. He can't afford to retire and is often living paycheck to paycheck. They are big paychecks but it is still that same concept. 'I can't pay you back until the Google money comes in' or 'I need to wait for these houses to close before I can pay that bill' etc etc. For me, that ain't rich. Pete always told me I was with him for his money and I always explained to him that he doesn't have 'money.' I know people that fly into Orlando on their helicopter and park it on the roof of the hotel, theres people over on the Butler chain that could put me on their sea plane and fly me to Mt Dora for lunch. There's real money out there and Pete doesn't have that.
As far as stuff about the other employees not stepping up to Pete and all that. I don't have any ill will there. I know it's hard to break away from him, especially when you have a non-compete to deal with. I had a lawyer going after Pete for very basic things and Pete was completely non-compliant and I was out $11,000+ and accomplished absolutely nothing in that time frame. Petes strategy and threats are to keep you tied up in court because he can outspend you. He certainly can outspend his staff and it's scary getting a letter from an attorney and thinking about the amount of money it takes to defend yourself or accuse someone else of something. I got an opportunity that allowed me to make enough money that Pete couldn't outspend me anymore. We could've bankrupt each other, but I grew up poor and can live off ramen, he can't so I knew he couldn't really do much towards me. The others don't have that luxury, so it's a rock and hard place and it's hard to see the light when you're stuck in a well.
But life is going great. Dogs are happy, I am happy for the first time in years. I've lost around 55 pounds so feeling better, looking better and life is just, better. And now my husband will have perfect vision or go blind, so I'll be a caretaker I guess. But that still beats the alternative. Thanks again everyone for the kick in pants that I needed to get out of there.