In the winter of 2024, my husband encouraged me to explore other avenues in real estate while I pursued a graduate degree (in you guessed it, real estate!), not leave it completely behind, but find something related that had better work-life balance and consistency. The market had been steadily on the rise since I became licensed in 2016, but was made worse by the pandemic and now, four-years later, was largely grid locked by inflated prices and higher rates. While many agents and brokerages boasted about highest priced sales, the grotesqueness of it all began to make me sick. I was watching homeownership slip out of grasp for so many. 30 transactions per year became less than half but with the same volume — evidence of the lack of affordability. It weighed on me. Was I just another cog in the capitalistic wheel? I mean, yes, only relieved by the understanding that we all are…