Divorce filings are up 34% from this time last year. (MASSIVE increase). The increased due to COVID and people being quarantined together with unresolved issues. The stresses of the pandemic have made couple scrutinize their living arrangements. Now, people are facing many difficulties in these times. Clients have bigger financial issues; realtors have more trouble controlling the clients and getting the house sold. Realtors can make things more efficient when they know what they’re doing.

1.) Moving a person out of a house to get the house sold is called a kick out order

 2.) When a divorce happens and a house is involved, there are three options.

• One party stays and pays the other party whatever equity amount they agreed to or that the court ordered
• Sell the house and divide the money either by agreement or court order
• One party stays and the other stays on the loan for a period of time (the worst option)
  

3.) Be sympathetic with the client

For realtors, when the house gets sold it is a happy moment. However, for the clients in a divorce case, it is heartbreaking.

One of my favorite times of the year is business planning and team retreat season. It's inspiring to see how far we've come as an organization, and to chart our course to reach our next destination!

This time last year, our Ilumni team rented a house at the beach and spent three nights together. Our agent services director (aka, "team mom") grocery shopped and meal planned, and we made dinner together, listening to music, drinking lots of wine, and talking about everything from hair color to politics. The next morning, we took a walk, enjoyed our coffee, and then "got to work" at 8:30am, reflecting on our personal "why," our personal goals, and our 1 year, 3 year, 5 year visions.

Speaking of being surrounded by talent, it is with great honor and excitement that, on behalf of Ilumni, we welcome Jason Gordon to our faculty.

Jason comes to us with an impressive background, and extensive experience in the lending space.

With a bachelor's degree from San Diego State University, followed by an MBA from National University, Jason holds multiple divorce real estate credentials, including his CDRE™ that he obtained in 2019.

Yesterday, someone said "How do you do it all?"

Answer: I don't.

The secret truth is, I'm surrounded by "inspired, passionate, motivated, grateful, and open minded" talent all around me, and together, WE do it all.

In the real estate industry, we hear so much about leadership. We have leadership classes, leadership coaching, leadership habits, leadership skills - there's a whole industry devoted so leadership. And that's good, because as Realtors, we lead a lot. We lead our families, our domestic teams, our clients, all of the moving parts and people in a transaction, and that's all before we even get into leadership of our teams and businesses. So leadership really is at the core.

We all have biases. In divorce listings, and in daily life. When we are hired to be a neutral professional, we must be purposeful about acknowledging our biases and recognize when we are triggered by them. We represent flawed individuals from all walks of life, yet we must set aside our personal feelings in order to perform the task we've been hired to do.

My husband, Sean, and I were driving to Las Vegas a few weeks ago. From SoCal, it's a 3-4 hour drive on the 15 freeway through the desolate Mohave Desert, which is basically the only direct way to get there.

It's a great feeling to be out on the open road - a feeling of freedom and fresh air, and drivers get caught up in this euphoria, with the top down, and open up their V12s, flying at speeds in excess of 100mph.

In an effort to provide stellar customer service, and be that dutiful agent who ensures our clients' expectations are met and exceeded, we sometimes get into what feels like no-win situations.

Have you ever had that client who questions everything you're doing, makes you second guess yourself, and no matter what you do, they're never happy? Sometimes you can't sleep, you play back every conversation in your head, and can't seem to figure out what your next step should be - should you call, should you drop it, should you dig your heels in, should you give in?

Upon the eve of his "Class of 2020" high school graduation, my 18-year old son was well aware that he was expected to start financially contributing to "the life of Andrew" and all of the things that go along with supporting it.

He's admittedly had a nice life, more than his father and I ever had growing up. And yet, we found ourselves in that delicate balance of parenthood: How do we teach our children they are loved beyond measure, while also teaching them they are not entitled? At what age does the financial support stop, and independence begins?