How a real estate mogul manages a busy lifestyle

Realtor Reality

By Heather Fegan

Find out how a busy and successful realtor and mother of four strives to manage it all, as she embraces not just a career but a lifestyle, from elite athlete to rising up the ranks of the real estate ladder while balancing a hectic family life with an energetic and positive outlook. Discover the challenges, mentorship, and inspiration she’s found along the way.

Dawn Dauphinee, FRI Partner At domus realty

On a typical day realtor Dawn Dauphinee is up at 5:20 a.m. and on her way to bootcamp at the gym. On the day we’re meeting to chat, she’s on her way home from the gym so early that the drug store hasn’t yet opened. Heading home to shower and get ready for the day, she pops out again to pick up gift cards for end-of-school-year teacher gifts.

June 30 is one of the busiest real estate days of the year. Parents of school-aged kids (of which Dawn has four) know the last day of school is also very hectic.

With a house closing at 9 a.m. she’s off to a pre-close inspection, while her partner Matt gets the kids to school. It’s a busy day but still she makes a point to be present, rushing to the school by 10 a.m. to see her kids come out of the building on their last day. After a trip to Bulk Barn for a treat she drops them at their grandmother’s house. Then it’s back to the office for paperwork, bills, bank deposits, work on a market analysis, returning phone calls and emails, terminating agreements, writing an offer, plus a trip to Costco. It’s a full and steady day of work divided between her and her assistant Leslie.

Now it’s after dark and she’s making time for our interview, having requested we push our meeting out a little bit, so can say yes to one of her twin sons who has asked to go for a walk with his mom.

Every day is different for Dawn. That’s the way she likes it. That, and the challenges.

Finding her way

Dawn grew up in a construction family. To put herself through school, she worked with her dad building houses. She’s done it all, from pouring concrete foundations to framing walls to roofing, laying hardwood floors and hanging drywall. She knows what it's like to work her butt off.

Playing rugby was her passion from age 16 to 27. She trained as an elite athlete, playing the game at various levels, including for her alma mater St. Thomas University, for provincial teams in Nova Scotia, Quebec, and British Columbia, the U23 Canada team, and the National Women’s rugby team. She spent a few summers in Boston, hooking up with teams like Harvard’s Radcliffe Women in one of their summer league games. Today she sits on the board of Rugby Canada, serving on the Hall of Fame committee, the Ways and Means committee and is chair of the annual awards.

Her rugby career afforded her a lifestyle where she could pick up construction work as she went. While she started working on her real estate license in British Columbia, at age 27 she came to the point in her life where she knew she wouldn't be playing rugby forever. Having done well with her rugby career, she says she was a bit of a mental mess worrying about potential sports injuries and coming to terms with how to support herself moving forward. With family back home, she packed her car, drove across the country, and moved back to Halifax.

She picked up the backbreaking work of home construction with her dad once again.

“My dad is a hard-working man,” she says. “It was hard. It was demanding, and both being stubborn people, it wasn’t always easy.” Feeling discontent, she made the decision to pursue a career in real estate, using a line of credit to pay for the course. Within a year, she was selling real estate and has never looked back. But not without the incredible work ethic installed by her dad.

Climbing the ladder

Starting out at the family-owned Sutton agency, Dawn says experienced agents took her under their wings and helped her along the way. Over the next 14 years she worked her way up the ladder. First she made a move to Bryant Realty and then pursued an opportunity in 2014 to move her license to Domus Realty to take over the practice of founding partner Gail Morris as she prepared to retire. Dawn credits this move with catapulting her career in the industry. A few years later, she purchased the company along with fellow Domus agent Ernie Buote.

“It was a really good opportunity to mentor with Gail. It’s so important to have that. She had a ton of experience and just had a really nice way about doing business and I was able to learn that from her.”

Dawn also sings the praises of her business partner, Buote. “He is incredible. We have different styles but are on the same page business-wise. He’s really easy to get along with, he keeps a lot of the brokerage running. He’s an amazing business partner. He’s a big part of why Domus is thriving.”

Dauphinee also credits her time serving on the board for Rugby Canada for helping her in business. “I was able to learn a lot about business and how decisions are made, how people interact,” she says.

“Rugby has played a huge part of my life and I’ve met a lot of really amazing people. I’ve always had a voice but being on the board of Rugby Canada I was really encouraged to use my voice. I was a players’ representative so I was able to speak for the players.”

Dawn says she feels very fortunate to have been surrounded by really great business people who have helped her.

“In 2017, when we purchased the company, I had one of the board members take a look at the financials and talk me through business ownership,” she says.

“Those friendships I made on the board and in rugby in general have helped me become the business person I am now.”

There’s another relationship that Dawn says has played a pivotal role in her successful career. While pregnant with her first child, when she was just two or three years into the real estate business, she started to get really busy. Her husband Matt took parental leave (meeting Dawn around the city to feed the baby) and really enjoyed it.

After baby number two, Dawn wanted more time with the kids. Matt took leave from his job as an IT consultant to pursue his own real estate license, knowing he’d be able to help Dawn out.

So the husband and wife bravely started working together. They soon discovered that while they work well together, they have very different styles. It didn’t last long.

Then came twins. Matt was back working in IT while helping Dawn with real estate matters, and they suddenly had four kids under the age of four.

“Matt has been an incredible support and partner and father. I definitely would not be where I am without Matt and the kids would not have their happiness that they have without Matt.”

Now they continue to help each other but don’t share the same clients. “We’re a team, each with our own strengths. He’s very patient, and nurturing. We’re not in typical roles. I’m a business mom and he’s ok with that. We work in a team, and we do what works.”

Dawn says her kids are her biggest inspiration. #familylife #balance #realtor #novascotia

Red hot market

Today, the housing market is sporadic, “and it’s week by week, so it really depends which week it is, and which house it is,” says Dawn. “And different pockets of the city are busier than others. We’ve had some neighbourhoods that have had 20-35% increases in Halifax. Our city has changed since 2018 and it's continuously risen since 2018. This is the highest spike that we’ve ever seen. I do think it will continue to increase, just not at this level.”

Dawn says people are migrating from the country to the city, with people also migrating here from other parts of Canada, and from other parts of the world.

“It’s a pandemic thing but I also think we are a destination,” says Dawn. “We have a great lifestyle here. We were able to thrive because of our sense of community and how we care about each other, that really allowed us to fare so well. We had Dr. Strang making so many restrictions but it allowed us to live semi-normal lives, and I think other people started to notice us then.”

Dawn explains Nova Scotia’s stable university-hospital-military dynamic has always kept the market very slow and steady but other growing industries like video game and ocean tech are bringing up the market.

“And people can work remotely too. I’ve had quite a few buyers move here from Toronto and some of them, work doesn’t even know they’re here. That happens quite often,” says Dawn.

“I’ve never had a fast-paced market like this before. We’ve definitely had busy markets but this is really hard to keep on top of. It’s constant. You’re getting hit with emails and texts and calls all day long. Which is great. I enjoy being busy but some days it can be a lot.”

It’s a lifestyle

To manage the load, Dawn tries to put ‘do not disturb’ on her phone before 7 a.m. and after 9 p.m.

“But if I’m dealing with offers that’s off the table. We can get calls all times of the day. The way it’s working right now in the market, you set a date and time you have to have offers in by. That puts more control over when you're looking at offers. You may have late night offers but most of the time you’re dealing with a set timeframe.” She’s also accommodating time changes for clients, which makes for a very full day.

“I always say it’s all about balance. When you’re working too much and not seeing the kids enough, you feel it and it doesn't feel right.” She recognizes—and accepts—there are different seasons of busy when she needs to put her head down and get her work done.

“Matt’s workload is more manageable and he’s able to help when he can, with paperwork or to go take care of a home inspection if I can’t make it,” she says. That allows her more with time the kids.

Dawn is at the gym at least five days a week, and doing something active every day.

“Exercise is really important to me. If I'm not exercising, that’s part of my balance that’s off. I’m a physical person. I need that outlet. It helps me manage my energy and who I am, so I can show up for my clients and what they need. And it allows me to keep up with my kids.”

“Exercise is really important to me. If I'm not exercising, that’s part of my balance that’s off…And it helps me keep up with my kids,” says Dawn Dauphinee, FRI

She also likes to chill on the couch with the family, watching tv and movie series.

“I really like to watch the kids in their sports. It’s been a real enjoyment for me, having a coffee in the stands watching my kids play hockey in the morning, or soccer or whatever it is.”

Dawn says one of the challenges along the way was having four kids under the age of four, and running her own business and then buying a business. “There was probably a year where I couldn't breathe properly, always trying to catch my breath or gasping for air. Now I can finally breathe properly but I've always lived outside of my comfort zone. I think this is in my blood, but I'm always striving, I don't think necessarily that it’s a healthy thing, striving. I think a real skill is being happy where you are. Not that I'm not happy, but I'm always pushing.”

While her assistant Leslie Campbell keeps her organized, there are definitely times where she’s saved the day for Dawn. “We’re human. There’s mistakes that are made, appointments get forgotten. Just yesterday I was at a showing and another client called to see if I was making it to our appointment. I double booked myself.”

While it stresses her out because she doesn’t like to disappoint people, Dawn says she’s always had the mindset to just tell the truth. “If you’re going to lie about it or make a fib, people don’t respect that. If you’re straight up and tell them ‘shoot, I double booked myself, I’m sorry, it won’t happen again’, that’s better.”

It’s why she keeps little gift cards in her car. “So I can say ‘I’m really sorry I’m late, I'm sorry I wasted your time, here you go.’ It doesn't happen all the time but I know when I get flat out I’m going to make mistakes.”

Dawn says real estate is a perfect lifestyle for her because she loves people and she loves houses. “It's the perfect blend of trying to overcome challenges and figure out what's needed. A big part of my job is figuring out what people need. And in every transaction there is a different need. It's figuring out, what do these clients need from me?”

Another challenge—which most moms will attest—is having serious mom guilt. And the biggest challenge of all, Dawn explains, was working and supporting her family through a very significant spinal surgery of her youngest child. “Hugh became quite ill and to be able to focus became paramount. That was an extremely challenging year. It was also the same time three agents left the company. That was one of those years where you had to dig deep. Everything was harder but we had incredible support around us. We had neighbours with a food train, people taking our children to sports, helping wherever they could. It really does take a village. Kindness that people show is also a huge inspiration to me.”

There are a lot of different things that inspire Dawn.

Her kids are the biggest one. “Seeing them grow and learn, probably even more so Hughie with overcoming his health challenges but just having the most incredible outlook on life. He's always so happy. He's had so many challenges but the way that he looks at the world is not like anyone else. Other than hunger there is nothing bringing that kid down. He is truly inspiring.”

Her dad, as we know, has also been a big inspiration. “He just puts his head down and he just works. There's nothing stopping him. He's a man of steel. He works through injuries. This is not good medical advice but he had a stint put in his heart and he was putting in windows that afternoon. There is no stopping that man.”

Seeing her husband with the kids, his patience and the way he is with them, and how much he cares about them is inspiring too.

“In business, when and if there’s a seat at the table for a woman, there’s usually only one seat available for one woman,” says Dawn. “Women have to help each other up. Seeing women succeed, women helping women, women building women up is inspiring to see.”

She’s right. You only need to spend an hour chatting with Dawn, looking back on her rise up the real estate ladder, juggling a hectic family life, with an energetic and positive outlook and establishing not just a successful career but a successful lifestyle, to feel inspired yourself.