Longtime licensed real estate broker Liz Nunan —ultimately oversees 1450 agents across 32 offices for Houlihan Lawrence, the number-one brokerage in the state north of New York City. She leads with confidence and perspective honed over nearly three decades with the company and rarely misses a happy hour or pickleball tournament, even when her days are long.
I get up at 5:45 every day, though I might hit the snooze button a few times on the weekends. I definitely consider myself a morning person, though if you told that to 25-year-old me, I would have laughed hysterically and not believed it. It used to be a struggle to get up early but then again, I was probably staying up a lot later back then.
The first thing I do is settle in with a large cup of coffee. I love my quiet time and don’t even turn on the TV. I go over my schedule for the day and scan through overnight emails. My husband and I talk about what our days look like, what we might want to make or do for dinner and then it’s off to get ready for work and start on my list of calls.
The beauty of my job is that no two days are alike and I love that. Depending on the day, you could catch me at our corporate home office in Rye Brook or out visiting one of our offices throughout Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess, and Columbia counties in New York and in Fairfield County, Connecticut. I’m usually out by 8:30 or earlier if I have farther to go. If I feel like I need some more caffeine, I stop into the Starbucks at the Rye Ridge Shopping Center for an iced non-fat latte.
I spend a lot of time-in my car and like to listen to books or podcasts. My most recent favorites are the book “Unreasonable Hospitality” by Will Guidara and The Mel Robbins Podcast. (Love her.)
On a typical morning, I meet with our senior leadership team for a catch up on everything. It’s an important touch point for all of us. There’s always a lot going on throughout the year, whether it’s award season, planning events, or just working on our overall strategy. We’re a very close, collaborative team.
Lunch usually depends on my schedule. If I’m in the office with back-to-back meetings, I’m lucky to have the time to grab some peanuts. If I’ve been at a morning sales meeting at one of our offices and heading back to my own office for the rest of the day, I’ll swing by one of my favorite places to grab lunch to go. G. E Brown in Bedford, Green & Tonic in Rye Brook, Aux Délices in Greenwich or Darien are all in my rotation. Some days you may even catch me having a civilized lunch out with an agent, sales manager, or the head of our title or mortgage companies. Moderne Barn in Armonk, Aurora or Ruby’s Oyster Bar & Bistro in Rye, and even the Millbrook Diner are favorites for that.
Afternoons are typically busy. I meet regularly with various department heads of both Houlihan Lawrence as well as our parent company, HomeServices of America (HSoA). Some days it’s a Teams meeting with the HSoA leadership team and all of my peers at the other HSoA owned companies across the country; it’s a great group of leaders and we meet regularly to share and collaborate. The best is when we’re all together in person which happens a few times a year, but the calls are just as energizing and informative.
I usually leave the office a little before 6pm for the 30-minute drive home, if I’m heading there. There are a lot of events that we do as a company, and I try to go to as many as I can because I love spending time with our agents outside of the office. Whether there’s a happy hour hosted by our mortgage or title company or a pickleball or bowling networking event held by multiple offices, you will see me there. So many of our agents have been with Houlihan Lawrence for a long time and I’ve been with the company for nearly 30 years so getting together is like being with family. We all seem to fully support the motto of work hard, play hard!
Until recently, it’s mostly just been me and my husband cooking dinner, because our daughter is grown and lives in Maryland. But last summer, our niece moved in with us when she graduated from Fairfield University and started her first job in Darien. We’ve binge-watched more TV shows with her than we did all through COVID and we’re also working out together in the evenings. It’s so fun having a young person in the house again.
I try not to spend too much time on my phone at night, but I do at least check my Outlook calendar to see where the next day will be taking me. Then it’s off to bed around 9:30 or 10pm.
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