Tami Halton Pardee (Photo by Jeff Newton)
UPDATED: 2:42 p.m., July 22. Tami Halton Pardee may be known as the “Queen of Venice,” but she just as easily fits into the neighborhood’s ‘70s bohemian ethos as the multimillion-dollar homes it’s known for today. The founder and CEO of Halton Pardee + Partners has lived in Venice since 1995 and stresses the importance of radiating calming energy instead of chaos; she’s also sold more than $3.8 billion in real estate since 2004. In July, Halton Pardee + Partners placed second in a Real Trends ranking of brokerage teams throughout California. The group logged more than $605 million in sales in 2018, according to the ranking.
In recent years, Pardee has thrown herself into more than just real estate. She launched Life Change Warriors, a nonprofit that, through mentoring, aims to empower homeless women and underprivileged youth to create tangible plans to get what they want. The program has since expanded to offer a yearly coaching program for working moms as well, a for-profit endeavor that partially subsidizes Life Change Warriors.
As for the recent market softening, Pardee knows she can weather the storm. During the 2008 financial crisis, “we told our clients it was a great opportunity to buy and never put people in houses they couldn’t afford.” As a result, she said that Pardee Partners’ business tripled.
“I’m the person who has plan A, B, C, D and E,” she said. “It’s not like I have to make rent this month, so I want to do what’s right for my clients — it’s more about relationships in the long run.”
Pardee reveals what a typical day is like for her in an interview that was edited and condensed for clarity.
5:30 a.m. I wake up at 5:30 or 6. I live about a mile and a half from the beach, so I walk to the beach every morning with weights in my hands. I get coffee and go to the lifeguard stand on Driftwood. There, I meditate, dance and have my time for 20 to 30 minutes, and I then walk back. I do it religiously every morning. It’s my way of connecting with myself and nature.
7:00 a.m. I’m back and get my four kids ready to go. We are a fast-action family, so I can get them out of the house within 30 minutes. My kids are ages eight to 15, so they’re pretty self-sufficient. We have breakfast together and talk. We do animal spirit cards, where everyone picks one and we read our intention for the day.
8:00 a.m. I take my kids to school or camp. When I’m driving back, I talk to my personal assistant for 10 to 15 minutes and go through the touchpoints for the kids, anything that hasn’t happened that needs to happen.
8:30 a.m. I come back and hang out for a minute and do a little work at home — it’s the calm before the storm. I don’t touch my emails until 8:30 or 9. You’ve got to have some space for yourself in the day.
10:00 a.m. I go into the Mar Vista office. I do a lot of meetings in groups. We get together to just jam out things: list of prospects, escrows, people that I need to call. In meetings, I go over things pretty quickly. I’ve trained a lot of my people to say things in one word.
1:00 p.m. I get lunch every day at this Thai place around the corner from the office: Thai spring rolls with peanut sauce wrapped in rice paper — one or two orders, depending on how hungry I am. I always get it to go.
2:00 p.m. I like to swing by the Venice office in the afternoon. I try to keep the middle of the day clear so I’m able to go on listing appointments, showings, caravans, everything that I need to show up at.
3:30 p.m. I pick up my kids, and about once a week, I take them back to the office with me. They love going to the office, but it can be really distracting. We’ll get ice cream, and I’ll work a little more. With four kids, there’s something every day — soccer practice, baseball, basketball.
6:00 p.m. I try to eat dinner with my kids. On Monday nights, I take them to a restaurant that they get to choose. We do Taco Tuesday. I try to stay off my phone in the evening. I do have a quick response team with my clients, so there’s always someone on my team available. If a client escalates something, they’ll let me know.
7:00 p.m. I hang out with my kids. We have a rooftop deck where we play soccer or swim in the pool. I rub their feet every night with lavender oil — it’s our time to connect and talk about the day.
8:00 p.m. The kids head to bed. Sometimes I’ll attend a client thing after they go to bed.
9:00 p.m. I don’t have my kids on Wednesdays and Thursdays; they’re with my ex. So I try to stack the work events when they’re at school and when I don’t have them.
10:00 p.m. I usually go to bed at 10. I like to read. I don’t watch a lot of TV. I read a lot of spiritual books, listen to podcasts like Brené Brown. I’ll also listen to books about how to help kids through things.