Meet Heather Candelaria of DIV/VY The Divorce Agency

Today we’d like to introduce you to Heather Candelaria.

Heather, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My story is over a decade long. In short, the global housing recession of 2009 coincided with my divorce. I have spent the last ten years of my life rebuilding after these two events, which have really led me to the path I am now on. I set out last year after the company I was working for closed very suddenly to create a business dedicated to helping men and women navigate the process of Divorce. I looked around for a model, and really created one based on my years of being an ad agency producer. In order to produce a concept, you need three things. The right team, a budget and schedule, and project management to see it through to completion. If you have these elements set up, you are in a position to be successful. It applies in a very similar way to Divorce, which is why I decided to create a full-service divorce agency to really help clients when they an ideal of what they want their outcome to look like but have no idea where to start.

In 2009, my world imploded. After being unhappy for several years in my marriage, I decided to get divorced. It just happened to coincide with the global economic recession. We were heavily leveraged in Real Estate and my ex-spouse (like so many others) had invested everything we had in development. We lost everything in the crash. Homes. Land. All our savings. I had married young and at 36 after 14 years together, I found myself on the verge of divorce and total financial ruin at the same time. I couldn’t even afford to hire a lawyer, as everyone that I talked to required a minimum of $10k for a retainer as my case was so complex.

I moved forward, filed online for $200, signed over my interest in his business, found a small rental house, watched the home I raised my children in sell in foreclosure, sold many of our belongings, filed for bankruptcy and started my life over. I spent the next four years finding my footing as a working single mom and dealing with the residual damage from the divorce. I had made many mistakes in the paperwork and in my decisions and I found myself reeling with resentment and anger. It was very contentious and there were issues with everything from taxes to the parenting schedule. Fast forward to 2016, when the landlord of my rental home, the only home my kids knew, said he wanted to sell. I was still recovering financially after having to declare bankruptcy to remove myself from my ex-husband’s investments. There was no way I could buy my house at the moment, but nothing mattered to me more than securing it as it was the only home my kids have ever known.

I was so lucky that he and I were able to come to an agreement to do a lease to own, and I went immediately back to work full time, got my real estate license and worked over the next three years to give him balloon payments each year towards the downpayment on my house. In January 2019, I negotiated the sale of and closed on my home, but not without going through the VERY eye-opening process of trying to obtain financing after a divorce and bankruptcy. There was SO MUCH I didn’t know. So much no one ever told me. So many financial mistakes I could have avoided, which I know would have lessened my anxiety and stress and let to a better relationship with my ex-spouse, which would have been better for my kids. Because at the end of the day, they are really all that matters.

That same January of last year, the very week I closed on my home, the company I worked for announced they were closing their doors. Having been in production my entire career, I knew it was time to make a major change. Without the pressure of having to qualify for a mortgage and now receiving a generous severance, I decided it was time to think about my next chapter. After some soul searching, what kept coming up in my thought process to me was my divorce, how it shaped me. How little I knew about the process. How intimidating and terrifying it was. How having to navigate it while trying to work and protect my kids at times felt impossible. How real estate and securing a home for my kids was a driving factor in my life.

Most of all, how I didn’t want anyone else to make the same mistakes I had made. I started doing research. I had already gotten my real estate license, but I didn’t want to be just another realtor. I thought about how over the years, so many friends and acquaintances reached out to myself and my business partner for advice about where to start when going through a divorce. It just hit me one day – I want to coach people through this process. Finding a lawyer, selling a home, buying a home, helping people through the process of making serious business and financial decisions while your heart feels like it’s being pounded with a mallet. I then turned my search to divorce services and people and coaching and while I found services for each, I couldn’t find a business that had everything. And that’s when it hit me. I need to start a Divorce Agency. Full service. Coaching. Consultation. Community. That’s how the idea for DIV/VY was born.

In the time since, I have completed my education as a Certified Professional Coach, a Certified Divorce Coach, and I have a designation as a Real Estate Collaboration Specialist in Divorce. We launched this business in September of 2019 and are spreading the message that this is a different approach to the process, and our goal is to save money time and trauma for our clients. In addition to the agency, my partner and I started a podcast years ago and after a series of unforeseen setbacks, we really focused in on our messaging and “Your Divorce Coaches” the podcast is now live on iTunes. We have a number of clients and professional partners and are continuing to grow and work on how to best serve our clients.

Today is April 15, 2020. Unfortunately, we are in the middle of another global crisis, one by the likes of which we have never seen. Events like this where there is emotional and financial uncertainty combined with the new plot twist of quarantining and social distancing, tend to lead to a spike in divorces. We are ready and prepared to help. Having lived through this once, I feel like the services we offer and the experience we can share will be a huge asset to anyone having questions at this time. The reality of what we do an who we are is that we are in no way “Pro Divorce”. We are pro knowledge and pro information and give all of our clients a healthy dose of reality as to what life after divorce looks like. One of our favorite taglines that sum up our approach is that “we may not be able to save your marriage, but we can help save your sanity.”

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Oh, I don’t think any path to true purpose is ever a smooth road. In dreaming up this concept, it has evolved and taken on new angles. Making a major career shift, completing my training and starting this concept while working full time in Real Estate and having two teenage daughters has been a labor of love and required a tremendous amount of time and energy. We are still working on adding partners and really trying to get the word out and establish the brand and idea. We are really trying to change the approach to and conversation around divorce. It’s a big idea.

DIV/VY The Divorce Agency – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
DIV/VY The Divorce Agency is a full-service boutique business dedicated to helping clients considering, in the process of or post-divorce. We focus on consultation, coaching, and community. Our goal is to create a holistic, strategic plan for each client that focuses on the business of divorce as opposed to the emotional entanglement of divorce.

I am most proud of the fact that we are a service-based business dedicated to helping people achieve the most positive as possible outcomes from the Divorce process. We created this business to be what I didn’t have while going through my own divorce. A source of empowerment and knowledge and someone to guide and walk through the process alongside you.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Every time a client reaches out and decides to put their faith and trust in us to work together is my proudest moment.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.divvydivorce.com/
• Phone: 602-741-7982
• Email: info@divvydivorce.com
• Instagram: @divvydivorce
• Facebook: @divvydivorce

Image Credit:
Stacey Potterson Photography

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