We recently connected with Tiffany Clemons and have shared our conversation below.

Tiffany, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Do you wish you had waited to start your own firm or do you wish you had started sooner?

I absolutely wish I would have started in my career in real estate sooner. I was first interested in real estate when I was in high school. I knew I wanted to be involved in real estate I just want sure in what capacity. At the time, the economy was headed for a down turn and the housing market was about to crash. I remember going to my dad telling him I wanted to be a realtor. He immediately shot it down. He said, “The housing market is terrible! Im getting ready to walk away from this house once you leave for college.” I listened to him. At the time, my dad was retired and running a relatively successful business in Alabama. I figured he knew what he was talking about. I mean, what did I know, I was only 18. I took his advice and instead of getting my real estate license, I pursued a degree in Architecture from Lawrence Technological University (LTU). While at LTU, I slowly started to realize, this isn’t exactly what I thought it was going to be, but I stayed the course. And just like my dad said, the real estate market and the economy as a whole came crashing down in 2008. I remember thinking, “Man, he was so right!” I had a scholarship that paid for the first 2 years at LTU, but after that, I could no longer afford tuition so I had to leave the school. I transferred out and completed a degree in Interior Design. After graduation, just after the market crash, I could not find a job. I ended up getting hired at Verizon Wireless. I worked there for a few years, and then some how ended up as the head of Accounts Receivable at an auto finance company in Arizona. This was a strange time for me, because though I seemed to be excelling in my career, it was not the career I wanted and honestly, I’m not sure how I got so caught up in the corporate world. I moved back to Michigan in 2015 and was hired as an account manager for Ryder Logistics in their accounting department. To be clear, I hated accounting! I hated it before I got there, but I was smart and good with numbers so I just kept making the decisions that progressed my career without really thinking about if I wanted it. I’ll never forget the day, I was sitting at my desk at Ryder and I looked around and couldn’t see a window. The building had a brown hue inside. It was honestly depressing. In that moment, I said, “Tiffany, what are you doing?!”. I picked up my phone, went online and found a real estate class. I signed up right then. While taking that class, I started looking for jobs in the real estate field. After about 2 weeks I got a job as a leasing agent for a luxury apartment complex in Northville Michigan. After my first day, I knew I was on the right track. I suddenly had a job where I wasn’t tied to a desk or phone for 8 hours a day. I had freedom to move around. I was showing and touring beautiful apartments everyday, and people were happy to see and talk to me. When I worked in finance, most conversations were about problems. No one was ever happy to hear from me or my department (It meant you owe us money). After passing my real estate exam, I immediately started reaching out to Realtor in the area to find a mentor. It was long and difficult but I eventually found one. I became her assistant, then eventually branched out on my own. Though I wish I started a little sooner, I think that my experience in the corporate world molded my to be able to run a successful business now. What I will say, is if I had started in real estate back then, I would have been able to benefit from the downturn of the housing market. After speaking with real estate professionals that were actively working at that time, I realized, it was just one of the many market changes and if you are running your business properly, you can ride the real estate wave no matter what the economy is doing. The biggest and most influential thing I learned that keeps me going in this industry is knowing that people will always need somewhere to live. No matter what the economy is doing, shelter is a necessity. I will always have work, as long as I am providing something that people absolutely need.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’m a Realtor and Real Estate Investor. I run a real estate consulting company called Gold Standard Living or GSL. I started my company in 2020. I help investors buy, sell, renovate, and lease investment properties. I offer several services from acquisitions, to project management. I am currently in the process of getting my brokers license, which will allow me to add property management as an offered service. Over the next few months, not only will I be adding property management, but I will also offer, commercial financing for investment properties. I offer consultations to entrepreneurs looking to start a business in the real estate field (outside of just buying properties) My goal is to be a one stop shop for investors from beginning to end. I want my clients to be able to experience financial freedom by way of real estate investing. I provide investors with several options for investment strategies. There are so many ways to make money in real estate and I don’t think most people realize that until they actually get involved. Outside of fixing and flipping or buy and hold rentals, there is wholesaling, inspections, appraisals, title, etc. When I personally purchase and renovate properties, I operate solely in Detroit. I am from the city and I absolutely love it! As a realtor, I worked with many clients that were from other states and countries and they all held massive portfolios in the city, One client owning as many as 300 homes in Detroit and had never stepped foot here. Lot’s of people look at our city as a place where real estate is cheap and people can’t afford to buy a home, so they come here, buy properties, poorly renovate them and hike up the rent for the consumer. This is what motivated me to step outside of just being a realtor and begin investing. One thing I believe sets me apart from other investors, is I will only purchase uninhabitable properties. I don’t buy homes that someone could actually move a family into. I look for homes that need complete renovations. This way I can buy the house for cheaper actually put real money into the renovation and still sell it or lease it at a rate that will turn a profit for me without bankrupting the average home buyer. I think it’s irresponsible for investors to purchase a $70K home that is move in ready but just needs updates, put $20K-$30K into it (if that much) and then sell it for triple the price, Yes that makes the investor money, but it hurts the consumer. It raises the home prices, which is good for the economy but not good if the people that currently live here can only afford to rent the houses and not buy them. Or if they can only afford the house by working 2 jobs and 30 hours of overtime every week. I’m and investor that actually cares. I want to see my city turn around. I want to be apart go the re-beautifiction of Detroit! I want my brand Gold Standard Living to actually be “The Standard”!

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The most impactful pivot for me, outside of transitioning to a full time entrepreneur, was pivoting from working primarily as a buyers agent for home buyers to rebuilding my business to focus on investor relations. Investors are a very different client from primary home buyers. As much as I love working with first time home buyers, I was constantly being pulled to investors. I love the excitement that comes with a fist time home buyer, the smile when you hand over the keys, the joy in the children sometimes getting their own bedroom for the first time, it brings tears to my eyes. I worked all over south eastern Michigan, but I would always think, “I really wish we were putting this money into the city.” In 2018, I changed brokers and started working with a property management company. All of their clients were investors. Some were good, others not so good. That’s when I knew, I needed to make a change. I honed in on my niche, which was investors; and I haven’t looked back!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

My business partner is actually my husband. We met at Martin Luther King Jr. Senior high school. We’ve been together since we were 15 years old, so building with each other is something that I think we have mastered. From building a family and raising our 3 beautiful daughters, too managing and running our businesses, we make it happen. My husband also has a mobile mechanic business called Phil’s Auto Touch. As two people with a passion for entrepreneurship, it just made sense to jump into this world together. My husband is my partner on the investing side. Together, we buy, renovate, and sell distressed homes in Detroit.

Contact Info:

• Website: goldstandardliving.com
• Instagram: @goldstandardliving
• Facebook: Gold Standard Living
• Linkedin: @TiffanyClemons

Image Credits
Head shot Photos by Anthony Green- Owner of 12seed productions Property Photos- Tiffany Clemons