Meet Shea Clifford | Northern Colorado REALTOR® | Salz Home Solutions

We had the good fortune of connecting with Shea Clifford and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Shea, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
I grew up in southern Michigan and moved to North Carolina in 2011 to follow my husband as he served in the U.S. Air Force. While there, I completed my student teaching and graduated with a degree in Middle Childhood Education. Born to be an educator, I spent the next nine years as a classroom teacher, teaching primarily English Language Arts to third and fourth graders.

As many may hear, teaching is truly a work of heart. Between the pressures of managing a classroom, balancing diverse learning needs, operating with limited resources, adapting to state guidelines, engaging a new generation of children, and navigating an often heartbreaking lack of family involvement, I landed in a serious case of burnout from a career that I was thriving in and had always thought I would love. When Covid hit (while also pregnant with my second child), the world of education flipped upside down overnight and greatly impacted the future I saw for myself and my family. A year later, my husband decided to separate from the military after eleven years of Active Duty and he accepted a civilian job out here. We went out on a limb and moved to Northern Colorado without knowing a soul. Knowing that I was still passionate about educating and helping others, I took a leap and got my real estate license so that I could continue to educate people, just in a different way. I wanted to do what I love without the constraints that a career in education held over me and my health.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
When I first started in real estate, I was so afraid to start something new. I felt so much guilt for leaving the classroom and I felt like it was silly to start something new at 31. A big lesson learned there. You’re not stuck and you can recreate yourself at any time.

Real estate has definitely had its challenges though. I came into this business shortly after the world settled down after Covid. The market shifted quickly, as interest rates rose rapidly and homes were no longer selling overnight. It’s taken a lot of grit and patience to build a business in a word-of-mouth industry when I wasn’t born and raised here, but I’m doing it my way and that’s something that I’m pretty proud of.

My business is rooted in relationships, education, and authenticity. I aim to educate my clients through every aspect of the transaction and provide comfort during one of the biggest transitions in their lives. I continuously devote my time to others through volunteer work in the neighborhood and my children’s’ school because I want to truly be a part of the community that I live and work in. I’ll help you buy or sell your house, but I also want to be the one you text for recommendations and the consistent face that you run into at every event at our kids’ school. To me, real estate is personal and that’s the approach that I want my clients and community to feel from the beginning, to the end, and beyond.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My favorite part about Northern Colorado is all of the opportunities that it presents. As a family that relocated here, we love to explore all that this area offers. Our absolute favorite spot to spend time is Rocky Mountain National Park and we always take our visitors there. We love hiking with the kids, climbing around the waterfall, skipping rocks at Sprague Lake, and counting the paw print markers around Bear Lake. We follow this up with a stroll through Estes Park and grab burgers from Penelope’s and fudge from the Sugar Shack. For a chill day around NoCo, we enjoy hanging out at The Exchange in Downtown Fort Collins where we can grab tacos from Vatos and ice cream from Old Town Churn while the kids play.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I wouldn’t be doing what I am today without my background in education and the teachers that I had along the way – my own teachers throughout my childhood, my college educators, and my mentors who helped me get started those first few years of teaching when I was just treading water. All of those people took this great passion of educating others that was in my blood and helped shape the type of educator I wanted to be. Although it looks a lot different today, I continue to educate others every day and that encouragement and support has followed me into my career in real estate. I just teach about homeownership instead of main idea and point of view!

And of course my husband deserves a shout out too. He’s always supported me in whatever it is that I want to do, even if it’s this wild idea of switching careers after moving across the country to a town where we are completely new.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homesbyshea/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homesbyshea

Image Credits
Branding Photos by Tallie Johnson Photography
Listing Photos by Boxwood Photos