Deb Cleveland is not your average real estate investor.
For her, fixing and flipping houses is an act of service, and she is on a mission to quite literally change the world, one property at a time. . Deb’s mission is to support other women to join her in taking on a fixer-upper during retirement as a way to have fun, learn something new, give back and make money too!
Deb takes her work personally, viewing the entire process as a calling rather than a job—one that begins by providing a beautiful home for a family and ends with a total community revitalization.
Having renovated more than 400 units in her 36-year career, she certainly has the experience and knowledge to get the job done, but what makes Deb unique is her heart-led mission to transform entire neighborhoods, taking them from blight to brilliance with her relationship-oriented approach.
“The act of providing beautiful homes for people is special—it’s sacred even. These houses become like my children. My tenants become like an extended family to me. The amount of abuse some of these homes have been subject to over the years makes me unbelievably sad. I tell my crew, let’s love this place back to life. And that’s exactly what we do.”
Deb found herself in the real estate industry after an unconventional and rocky start. At the age of 30, she found herself suddenly single, having divorced a husband who was as rich as he was unfaithful. She left her former life to make it as a single mother, with only her suitcase, her son, and a dogged determination to build a new life for herself.
After a few months of sleeping on her parents’ couch, she saved enough to afford a tiny, broken-down brownstone in what she soon learned was the worst part of town.Nevertheless, she found success in a sales position and spent her evenings devouring books on entrepreneurship, mindset, and wealth building.
She soon started a small business from the
spare bedroom, and her entrepreneurial
spirit was awakened.
“I was a single mom, broke with a high school diploma and no savings. All I had was a son I adored and the determination to succeed. During my third year in business, I had an epiphany about money. I was so excited to finally be making good money—my business went from $75k a year to $1.1 million within a short 3 years period! It struck me though, that if I didn’t figure out how to invest this money, I would be working this hard for the rest of my life.”
It was then that Deb landed on the decision to begin investing in real estate. She had many heated discussions with her (male) financial advisors who tried to convince her differently.
Now, as she reigns over her Queendom and coaches other women to do the same,
Deb is using her wealth to make an impact on the world.
Unlike other real estate investors, Deb’s focus is on the people, not the profit. She specifically seeks out small communities that desperately need a transformation. Shortly after the economic crash of 2008, she was led to the town of Geneva, New York and was stunned to see how much the town and its properties had suffered.
Deb jumped in, started renovating single family homes for 1st time home-buyers and then chose to become a landlady once again to help stabilize the slumlord ridden neighborhoods. Deb was joined by 4 other retireeres that happened upon Geneva, NY just like she had. The governing leadership turned over and collectively a fresh new vision was created for this city. We all put our heads down and dug in. It was hard at times and felt almost fruitless as there was so much to do. I would often bump into my fellow investors at the local coffee shop where we would commemorate about why we didn’t just retire only to end the conversation with “lets get back to work!” Little by little this dull and lifeless city had a full turn around and now is a sought after place to live.
Deb now has become an trusted advisor to support business owners who share her passion for real estate investing.
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Deb is focused and driven in running her own business and equally so with “ helping other women learn to do what we do. It has become her mission!
Her wisdom and experience is vast so she is willing and determined to give others guidance and direction.
— Chelse Moffatt – Real Estate Agent, Mother of 2 – Private 1:1 client for 3 months.