Why Real Estate Investors Worry About Returns, Not Rates | Aisha Clanton

Aisha Clanton (00:00)

Especially in the real estate environment, it’s a numbers game. Leave the emotion on the table because everybody has issues, everybody has problems, everybody has circumstances,

If you get, rejected or not taken serious, or if a deal falls, or if realtors, don’t call you back, just keep pushing. And I have built such a tolerance, to realize it’s never personal. It’s never personal. don’t let one obstacle prevent you from pursuing your dream.

Quentin Edmonds (01:06)

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I am your host, Q Edmonds.

And I am excited today. I’m excited because I have a fantastic guest. She is a licensed loan originator. she didn’t say this, but listening to what this is what I put, She is a connector, she has access, she’s a mortgage broker, she has a network, and still runs, I believe, four different businesses. So we’ll get into all of that, but she is.

The LoanWolf I’d like to introduce you all to Miss Aisha Clanton. Miss Aisha, how you doin today ma’am?

Aisha Clanton (01:42)

I’m doing great. I’m feeling overzealous. I just want to say thank you first and foremost for just giving me the space to really show people that I’m not this AI generated, I’m Aisha Clanton, mortgage broker, insurance broker, one-stop shop.

Quentin Edmonds (01:59)

Absolutely. Well, listen, you thanking me. I want to thank you. I want to thank you for your time. I think time is our most precious commodity. So, yes, I know how to podcasts work. You come on as a guest, but still, I can’t do this episode without you. So thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you being here. So, Miss Aisha, I’m the type. I like to dive right in. So I would love for you to tell the people what’s your main focus these days. If you don’t mind, give us a little origin story, kind of how you got into the space that you’re in, and then tell the people.

Where you are in the world, if you don’t mind.

Aisha Clanton (02:30)

Absolutely. So Aisha Clanton I’m originally from New York City, Brooklyn, New York. I moved to Atlanta. kind of had a later start in life as far as my businesses. married, raising my son and did a great job. he’s about to graduate, number one school in the state of Georgia, Georgia Tech mathematics major.

what do I do now? So I started off. I went back to school and I got my degree in psychology. And with that, I said, okay, I have to keep continuing, my education to become a psychologist. And like I said, I’m a little older. So I said, I love business, I love success stories.

I love helping people. So how could I, get my foot in the door at an accelerated rate? So I started off in the insurance industry. I figure getting licenses certified, the life insurance business is something that is a great tool and a great wealth builder.

And I said, this is something I can do, but I want to continue in my journey because learning and life insurance, like today’s a victory, but tomorrow’s a mystery. So I’m like, I can do more. So then, I delved in and I started doing health insurance and then Medicare. me and my husband bought our first house together. I got newly married again.

I know a lot about ethics and morals, and I’m not saying anything, no one’s name, but I felt I wasn’t help dealt a fair hand. I felt like my realtor and my loan officer, their focal point was getting the deal done versus being a fiduciary to me. I was an ideal buyer. I had me and my husband, we have good credit,

I found the house myself. I was just like to the realtor, just turn the key and let me in. And everything was rushed. And there were some things that were done that I really felt weren’t ethical. So I said, I want to get in this industry too and see what goes on behind the scenes. So I literally studied, got my 20 hour certifications with

the MLO NMLS and then I went ahead and got my license first try and then I just wanted to just tell them hi my name is Aisha Clanton remember me NMLS # 2483395 yeah if y’all need any help let me know and it wasn’t to threaten them or anything but I know what time it is. I know RESPA laws I know ECOA laws I know TILA laws so with that being said

I’m like, okay, so what do I do now? I got my license. What? So immediately I got recruited and I started off, guns blazing, figuratively speaking, with a brokerage, great brokerage. technology, they just provided every resource. But what I was learning because I study markets, and I got licensed in 2025.

Around that time, especially in the southeast and the Panhandle a lot of properties were being purchased by real estate investors. And the market was kind of volatile, first-time home buyers because the interest rates was kind of slim pickings. But I saw this subgroup of people who were buying properties like

Yeah, I want to buy this eight-unit building or I want to buy this duplex, multiplex, triplex. And I’m like, whoa, what is this? So I started going to real estate investor meetings, on a local scale, and it just blew my mind. These people, they weren’t worried about rates. They were worried about returns.

It was just such an eye-opener. So I would take this wealth of knowledge back to my brokerage. And they’re like, Yeah, but we still contact realtors. That’s how you get your business, network with realtors, go to real estate meetups. And I’m like, I did that. and no disrespect to them, but it was just like the who’s who, here’s my business card, here’s my business card, But these

Investor meetups, they were like literally talking deals. So I started to self-educate myself on real estate financing, commercial lending, these types of properties, and forced appreciation and realizing that there is so much money in this industry. And I was trying to figure out how, as a licensed mortgage loan originator in the state of Georgia, with

access because I work in a broker stage, how I can start talking to these people and letting them know what I can do. So I would go there, I’ll be a spectator, but the more confidence I built, from learning, I started to kind of pitch. And it was tough because I’m in a group of investors that do seller financing, subject to they already have the hard money lenders there.

And I just wouldn’t give up. I would go there. And I remember it was this one time I went there and one of the actual investors, it was like a boxing match, because there’s always a speaker at these meetings that talks about their business and what they can do at the time, that it was a capital investor, a hard money lender.

And then he was talking about, how to look for the properties, the market, cap rate, stabilizing, all this stuff that I knew, because I taught myself. And then he said something that I couldn’t, it didn’t sit well with me. He said, Yeah, and you don’t want to work with mortgage brokers. They really don’t know what they’re doing. he was just trying to just say that stick with his type of lending, stick with him. He’s trying to pitch to everybody in the room.

So I raised my hand. I said, hey, how you doing? why do you say mortgage brokers don’t know what they’re doing? He says, Well, they talk a good game, they say they can execute, they say they can get the deal done, but a lot of times things fail, they really don’t know the numbers. So I said, Well, I’m one. and just in a nutshell, I explained what I can do and how I have access.

I not only have hard money lenders, I have, retail lenders that do DSCR loans as well. I do bank statement loans, profit and loss loans. I’m a hodgepodge of everything. And the thing is, I work for my client. I don’t just pitch one lender. So then someone said, hey, he kind of put a scenario up and said, who could get the deal done faster?

So I’m like, I really don’t want to do this. I don’t want to come here and feel like I have to compete. I want to be an asset. I want to add value. I want to educate. So I created my own webinar. it was the Real Estate Investor Funding Blueprint it was a 54 slide webinar. I promoted on Eventbrite.

And it was just a way to try to show real estate investors the commercial side of lending, how to look at forced appreciation. I didn’t assume no one didn’t know that, but I wanted them to see from a mortgage broker and a lender standpoint what they’re looking for. I gave examples of a stable market, of a decrease in market,

when you have your ROI, your NOI, and I just laid it all out. And this was all self-taught. I taught myself based on the lenders that I was contracted with, their overlays. I did the math and I gave examples based on the lenders that, we had to offer. it is just great because this is something that I love. I love building wealth.

having a regular job, which by the way, I still do part-time, but I feel everybody can get a seat at the table if they want it. And real estate is one of those, types of businesses where you can just keep building, just the regular investment property. Say you’re just a homeowner and

You took out a HELOC Home Equity Line of Credit you use that to purchase an investment property. you get a renter in there to pay the mortgage, let that property build equity. You go ahead and create more leverage, and then you buy another property and then you build that portfolio. It’s just so many ways of creating wealth. this K-shaped economy that we’re moving into, it’s like you have to find different ways.

of getting resources and building resources because it’s crazy out there. I see it. I see, poverty. I see as a Medicare broker, I see people who are on fixed incomes, who live check to check. and I feel so bad, and I’m an advocate of just helping everybody. I don’t work

solely on the real estate as a mortgage broker. I’m also a licensed life insurance agent, Medicare broker, and health insurance broker. And what I want to build is a hub, an ecosystem. Hence my platform LoanWolf Keys to Coverage And that is a platform where anybody can go on there if they’re looking for help. If they live in the state of Georgia and Texas

They can get on my hub and shop for life insurance, health insurance, Medicare. And then, my mortgage business, they can get pre-qualified if they’re looking for a residential loan. But I’ll also work with business purpose lend loans as well, financing, which I can kind of help anyone in mostly every state. So that’s my story. And I’m excited.

I started later in the game, but I’m a wolf. I’m hungry. I’m very, energetic and just willing to learn and build.

Quentin Edmonds (13:13)

yeah. I love it. Thank you so much, Aisha, for taking me through the journey. Telling me about the pivots that you had to make, the things you had to kind of go educate yourself on, how you had to, overcome people looking down at you and talking down on your position and you rising above, building an ecosystem. I love it. and I always say destiny has no wasted moments, right?

We are learning from each leg of our journey, from the failure to success. We’re learning from it all. So during the course of this journey, Miss Aisha, what has the journey revealed to you about yourself? Has it made you more disciplined? Has it made you more humble? Has it increased your tenacity? what has this journey revealed to you about you?

Aisha Clanton (13:59)

those three adjectives and more, it built resilience first and foremost. Resilience. I have to

Especially in the real estate environment, it’s a numbers game. Leave the emotion on the table because everybody has issues, everybody has problems, everybody has circumstances,

If you get, rejected or not taken serious, or if a deal falls, or if realtors, don’t call you back, just keep pushing. And I have built such a tolerance, to realize it’s never personal. It’s never personal. don’t let one obstacle prevent you from pursuing your dream.

Because if you have,

confidence and you believe in yourself and what you can do and how you can help people, with resilience and grit and tenacity and being humble because, you eat what you kill. can get a deal today and tomorrow everything’s obsolete. So you have to keep staying hungry and staying in the fight. and the biggest thing I’ve learned is to tune out the noise. I’m in this

industry literally as the LoanWolf And I say that as a mortgage loan officer and also by myself. because what I do is kind of unique. In this industry, when people are duly licensed, it’s usually you’re a loan officer and realtor, or you’re a life and health insurance agent. I’m a mortgage loan originator and I’m a life and health insurance agent. And I’m in worlds where

it really doesn’t commingle, but I’m making it commingle. if I’m talking to you about, a life insurance policy and building cash value and you’re a homeowner, I can also pitch to you, we can also do a home equity line of credit or we can do a reverse mortgage.

and on the real estate financing side, the BRRRR strategy. And I’m trying to just create this concept of bringing everything all together. But I don’t see a lot of people like that, like me. So I have to, when it comes to my Instagram and my Facebook and my ads, be very creative, almost to the point where it’s a lot. my reels, they’re bold and they’re red.

But what I’m trying to do is create shock just so people could see who I am. Because, and I’m not knocking anyone, but when I see the same first-time home buyers, contact me, I work for this, or need life insurance. And it’s just one post. No, I create videos. I create videos posting who the LoanWolf is, how I fight for my borrowers. I’m the protector. I’m the fiduciary. My obligation is to you.

on both of my businesses because I work in the broker space for both of my businesses. and that’s the obstacle of just being the only. But it gives me the strength to really, not have to fight and compete against everybody else doing the same thing. So I’m gonna keep doing what I do. I follow all

mortgage guidelines always have my NMLS number up there. I follow all the insurance guidelines, but I’m going to be creative, and really intermingle my financial hub ecosystem into my business, the LoanWolf Keys to Coverage

Quentin Edmonds (17:19)

I love it. It makes total sense. So I’m gonna love asking you this question. Everyone that comes on, I try to get their unique perspective on the word relationship. So when you hear the word relationship within business, within clients, within other people that you work with, maybe relationships who you’ve helped people grow, people who’ve helped you grow. I just want to hear your unique perspective.

on that word relationship.

Aisha Clanton (17:45)

A relationship is mandatory. when you’re dealing in business and working in business, you can’t be transactional. people don’t want to be sold. Relationships first and foremost are a way to build trust. it’s a way to have people give you referred business. it’s a way to build friendships. I

Come into all of my businesses, trying to build relationships and knowing that the money and the business will come. It will come through trial and error, because it wasn’t always like this, because I was running so many businesses, I was just trying to pitch a pitch, I can offer, we do this, I can get this interest rate. And people are like, okay, everybody says that,

But I really wanted to show people that I’m advocating for you. I want to get to know you. I’m gonna make this short, but I kind of felt at one point a little defeated in the mortgage industry because I didn’t feel like I was heard from my brokerage because I really was trying to pitch creative financing.

So building relationships is mandatory. it’s something that must be done in business,

Quentin Edmonds (18:58)

So well said. Well listen, ma’am. I’ve definitely enjoyed our time of speaking. Time has gone by so fast, but I appreciate you coming on. If someone wanted to reach out to you, connect with you, collaborate with you, learn more about what you’re doing, how can they get in contact with you?

Aisha Clanton (19:16)

my name is Aisha Clanton. I’m a mortgage loan originator here in the state of Georgia. you can visit my website at www.loanwolfkeystocoverage.com that website is again, like I said, it’s my hub of all of my businesses. It has my email address, it has my phone number.

Each hyperlink connects you to all of my other businesses where you can get insurance quotes, mortgage pre-qualification. if they want to contact me, they can contact me at my phone 678 793-6450 Instagram, Aisha @keystocoverage. my Facebook is just Aisha Clanton. But

I just love this journey that I’m on and I’m so thankful for being on this platform so people can see me and hear my voice instead of me which I’m still gonna post my videos, because the algorithm is real and AI is real. And my last video was like I use AI to show people my NI, natural intelligence. So I love it.

Quentin Edmonds (20:22)

I say that to show people my inner. I love that. listen, let me say three things to you sincerely. one, again, thank you for your time. I value your time. So thank you for being here. Secondly, thank you for the gift of your authenticity, the gift of your integrity, the gift of your vulnerability. I believe when we share our stories, we cast seed out there.

Now it’s up to people to take that seed and plant it. But we threw some seed up there. And so I feel like you threw some seed and people can learn from your experience, learn from your story, plant it into their lives and literally watch things turn around. I really believe that. So thank you for casting some seed. And lastly, thank you for your mindset. Thank you for the way you think, the way you do things and bringing that mindset to this platform. I greatly appreciate you coming on today.

Aisha Clanton (21:15)

And thank you, Quentin. I appreciate that as well. And hopefully I can join again in the future.

Quentin Edmonds (21:20)

Listen,

we will talk for sure. Well, listen, y’all heard Miss Aisha. Her information is in the show notes. Please get in contact with her. Get in contact with her. Connect with her. Listen, she is the LoanWolf So please get in contact with her. Definitely make sure you’re subscribed here though. Because I promise you, we’re going to continue to bring up amazing people, just like the LoanWolf Miss Aisha Clanton. So, ma’am, I thank you again for coming on.

And everyone else, y’all have a great day.