Born in Atlanta, Sheila Piazza has lived in San Antonio since fifth grade, when her active-duty military father relocated the family here. Piazza was a jewelry designer for 12 years, holding two utility patents on her jewelry design. After her parents became ill when she was a single parent, Piazza decided on a more sustaining career. She started as a licensed mortgage broker in 2006. Soon after, Piazza became a real estate agent and then acquired her real estate broker licence. In 2016, she launched hew own insurance company and now runs Piazza Realty Property Management. The property management companys tag line say it all. "We know so much about space, even NASA is worried." Piazza is business owner who understands the mortgage broker process of assessing a borrowers ability to secure financing and has the real estate broker skills needed to match up seller with buyers. Because Piazza trained as an insurance agent, she can also spot issues during an inspection that could raise a red flag for investment clients interested in a house to be flipped. She has discovered that many buyers in San Antonio find it difficult to qualify for an affordable home. "Being a mortgage broker is powerful beacuse you have at your disposal tons of financial products you can leverage and search to find the best one for your client," Piazza said. Piazza Realty has offices in Dallas to serve real estate clients there and works with investors who make up a large portion of her client base. Many people are coming to San Antonio from California, Dallas Houston and Austin to buy affodable housing as investments, according to Piazza. "I call it the five-year frenzy, like the big surge of development thats happening in Austin, " Piazza said. "I Predict the same will happen in San Antonio." There are opportunities for investors and house flippers who want to venture into this business sector in San Antonio, buying well-priced houses and holding them as the market values for homes rise, creating equity for buyers. "If you draw a perimeter around San Antonios core, anything you buy within that will be a good buy because of the equity capture," Piazza said. "This is the time to buy" For those contemplating real estate investment and flipping houses, Piazza recommends novices get educated and partner with someone experienced in order to learn the business. She helps many who are interested and is the organizer of a local netwroking group for Women in Real Estate Development (WIRED). "If you have a problem property, we can find an investor buyer or short sell it to help the community," Piazza said. "Let me help you solve it - we can tailor the solution to your situation."