Who We Are

Empowering Real Estate Brokerages with tools and systems to positively impact their community and community of agents.

We believe that the future of real estate is local. 

You’re probably thinking, yeah, we know real estate is local… but how many times have we seen Real Estate Franchises focus on how big they can get, how many sales they had last month and how fast they are growing? The message those clients get is it’s all about the Real Estate Office. But we know real estate is about way more than getting clients and plopping them into a house without a second thought. 

Our clients are our people! Our Agents are our people! They are our friends and neighbors.

We believe showcasing, serving in, and celebrating the communities we are part of and connecting our people to the places they’ve chosen to live is the way to conduct a transaction.  

We are proud to be locally-focused throughout the sales process and we believe LOCAL is the future of real estate.

Core Values

Our Core Values are more than just words written in the policy and procedures manual. We hire based on these. We fire based on these. Our people embody these Core Values:

Community Enthusiasts

We love exploring and giving back to our community. The people and businesses they create here are part of what make West Michigan such an amazing place to be and we intend on celebrating that!

Authentically Ourselves

There is no reason, not a single one, to not be yourself here. We embrace who we are and honor the differences that make our team and clients great.

Initiative takers

We work toward solutions and even if we don’t know the answer to something, we will work to find it. Going above and beyond for our clients is what we do daily!



Always Learning

This industry changes at such a rapid pace that if we aren’t growing we are falling behind. Our peeps are curious and constantly learning, both personally and professionally.

Not Jerks

Something we have been implementing from the beginning of The Local Element and even beforehand is not allowing bullies in our sandbox. We just don’t put up with it. It’s our space and we plan to keep it an environment that encourages and uplifts.

People First

Sure we can get caught in the paperwork of a transaction, but people work is at the center of what we do. We are people first, every single time.

The Local Element Timeline

1985

Tiffany obtains her Broker’s License

Aubrey and Tiffany meet 

Tiffany opens the Grand Rapids branch of a regional real estate company and grows it to roughly 100 agents

2016

Aubrey joins Tiffany to help her grow the company

 

 

 

2018

Tiffany and Aubrey leave to start IHeartGR Real Estate Agency

Tiffany reveals her plan to expand and the team hits the ground running

 

2020

The Local Element begins and welcomes IHeartGR as the first brokerage now named The Local Element West Michigan

 

 

Tiffany Szakal

Co-Founder + Managing Broker + Community Builder

Aubrey Kuipers

Co-Founder + Integrator

Amalia Newenhouse

Communications Manager

Interested in joining our team?