The saying goes, “A house is made of walls and beams; a home is built of love and dreams,” and no one knows this better than Nylsa Shivers. Not only is she a realtor dedicated to helping her clients find the perfect home for them, but she also knows firsthand the difference a home filled with love can make.
To begin with, Nylsa’s home life as a child was challenging. “I probably should have been in foster care,” she admits. At fourteen, when she was old enough to choose which of her divorced parents she wanted to live with, she moved into an apartment with her father. Although he provided a more loving environment, his income was modest, money was tight, they moved a lot, and he worked nights while Nylsa went to school, participated in extracurricular activities, and worked to support herself during the day. She had her own place by age eighteen and continued to move around until she was established enough in her career as an account executive with Clinique Laboratories LLC to afford her own house, where she lived until she married and moved to Plano in 2003.
“A home to me means so much,” she says.
This deeply rooted sense of home and belonging eventually led Nylsa and her husband, Clayton, to adopt five children from the foster care system.
“From the time I was in seventh grade, I could close my eyes and picture a blond-haired, blue-eyed baby boy being handed to me,” recalls Nylsa, who has dark hair and eyes. “I didn’t realize that started a decades-long idea of adoption.”
After seven years of infertility and three cycles of intrauterine insemination (Nylsa wasn’t a candidate for IVF), Nylsa and Clay decided to look into adoption. Nylsa’s “surrogate mom”—the mother of her best friend who was a guiding force in Nylsa’s life—was a director of Royal Family Kids Camps, a camp for children in the foster system, and suggested they volunteer as camp counselors.
“Once there, it was so clear that was the direction we were supposed to go. We decided to move forward with foster care, and within two to three months, we had kids!” Nylsa says, adding that this is not the norm for adoption through the foster care system.
The Shivers fostered two young boys for six months before they returned to their biological families, which, although the goal of foster care, was heartbreaking for Nylsa. However, three weeks before the two boys went home, the Shivers got two-year-old Jonathan, whom they eventually adopted. Three days after Jonathan came to live with them, they also got Daniel, who was forty-eight hours old and delivered straight from the hospital—with white-blond hair and bright blue eyes.
A woman of faith, Nylsa is certain God brought Daniel (and all her babies) to her by design. Despite there being no guarantees a baby will stay with the foster parent, the investigator handed Nylsa the infant and said, “Here’s what you’ve been waiting for your whole life.” In the five years Nylsa worked with that county, she never saw that person again.
When Daniel was seven months old—and the day after Nylsa and Clay decided to wait until their boys were in elementary school to foster again—they learned Daniel’s biological mother was pregnant again and were asked if they wanted the baby. The answer, of course, was a definitive yes. Three months later, the Shivers welcomed twin boys, James and David, to their family. A year and a half later, they adopted their fifth and final child, Ellie, who is the biological half-sister of Daniel, James, and David.
Nylsa built a profitable Juice Plus+ business during nap time when her children were little before turning to a career that blended her two passions—homes and helping people. She got her real estate license in 2021 and worked for a small, luxury, boutique real estate company briefly before joining Keller Williams in 2022.
She was rookie of the year and a top producer her first year, with 60 percent of her business coming from meeting people at open houses and connecting with people. “The Lord has given me a gift for being able to hear what people’s needs are and building on those things and connecting them with the right people and things,” she says. “This plays well in real estate because I truly care about the reason behind the needs. I know you want to sell your house, but what are the reasons behind it? What are looking for? It’s more than just a house to me.”
Her first listing was $1.3 million, and the start of a long-term relationship with the client, with whom she’s worked with on five more transactions and many more referrals. She continues to be a top producer today with eXp Realty, which she joined in September of 2025.
“Because of my experiences moving so much and the environment I started in, I believe what we create as a home really matters. Helping other people make their own dreams of home a reality is a huge honor that fills my heart,” Nylsa says.
Sell with confidence. Buy with ease. She makes both happen. If you have real estate questions, go to DFWRealtor.ai or call Nylsa at 972-955-9416.