The success of Portuguese-American businesswoman Michelle Pais has landed her on a television program in the United States of America (USA), a platform she wants to use to tell the world what is best done in Portugal.
At 43, Michelle is already well known in New Jersey, the state where she solidified her career as a luxury real estate agent and where she founded Signature Realty NJ, which employs about 500 real estate agents. in eight offices.
Her success in real estate, combined with her huge ambitions, led to the creation of the television program 24 Hour Flip, which premiered on A&E North America over the weekend. major repairs of houses, completed in just 24 hours, by mainly Portuguese brigades.
In an interview with Lusa, Michelle Pais admitted that she thought it was impossible to redo in record time.
“The idea of selling houses and renovating them in 24 hours came from my husband, who, in addition to being my real estate partner, is also an investor. From the age of 20, he bought, fixed and sold houses. For about six years, he was very disappointed that the process took so long,” Michelle explained.
“Then he had the idea to do it all in 24 hours. When he told me I thought he was crazy that there was no way to make this possible. Maybe no one in the country has ever had the idea of looking for a house, buying one house and completely renovating it in just 24 hours… but he did it with 50 houses and here we are,” he said.
Michelle Pais, who describes herself as “a very hardworking, driven, ambitious and passionate woman in what she does,” says the program’s innovation, which employs about 50 people, has been the key to success, and she already dreams of adopting this format. . to Portugal.
“God forbid that one day we too can go to Portugal and start home renovations in 24 hours,” said the businesswoman, who has over 4,000 properties sold in her personal portfolio, mostly in the range of $1 million to $10 million ($940). USA). thousand and 9.4 million euros), but which has already reached 17 million dollars (16 million euros).
However, real estate hasn’t always been on the radar of the Portuguese-American law student.
To pay for her university studies, Michelle Pais took a job as a secretary in a real estate agency, and it took her a short time to make her first sale, which, by coincidence, was made to the Portuguese.
From then on, he knew that his professional life would run through this sector, adding up to nearly 22 career years.
Originally from Carregal do Sal, where her parents are from, Michelle split her childhood and adolescence between the US and Portugal. The fact that she never lost touch with her roots encouraged her to surround herself with “Portuguese” workers in all the projects she took on.
And with an eye to the future, the businesswoman is already working on her next project, which will combine her passion for decoration and design with her pride in being Portuguese.
“Now I’m working on launching [um projeto em] another sector and is related to household goods, “design” and “lifestyle”. This is another hobby of mine. I love ‘design’, I love everything to do with houses, so I’m working on this project and I think the launch will take place before the end of the year,” he told Lusa.
“It’s called Pais Life and it turns out most of the bed and pillow fabrics come from Portugal. I am very proud to be Portuguese and to be able to bring a little bit of Portugal to the United States. It’s all top quality. There is nothing better than Portugal in the field of textiles and ceramics. I am very proud and very happy to be able to represent Portugal in the United States,” he said.