The success of Portuguese-American businesswoman Michelle Pais earned her a television program in the United States of America (USA), a platform that she wants to take advantage of to make known to the world what is best done in Portugal.
At 43, Michelle is already a well-known name in New Jersey, a state where she consolidated her career as a real estate agent in the luxury segment and where she founded the company ‘Signature Realty NJ’, which employs around 500 real estate agents in eight offices.
Her success in the real estate business, combined with a great deal of ambition, resulted in the television program ’24 Hour Flip’, which premiered on the North American channel A&E last weekend and where, alongside her husband, Jonathan Steingraber, the businesswoman shows total renovations to houses – carried out in just 24 hours – and with mostly Portuguese teams.
Speaking to Lusa, Michelle Pais admitted that she thought it was impossible to remodel in that record time.
“The idea of selling houses and renovating them in 24 hours was the idea of my husband, who, in addition to being my partner in the real estate business, is also an investor. Since he was 20 years old, he bought, fixed and sold houses. about six years, he got really frustrated with the process taking so long,” explained Michelle.
“He then had the idea of doing all this 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 ever had this idea of looking for a house, buying one house and completely renovate it in just 24 hours… but he’s done it to 50 houses and here we are,” he said.
Michelle Pais, who describes herself as a “very hard-working, determined, ambitious and passionate woman for what she does”, ensures that the program’s innovation – which employs around 50 people – was the key to success and already dreams of taking the format to Portugal.
“God willing that one day we can also go to Portugal and start renovating houses in 24 hours”, said the businesswoman, who in her personal portfolio has more than 4,000 properties sold, predominantly between the range of one million and 10 million dollars (940 thousand and 9.4 million euros), but which has already reached 17 million dollars (16 million euros).
However, real estate was not always on the horizon for the Portuguese-American woman, who studied to become a lawyer.
To pay for her university studies, Michelle Pais got a job as a secretary at a real estate agency and it took her a short time to make her first sale, which, by coincidence, was to a Portuguese man.
From then on, he knew that his professional life would pass through the sector, adding up to almost 22 years of career.
With roots in Carregal do Sal, where her parents are from, Michelle divided her childhood and adolescence between the USA and Portugal. The fact that she never lost touch with her roots led her to want to surround herself with “Portuguese” workers in all the projects she embraces.
And with an eye on the future, the businesswoman is already working on her next project, which will unite her passion for decoration and design with her pride in being Portuguese.
“Right now, I’m working on the launch of [um projeto em] another sector and has to do with products for the home, ‘design’ and ‘lifestyle’. This is another passion that I have. I love ‘design’, I love everything that involves houses, so it’s a project I’m working on and I think the launch will happen before the end of the year”, he told Lusa.
“It’s called ‘Pais Life’ and, as it happens, most of the fabrics for the beds and pillows come from Portugal. I’m 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 like Portugal in the textiles and ceramics sector. I am very proud and very pleased to be able to represent Portugal in the USA”, he underlined.
