Michelle Vega always had dreams to make it big and wasn’t afraid to work for it. Even at the young age of 13, she had already begun steps toward this dream by helping her grandmother manage her own flower shop in the heart of New Jersey. In a short time, she was adjusted to working in a fast-paced, busy environment and was ready to take the next steps. During high school, she wasn’t content to simply learn and graduate. She also took on two part-time jobs that she held successfully while continuing her classes. This real-world experience fueled Michelle’s drive, and by the time she finished school, she had already devised a plan for a life as a salesperson. At 18, she set her sights on bigger and better things in North Carolina and packed her bags. Little did she know, things eventually got rocky.
Although driven, qualified, and willing to learn, she found that employers were hesitant to hire someone of her age. At one point, during an interview for a job in car sales, she remembers being told that they didn’t think “an 18-year-old girl” would help clients buy a car and make such a large financial decision. Michelle refused to be discouraged and pushed on. Thanks to her consistency and perseverance, she landed a job working in a collection agency and, by age 21, was in a management position. After giving the company the best sales numbers they’d seen in years, though, she was denied the opportunity to take on a larger role with more responsibilities because of – once again – her age. At this time, Michelle realized the only way to get past this recurring roadblock was to be self-employed.
Michelle had a strong desire to achieve more and knew that her potential would never be realized until she had control over her own success, so she entered her real-estate career. After receiving her license, Michelle immediately began working at it the same way she’d worked at everything else she’d put her mind to: with complete dedication. She honed her skills in both the sales aspect of the business as well as the investment side. She didn’t understand why many real estate agents weren’t putting their money into rental and investment properties, as she could see the potential for financial and educational growth in these as well. It didn’t take long for Michelle Vega to find success, but it took even less time for her to realize that there was an untapped market in the real estate sector. She shifted her focus to the underrepresented groups of people who many other Realtors would steer clear of because of the extra work involved. After working with low-income families, young, first-time home-buyers with low credit, families still struggling with immigration status, Michelle had a goal to help as many of them as she could, not only to buy their own houses but also to learn how to invest in the real estate market as she had learned to do. Her goal wasn’t just to further her own success but was also to help these struggling families get ahead in their own lives.
Fast forward six years to 2021, and one can clearly see that the focus on helping other people rather than working for personal gain is the key to true success. Michelle Vega has built a team of fifteen (consisting mainly of young and underrepresented demographics). They are the top team in their firm, with Michelle herself being the top team leader for 2020. But the real measure of success is the number of lives changed thanks to the work of these dedicated individuals. With 230 homes sold in 2020 alone, Michelle’s team has pushed past that in 2021 by selling over 300 thus far, 90% of these being first-time home-buyers and those going through the process of immigration. Everyone on Michelle Vega’s team is also an investor in their own rental and construction properties, and this gives them the experience and knowledge necessary to go above and beyond expectations when assisting their clients.
Despite all this success, Michelle Vega and her team refuse to slow down. Their motivation going forward is to continue to help as many clients get ahead as possible and move every member of the team into leadership positions.
To learn more about Michelle Vega, follow her on Facebook and Instagram.
