Michelle Pais is the bilingual daughter of immigrant parents from Portugal whose inspirational success story illustrates the benefits of hard work, perseverance and talent.

For most of her teen years, she lived and studied in Portugal. The modest, slow-paced lifestyle there (versus that of the U.S.) was an eye-opening, humbling experience which taught her the importance of family togetherness, ‘working to live versus living to work’ and being content with one’s lot.

As a college student, she intended to pursue law. However, while working in a part-time secretarial gig at a Real Estate office - to help defray her college expenses -, she discovered that she had a deep-seated ‘thing’ for the world of real estate! And so her pragmatic summer plan accidentally morphed into Career Plan A!!

This led her to obtain her real estate license in 2004 and, after working at a local Mom & Pop Real Estate office, she opened her own brokerage, Signature Realty in 2010 at the tender age of 30. Several years later, she met her now-husband when he was searching for an agent to represent him with the sale of his properties. And the rest is history! She has now been married to her life and business partner, Jon Steingraber, for 7 years.

Today, she and Jon have 8 NJ office locations - in Bergen, Morris, Union, Essex, Somerset, Monmouth and Hudson Counties - housing over 450 agents who represent people from all walks of life. Jon runs the brokerage – Signature Realty NJ – while Michelle is the team leader for The Michelle Pais Group – the company’s Luxury Residences division. This was launched about 8 years ago after she noticed that the niche luxury home space was underserved.

She and Jon are a powerful team at work as well as at home where they are the proud parents of their playful 4-year old, Madison Rose, who infuses their lives with a special flavor of joy. Nonetheless, she is candid about the ongoing stresses of the work-life juggling act as she is driven to excel professionally and is simultaneously wired to be an attentive, caring mom.  The family enjoys getting away on ‘mini’ vacations whenever possible, and hopes to create many fond memories in their newly acquired second home in Florida. The beach is Michelle’s ‘happy place!!’ – one where she allows herself to switch off the work button…. about 95% of the time!!!

She also has her own Real Estate TV show on A &E called 24 Hour Flip and, therefore, also views herself as a designer!!

Michelle is a bewitching blend of entrepreneurial, ambitious, personable and creative, and her palpable passion for devising out-of-the-box marketing strategies when representing Luxury residences differentiates her from some of the competitive set.  And her romantic depiction of her role in the home acquisition process is memorable. “Each of these homes tells a story and I see myself as the matchmaker between the seller and the buyer.”

For each residence, she and her team craft a special marketing strategy highlighting its unique attributes; the goal is to attract the appropriate match and generate an impressive, TOP dollar sale…… in record time!!

An additional point of differentiation is that her brokerage functions as a media company rather than ‘just a brokerage.’ They do podcasts, in-home production of videos of the higher-end homes, and have their own in-house PR team which provides them with access to all kinds of media including TV and publications. “We are really a boutique, luxury real estate firm which offers a superior hybrid experience – physical and virtual.”  

She notes that “buying a home is extremely emotional as you are buying a life.”  Emotions can run high for the buyers and sellers (as well as the realtors themselves!) and this means that, in addition to knowing her real estate ‘stuff,’ she has had to master the art of managing people and expectations. So adding the title of ‘psychologist’ to her already-long list of qualifications seems advisable!!

When asked to share entertaining or interesting real estate experiences, she smiled and politely declined as it had featured a celebrity with whom she had signed an NDA. (Too bad as I am always up for hearing a juicy story!!)

Michelle has received a diverse array of awards – a testimony to her competence and skill set. These include having been named one of the “100 most influential Real Estate Agents” nationwide by Real Estate Executive Magazine, the Most Innovative Leader by Forbes magazine in 2019 and Best Agent in America by Real Trends in 2022.

Despite her hectic schedule, she is involved in different charitable organizations including ‘BE THE CHANGE’ which provides the homeless with food, clothing and shelter. And, at the end of our conversation, it was heartwarming to hear that she is already also teaching her little girl to sprinkle kindness wherever possible by giving to those who are less fortunate.