Michelle Carite

Michelle Carite
Team Lead, The Michelle Carite Team at COMPASS

Building communities

Like so many people living on the East Coast in the early 2000s, September 11, 2001 changed the entire course of Michelle Carite’s life – and her career.

Her husband was an airline pilot for American Airlines, and she was an account coordinator at a major cosmetic firm, which had her traveling to New York City pretty often. The next step of her career would have had her traveling to NYC even more frequently. But the national tragedy, she says, threw everything into question.

“My husband and I looked at each other and decided it was time for a change,” says Carite, team lead at The Michelle Carite Team at COMPASS. “I looked at him and said it’s time you buy the motorcycle you always wanted. Life is too short.”

“I’ve lived in the Mt. Laurel area for 35 years. I’ve raised my kids here, been involved in the community. I’ve bonded with the area, so I know just how special South Jersey is.”

Carite decided to make a career change and earned her real estate license. She quickly discovered she had a great talent for the profession.

“I’m a people person,” she says. “I’ve always been good at communicating, negotiating, making connections. In cosmetics, it was a smaller product. Now it’s a home. To me, this is a way to put even more meaning into the work I do, because this purchase has such a big impact on people’s lives.”

When her real estate career took off in 2003, she was named rookie of the year for Century 21 Alliance and continued a solid success as one of their top performers for 13 years until an opportunity arose to be a major investor and start the Keller Williams office in Moorestown. In 2019 COMPASS RE came to the area offering innovative technology and top services that gave Carite the ability to give her clients the best options to market their homes.

Now with COMPASS,a real estate technology platform, Carite is leading a team of passionate agents that provide everything you need when reaching potential buyers for your house – from pricing and staging to marketing and, ultimately, closing. She stands apart as an agent who is deeply connected in the community with a background of marketing, negotiating, managing and customer service.

Carite works closely with her clients and often forms personal relationships. When you’re buying a house, she says, deciding where to live is an incredibly important and intimate decision. If you’re selling your house, you want to make sure the process is as easy and painless as possible. Plus, you want to be sure the place you spent so many years making memories will be well-loved long after you’re gone.

“My clients become an extension of my family,” says Carite. “And like family, it is important that they are a priority. Their best interest is on the top of my list.”

“I’ve lived in the Mt. Laurel area for 35 years,” she adds. “I’ve raised my kids here, been involved in the community. I’ve bonded with the area, so I know just how special South Jersey is.”

That connection, she says, can make all the difference in the real estate industry.

“You need to understand the community you’re part of,” says Carite. “You need to know the players here, the businesses, those little nuisances you only see when you’ve really become involved in the daily life here.”

In short, Carite makes the home-buying experience much more thorough because she can offer an inside glimpse of what it will be like to live in the house, and the community as well. Buying a house is a big step, and she’s seen a lot of younger people on the fence about buying their first house or older people who don’t know if now is the time to relocate or downsize. Now, she says, is the time to take that dive.

“What people need to understand is they’re not just buying a home for now – this is your forever home,” she says. “You’re going to be there for another 10 to 15 years, so don’t be afraid to take a leap.”

Bringing in new people, she says, also helps the area’s small business community.

“We want to support the people and small businesses in this area,” says Carite. “We want to see them thrive because that’s when we see the neighborhood thrive.”

She’s felt an even heavier weight to support her community during the pandemic, she says.

“It’s been heartbreaking in some ways,” says Carite. “I’ve seen so many small business owners struggling. Some of them are closing. We want to help them bounce back.”

Carite’s dedication to her community shines through her commitment to give back. For decades, she’s been volunteering to help families in need. Last year alone, Carite sponsored 8 local families for Thanksgiving dinner and 8 families for Christmas. As a military mom, she also makes stocking stuffers to send to soldiers overseas.

“Whether it’s my full-time job or volunteer work – it all comes back to people,” says Carite. “I’m committed to doing anything I can to help my community in South Jersey thrive.”

M: 609.923.2735 | O: 856.214.2639
E: michelle.carite@compass.com | michellecarite.com