Hayes survives, thrives even in housing slump

Feature story for Emphasis on Residential Real Estate in The Memphis Daily News

March 19, 2012

As a child, Michelle Hayes dreamed of owning her own hotel. Instead of going toe to toe with Hilton and Marriott, however, the Whitehaven native and LeMoyne-Owen College graduate instead entered into the world of real estate in 1998.

“I woke up one morning and decided I was going to real estate school,” she said with a laugh.

She went to work for Willoughby Realtors after school, but the daughter of entrepreneur Charles Hayes, owner of Hayes Body Shop, wasn’t content to work for others.

While working as a real estate agent with another company, she opened a home improvement company. In 2001 she added a real estate division to the company and then formed her own realty firm, Michelle Hayes Homes and Realty Inc., at the age of 23 … (read more)