Paula Vargas Featured in WILMA Magazine

Approaching Homeownership

Helping first-time homeowners, Spanish-speaking community

By SAMANTHA KUPIAINEN

Growing up, PAULA VARGAS dreamed of buying and owning houses. Born and raised in Colombia in South America, she would constantly tell her siblings and mom about how one day, she’d have a house and fill it with people. When Vargas was eleven years old, her parents decided to move her and her family to Wilmington thanks to a refugee program and sponsorship from First Presbyterian Church in downtown Wilmington.

Nineteen years later, Vargas is still in Wilmington, but now she’s helping others buy houses.

Vargas’s journey to real estate started back in 2019 when she was working as the manager of a pawn shop for seven years. After doing a little bit of research about the home-buying process, she discovered the real estate agent’s role in the process, then wasted no time in obtaining her real estate license in 2020. Today, she is a broker with Tidal Realty Partners under eXp Realty.

“The pawn business is very similar to real estate,” Vargas says. “You’re helping somebody overcome something. It’s either selling their merchandise or selling a house or purchasing something. I was the manager, and I had to make sure the money was right at the end of the day, I had to make sure we were purchasing the right number of items, and that we were paying the customer the right amount — not too much, not too little.”

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