Life Lessons on Prosperity Way

From teen mom to property powerhouse, Tara-Nicholle Nelson now helps other women transform their lives by shattering their fears and tapping into the power of homeownership
by Bill Briggs // photographs by Kurty Wong

Sure, the little ranch-style house had a magical address. But it also came with ugly, floral-print wallpaper and a funny smell.

When her Realtor asked for an opinion on the place, Tara-Nicholle Nelson didn't hold back. She never does.

“Not so much,” Nelson told her Realtor after a look. It just wouldn't do for her two little boys. So, fresh out of law school and with just $3,000 to her name, Nelson continued – against her Realtor's advice – to search for a home in the price-puffed Bay Area.

Nelson toured more properties, made some offers and repeatedly lost them in bidding wars. Her Realtor was ready to admit defeat. But her friends sensed destiny – especially when Nelson's thoughts returned to that funky house with the inspirational address.

“It was auspicious-sounding,” Nelson recalls. “Everyone who knew about my house hunting commented on it. In time, they wore me down. That's how I ended up on Prosperity Way.”

The purchase – that house on that street – marked the moment Nelson truly found her place in this world.

Now that may sound a tad overblown, especially when telling the tale of a woman who enrolled in college at age 16, became a mother to two children at 17 and worked for the FBI at 20.

But the house on Prosperity Way offered some deep wisdom, along with a value that nearly doubled in three years. The experience provided lessons that shaped Nelson's eventual career in real estate and fueled an even more ambitious calling: helping other women tap the power of a single success – like property ownership – to transform their lives.

“That is my goal – always – to make people think about their lives differently, to make them understand that the realm of possibility is bigger than they thought,” says Nelson, founder of {RE}Think Real Estate in Oakland, Calif.

“What I'm really teaching here is a process. I'm teaching them how to get conscious and identify their fears. I'm teaching them how to shatter their fears or educate themselves as to which ones are real and which ones are not, then how to corral the resources they need to move forward in a bold manner.”

In short, Nelson, 31, is giving other women the blueprint she used to buy her first home and to subsequently turn that transaction into fresh confidence – a grand vision that she describes as “Oprah-esque.” In addition to mentoring her clients at {RE}Think and appearing at dozens of speaking engagements, Nelson recently published The Savvy Woman's Homebuying Handbook: 150 Insider Secrets, Decision-Making Guides and Online Resources, Plus the ONE Action Plan You Need.

All this, just 15 years after she decided to buck societal norms – not to mention her parents' wishes – and start her own family as a teenager.

Most of Nelson's upper-middle-class childhood in Bakersfield, Calif., had gone, as she likes to say, “according to plan.” Her mom worked for a telecommunications company. Her dad was a real estate investor and developer. She was a good student who took extra classes during the summers. Then, at 16, she met a boy, fell in love, decided to have a child and get married. In an attempt to dissuade her, Nelson's father bought a condo and told his daughter she could have it if she ditched her marriage ideas.

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