From Afghanistan to Mission Viejo: First Team video documents OC woman’s return to her house bought sight unseen

Mission Viejo resident Jennifer Vitela came home this month after a four-year deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan to a house she bought sight unseen with the help of her First Team agent. Her inspiring story is the subject of the newest video of the company’s “My Story” campaign, which can be viewed at www.FirstTeam.com/MyStory.

After working as a campaign adviser and communications consultant in Orange County, Vitela joined the State Department in 2008 and was sent to war-torn regions of Iraq and Afghanistan to help rebuild civil society. Living in shipping containers, tents and trailers throughout her service made her long to buy a house to return to. She looked for homes with First Team agent Debbie Miller of the company’s Irvine branch office during a brief leave last summer, but did not make a purchase. When a home that seemed right came on the market after she had returned to her post,

First Team agent Debbie Miller with Jennifer Vitela

she trusted Miller enough to buy it sight unseen. Miller handled all aspects of the transaction and closed escrow while Vitela was overseas.

Highlighting the profound, positive impact First

Team agents make in their clients’ lives, “My Story” videos feature company clients from throughout Southern California recounting how their agents helped them solve problems, overcome challenges or reach personal or professional real estate goals. The campaign was launched in September in conjunction with the Orange County Register’s announcement that First Team had been voted top real estate firm in the newspaper’s 2011 Best of Orange County readers’ poll. First Team is California’s top ranked, independent, non-franchised real estate company and is ranked eighth in sales volume nationwide, according to RISMedia’s 2010 Power Brokers Report.

First Team’s My Story campaign videos are produced by award-winning filmmaker, Tasha Oldham, CEO of My Story, Inc. Readers are encouraged to submit their own First Team stories at www.FirstTeam.com/MyStory.