Michelle W. Lewis is a forensic real estate expert, fraud examiner, and practicing real estate broker/appraiser with over 42 years in the field to her credit. Michelle founded Northwest Counseling Service, (NWCS) Incorporated in Philadelphia and has served as its president and chief executive officer since 1982. Chosen out of 117 agencies in Pennsylvania, NWCS received “Best Practices” award, the highest designation conferred in 2010 by the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (PHFA).
Michelle is also a principal in a private real estate firm specializing in commercial and investor markets; and that delivers services to governments, attorneys, and other firms by providing expert opinions and testimony, fraud examination, and investigation of questionable practices. She served for 7 years as a technical advisor on real estate matters to the Philadelphia Office of Housing & Community Development, city of Philadelphia. Qualified as an expert in federal court, Michelle brings a wide breadth of experience and knowledge to the profession and has been a provider of expert advice and testimony to some of the largest organizations in the country, including the office of the US Attorney, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development and many private firms.
Michelle founded and chairs the Philadelphia Predatory Lending Task Force (PPLTF) whose members include key federal, state and local legislators, regulatory agencies, private industry representatives and non-profit groups. As school director for the American Real Estate and Notary Education Institute, Michelle developed and teaches a 35 hour course for practicing attorneys aimed at helping to identify practices and pursue remedies with respect to predatory lending actions. An adapted model of that course is provided 6 times each year to housing and real estate-related practitioners and members of the Pennsylvania Department of Banking through a contract with the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. Through a contract with Office of Housing and Community Development (OHCD), city of Philadelphia, Michelle delivers comprehensive housing counselor training to all counselors connected to the OHCD network; with specialties in foreclosure intervention, and procedural and negotiation strategies in diversion court. Michelle served as a Founding/Operating Director of the American Homeowner Education and Counseling Institute (AHECI) where she served as Chair of the certification committee, and co-chair of the curriculum development committee. This board initiated the National Standards for Housing Counseling.
She also serves as Treasurer on the Board of the PA Federation of Housing Counselors and Agencies. Michelle serves as a member of many other boards, committees and trade associations including the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, the Philadelphia and National Associations of Certified Fraud Examiners, the National Association of Real Estate Editors, the American College of Forensic Examiners, and Board Secretary for Logan CDC. An associate member of the American Bar Association, she serves on both the criminal justice and real property, probate, and trust sections; and the conference of federal trial judges.
Appointed by Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Michelle serves on the Pennsylvania Housing Advisory Committee. She recently authored a journal article, “Perspectives on Predatory Lending: The Philadelphia Experience”, in the Journal of Affordable Housing & Community Development Law, Summer 2003, Volume 12, Number 4, for the American Bar Association and is currently authoring a book titled “Predatory Lending and Litigation”. A real estate columnist, she is author and editor of ‘The Lewis Report’, is widely published and has acted as a public speaker in most areas of the field.

Qualifications

• Innovative methodologies
• Employ advanced design techniques
• Develop speculative designs
• Innovative methodologies
• Strategies & interventions