YOUR STORY MATTERS HERE: Stacy Markle

By Tim Wesley

When it comes to real estate, the maxim has always been location, location, location. But when the client is your son, that adage really hits home.

Such as when Dutilh member Stacy Markle, a real estate agent with Keller Williams, helped Seth – and his new wife, Perri – find a first home last year.

“Thankfully, they wanted to stay close, because this mama wasn’t ready for them to be far away,” Stacy says.

To everyone’s satisfaction, she helped the 2017 graduates of Seneca Valley High School find a home in their hometown, Cranberry Township.  Stacy and her husband, John, helped them to renovate it, and the newlyweds are now settled into their new digs.

“The home needed a lot of work, but they knew that going in,” Stacy says. “John is very handy, so he helped a lot. The whole process went pretty smoothly, and now they have a beautiful home with a nice big backyard for their dog. They are super-happy there, which makes me super-happy.”

With 12 years in the real estate business, Stacy has a long list of happy clients.

Take the friends who were living in China but needed to find a home here. Stacy reviewed their wish list, scanned the available listings, and found a good match. Based on her recommendation, the couple bought the house sight unseen.

“They trusted me to find a home for them while they were in China,” she says. “Many times since then, they’ve told me they couldn’t have picked one that was better suited for them. That’s an awesome feeling.”

Another couple had been looking for a while but couldn’t find the all-brick home they desired.

“Nothing hit the sweet spot for them,” Stacy says. “Then a house came on the market and it was amazingly beautiful, and I knew they would love it, even though it was not brick. I had to talk them into trusting me that day, to just walk in the front door. As soon as they did, they just stood there, looked around, and said, ‘This is it, we’re writing an offer today.’ They did, and they got the house.”

Of course, home-sweet-home stories such as those don’t happen by accident. They happen through mutual trust. Hard work. Dedication. Market knowledge. And perhaps most important, the ability to listen.

“You have to be willing to get to know your clients, which means taking the time to listen closely to them and what they want,” Stacy says. “I love helping people and knowing that they trust me enough to help them with such a huge transition.”

A native of Parkersburg, W.Va., Stacy graduated in 1985 from Parkersburg South High School, where John and she were high school sweethearts. Among her extracurricular activities, she was captain of the Southern Belles, the school’s dance team, a connection that she would revisit a few years later.

After John and she graduated from West Virginia University at Parkersburg – they married while still in college, almost 36 years ago – he took a sports marketing job, and she began a position in inside sales with an industrial supply company. In 1991, Stacy returned to her roots as coach of the Southern Belles for five years. Her tenure included the team’s trip to the 1993 Citrus Bowl, where the girls performed at halftime.

“Coaching the team was truly one of the greatest blessings,” she says. “It was just a great experience and taught me a lot, especially about how to nurture the girls. Until then, I didn’t have that burning desire to have children, but after that, I did.”

Seth was born in 1998 and Stacy was delighted to become a stay-at-home mom. The family moved to Cranberry Township the following year, when John took a marketing job with Fox Sportsnet Pittsburgh (now AT&T Sportsnet Pittsburgh), and began attending Dutilh. Seth attended Dutilh Preschool, and Stacy joined Pastor Tony Fallisi’s Disciple Bible class. Later, she became involved in the food ministry, helping to provide meals to the Victims Outreach Intervention Center (VOICe), and led the “Take, Travel, and Donate” program, which donated travel-size toiletries to men’s and women’s shelters.

As Seth reached his teenage years, Stacy began exploring a real estate career and joined Keller Williams in 2011.

“I had always thought about real estate, but it seemed out of my comfort zone,” she says. “I figured that was the time to try it, and it turned out to be a really good thing. I just love it. The real exciting part is when I see one of my buyers walk into a house, and it’s like they fall in love immediately. Then, on the day of closing, to see them so excited makes me very happy. Or when a client sells their home so they can then move forward with their next steps. It’s very rewarding.”

It can also be challenging, especially in today’s real estate market, with home prices – and now interest rates – rising.

“I find that I learn something new with every transaction,” Stacy says. “Probably the biggest challenge can be making people understand the reality of the market that they are in. The housing market changes so rapidly, sometimes it’s tough for homeowners to make that shift in their thinking. You have to stay on top of your game, whether it’s through continuing education or just keeping up with changing rules and regulations. Right now in the area, the biggest issue is that we don’t have a lot of inventory of homes for sale, so it’s a sellers’ market with prices still going strong. But that also means you’ll be paying a premium price when you’re looking to buy your next home. It’s still a very competitive market.”

The profession doesn’t often enable Stacy to espouse her Christian views with words, but she finds many opportunities to apply those principles with her actions.

“My faith walk is always evident in my work,” she says. “First, I love helping people and making sure they are OK and happy. People have different personalities, and that can sometimes be a challenge, so I have to remember who I am with God and let Him lead me through. It’s always a stressful process for clients, so I’m all about doing whatever I can to make the transition as easy as possible.

“When I have clients who need extra help – like needing contractors, landscaping, packing, staging – I’m always willing to lend a hand. Also, if they need to just vent or if I have to explain something several times until they are comfortable with it, I will do that. I just want them to know that I have their backs throughout the transaction.”

Stacy credits Dutilh and Pastor Tom Parkinson with helping her along that faith walk, and she’s grateful that Perri attends church services with her.

“I love the friendliness of everyone at Dutilh,” she says. “It’s always so welcoming, and we really enjoy Pastor Tom and his sermons.”

When she’s not helping clients with their real estate needs, she enjoys being a diehard Pittsburgh Penguins fan and playing with the family’s two dogs: Axyl, a giant schnauzer, and Bella, a miniature schnauzer.

“They bring us so much joy,” she says. “I can’t imagine not having them in our lives.”

-Published June 7, 2023

If you or someone you know in the Dutilh family has an interesting story or profession, send us your ideas! We would love to help tell the story. Email: communications@dutilhumc.org.