A story I'll never forget from my first year

My first ever real estate transaction was with the fire marshal who helped save my mom's life.

In March of 2025, my mom had a cardiac arrest. Her heart stopped completely. My dad did CPR until the paramedics got there. I pulled up to my parents' house to find eight emergency vehicles in the street, and a fire marshal named Chris standing at the door. He told me, gently and honestly, that she probably would not want me to see her like that.

She made it. She was airlifted to Bend, spent time in the ICU, and came home.

The week she came home

That same week, a lead came through from Zillow. I looked at the name and something clicked, so I answered the phone and asked, before I got anywhere near the listing details, "Wait. Are you the fire marshal?"

He knew exactly who I was. He told me he honestly did not think my mom was going to make it that night. And then he told me something I still think about. While he was there, responding to her call, he had driven past a vacant lot on my parents' street and thought, "I could live here."

I sold him that lot. He is building a house on the same street where he helped bring my mom back.

Why I am telling you this

I was a brand new agent. I did not have a decade of transactions to point at, and I still do not. What I had was this town, and a name I recognized on a phone call.

That is what people mean when they say everybody knows everybody here, and it is not a small thing when you are buying or selling. The inspector, the lender, the neighbor two doors down who mowed your lawn while you were in the hospital, they are all part of the same web. Working with someone who is already in it changes what the process feels like.

Every transaction here has a thread that runs through the whole town. I do not know if that makes me better at my job or just luckier than most, but it is why I love this work.

If you have got a Dalles story of your own, I genuinely want to hear it. And if you are thinking about buying or selling here, start a conversation with me. I am an open book about this place.