Stacy and Pels Matthews, far right, with their sons and Stacey's sister.
Stacey Matthews and her husband, Pels Matthews, own The Matthews Group, a division of William Raveis Real Estate. Both were working on Wall Street but after Stacey had her twin boys, and having fallen in love with Litchfield County, she announced one day that she was retiring and moving to the country. Stacey tells their story. My husband went to school in Millbrook, so when my mom was thinking of moving to the area, Pels suggested some places and we found her a house in Washington. We started coming up as weekenders to stay with her. My mom moved back to the city, but we really missed it up here. We would come up and stay at the Mayflower every weekend, but that was getting expensive, so we decided to buy a little house, which got bigger and bigger. By that point I knew I wanted to do something that had more flexibility, something a job on Wall Street doesn't have, so I started taking real estate classes for when we moved up here. We've been full-time residents for 15 years. About four years ago we had an opportunity to take over the entire Raveis office, but I couldn’t do it on my own. My husband joined me and we’ve been working together, which has been great. I consider being involved in the community a part of my job. People who come to buy will often have one or two friends in the area, but they don’t really know it, or what events to go to or how to get involved. We’re involved in our clients’ lives more than many realtors. I consider entertaining and introduction as part of the whole process, and it a part I really enjoy. I love when someone has become best friends with someone I may have introduced them to. Pels and I spend a lot of time promoting local businesses. We make it a rule to shop locally for everything and try to promote local businesses through our blog. We brokered the sale of an old gas station in Washington, which has now become a gorgeous park/farmers' market and community center, and we have sold several other buildings in town. Now we're working to bring new businesses to those spaces. Some exciting things are in the works. Every year our company puts on a poker party to raise money for the After School Arts Program (ASAP), and our kids went to Washington Montessori, so we’ve been involved in that, as well as the Housatonic Valley Association and Greenwoods Counseling Referrals, which offers psychological counseling individuals and families. I spend a lot of time hiking at all the land trusts, and devote about an hour a day to my indoor plants. I have a lot of them…probably around 60. They’re a lot of work, but it’s my one hour of meditating and taking care of something else.
