Samantha Irwin

Samantha Irwin
Broker, Licensed in OR

Being born and raised here in the Hood River Valley gives Samantha unique history, insight, and perspective at the development of the Columbia River Gorge. After obtaining a Master’s in Education, she traveled to Europe and almost settled in Germany where her aunt and uncle raised their family and taught high school. Despite her German heritage, brats and beer weren’t for her. Switzerland and Spain were more to her liking so she veered back to the States intending to stop for a bit in Hood River. Upon return to this beautiful valley and the Columbia River Gorge, she fell back in love with the area and decided to stay! She found a fun age group of spirited kids and enjoyed teaching for many years at Wy’east Middle School.

Even during teaching, a continued interest in real estate kept her in touch with the market. This, coupled with a love for business led her and her husband to Dufur, Oregon where they purchased the Historic Balch Hotel. The hotel had not been open for daily operations since the 1940’s, and after 11 months of restoration on the hotel and grounds she reopened the Balch for guests, weddings, and events. She was able to work with the local government, businesses, and citizens to start the conversation about visioning and tourism development. As a result of a business model set solidly in customer service, the hotel reached the highest rating one can receive on Trip Advisor and Dufur Oregon is ‘getting on the map’. Planning, execution, and negotiating were a daily part of operations and developing the hotel and wedding business.

After developing and selling the hotel Samantha joined the team at Copper West Real Estate and is ready to serve you! Samantha has been managing properties since 2006 and very familiar and skilled with working with tenants, maintaining, and managing properties, working with, and managing contractors to work on homes. Purchasing or selling a home requires someone who can bring people to the table for you, hunt for property or purchasers while you work or play, negotiate on your behalf, and help you transition. “I love to utilize my experience and background to help others reach their goals, whether it be hunting for a home or transitioning and selling an existing home. It can be a big life event and I really enjoy assisting people through the process. I like taking the stress out of the transaction for people and being a trusted professional that my clients rely on!”