She’s one of those transplants, ya know, who really aren’t from here, so she can’t possibly really know, ya know?
IYKYK.
She JUST CAN’T understand because she can’t possibly be in-the-know all of those thisses and thats only natives know. No way. Now how. Not when she wasn’t in anyone’s second-grade class or on someone’s Pigtails team. Not when she came from somewhere else far from here, because, ya know, that just makes her different.
Right? Right.
Ya know?
But none of that nonsense ever made sense to Alicia Torrance and it never obstructed her from falling in love with Wheeling, W.Va. Once a teenage “greyhound brat,” today she’s a wife and a mother and she sees all sizes and sides of her adopted town as a realtor in the Friendly City area.
She shows homes of all sizes – some of which she wants to buy herself – and she makes it personal, too, because she likes to see growth without the pains. That’s why Alicia checks all the boxes, hosts the open houses, and keeps her name and contact information on billboards and even taxi cabs.
It’s like she’s building her own little city, one by one, with every single sold sign.
What do you know about greyhounds that other people should know about greyhounds?
I think most people think they are high-strung and would be high maintenance as a pet, but they are actually they are the exact opposite. They run for short bursts a couple times a week, but they are actually couch potatoes when they aren’t racing. They really do make the best pets because they stay with their brothers and sisters until they are 16-18 months old and, in most cases, their whole racing career in the same kennel.
They interact with humans and kids from the second they are born. I have taken many childhood and teenage naps in the crates at the kennels with the dogs throughout the years while my parents trained them. They also get groomed weekly and “rubbed out” which in the greyhound world with a really in-depth massage of their backs and legs with Trainers Choice (like human icy hot) to help with recovery and check for injuries so they are not running hurt.
They really make great pets after retiring!
How many times have you sold a house you wanted to live in yourself?
The short answer, A LOT!
But honestly, more than I can count on my fingers and probably toes. Each house is different and unique in our area, which in my opinion makes Wheeling such a fun place to look for a new home. We don’t have a lot of new builds in our area, so the neighborhoods don’t seem quite as cookie cuttter-ish … which I love.
I think I fall in love with something from each house I show, and that makes my brain start going … I think, ‘Wow, I could live here and do this and that and make it my home!”
I would have to say every time I walk into a 1970s Tri-Level home, I want to put my house on the market the next day! That is definitely my style of home.
When you hear someone in the valley describe a house as a “fixer-upper,” what work usually needs to be performed before the dwelling is “livable” by today’s standards?
When I hear someone describe a house in the valley as a true fixer-upper, I think it probably needs brought down to the studs and put back together again. We have a lot of “good bones” in our area.
I think of electrical updates, probably a roof, windows to meet today’s standards, etc., but a lot of the older homes have beautiful features such as hardwood floors, crown moldings, baseboards, build-ins and timeless furniture fixtures. Turn off HGTV and bring some of the old back to life in a modern way, think outside of the box, and really make some statements with what was original if you live in a 1900s home.
Why are people moving into the Wheeling area these days?
One of the aftereffects of Covid is that a lot of people are now working remotely. So, that means people can move from the big cities, work remotely, make the same salary, and cut their cost of living.
What did you love most about growing up in the Wheeling area?
I have lived a lot of places growing up with my parents in the greyhound business. When most people ask where I am from, well, I was born in Florida, and raised in Kansas most of my younger life while making pit stops in Texas, Iowa, back to Florida for a year before we moved to Wheeling in the middle of my 8th-grade year.
People immediately say oh you are a military brat – LOL – but no, instead, I’m a greyhound brat.
I am not going to lie, when our parents told us we were moving to Wheeling, I begged not to come. All I heard was that they are barefoot and pregnant and married to their brothers and sisters, and we know by living here that’s not the case!
I love Wheeling. I love this city. I love West Virginia. I bleed Blue and Gold. I think from living around the country, I know the grass isn’t always greener on the other side. Wheeling was a safe place for me to live with my family, go to school, hang out with my friends, and there was plenty to do here. I loved weekends out Fish Creek riding four-wheelers and getting muddy, and I loved going to Wheeling Park pool and hanging out with my friends while getting a tan and trying to sneak onto the slide without a wristband.
I loved the Wheeling Park dances on the weekend at the ice rink in the summer and the Bethlehem dances at the community center. So, what did I love most about Wheeling growing up? I think what I loved most is that, in hindsight, I was lucky to enough to move to Wheeling and plant my roots here.
