Delyse and Jon Berry Understand That When It Comes to Homes, the Eyes Have It
By Cynthia Hochswender 
Photo by John A Verner

We fall in love with houses with our eyes. Sure, the essential details are important but, really, who ever decided to buy a home because it had a great furnace? 

Delyse and Jon Berry understood early in the development of their real estate brokerage in downtown Rhinebeck that aesthetics are the anchor when it comes to home decisions. When they opened their first Upstate Down realty office on East Market Street three years ago, they also opened a small home design shop in the front of their snug 600-square-foot space. Clients would come in to shop and end up hiring the Berrys to work with them on a real estate purchase. Real estate clients would come in and then ask for help with decoration, renovation, and the staging of a house-for-sale to make it enticing to buyers.

“People were coming into the store and loving the overall vibe of it,” Delyse says. Someone might come in for a vase, then stay to look at photos of the homes for sale. A real estate client might come in to discuss a purchase or sale, and fall in love with the Upstate Down look and lifestyle. 

Delyse and Jon decided to build on all that synchronicity, and began offering home design in addition to their traditional real estate services.

“My mom was an interior designer for over 30 years,” says Delyse, a native of the Hudson River Valley. “I grew up learning how to draft floor plans and recreate spaces.”

And of course there are the home furnishings, which have proved so popular that Upstate Down is now moving from its original small site to an expansive 3,500-square-foot showstopper of a space in the historic A.L. Stickle building (a once-thriving variety store), five doors down East Market Street in the lively center of Rhinebeck. 

The new space makes it possible to display larger home furnishings, and to have separate offices for the real estate team, and for the design team.

Upstate Down also has an impressive space on the internet, with delicious photos of homes for sale in the Hudson Valley; and the Journal, a blog with fun guided tours of area towns, musings on rural life, and delicious photos of food (and recipes). 

As lovely as the website is, the new brick and mortar location will always be most important to Jon and Delyse, who adore their downtown Rhinebeck location. 

“I love this community,” Delyse says emphatically. “We live here. We find it so welcoming. And having a storefront in such a densely populated area plays a huge role in our exposure.”

Delyse and Jon also understand family. As spouses, parents, and business partners, they are experts in helping everyone feel included in the process of making a home together.

Online or on foot, the best part is that all the many facets of purchasing or selling a house, staging it, furnishing it, renovating it, are all in one place. That’s living the dream. —upstatedown.com