Photo by Ed Waters, Jr. Sasha Nugent is the new president of the Sales & Marketing Council of the Frederick County Builders Association. She said while challenging, home sales are happening in Frederick County and she loves her job. Purchase this photo

Nugent, sales manager for Wormald Cos., is the first woman to head the Frederick County Builders Association's Sales & Marketing Council.

She joined the council's board a year ago, helping to find speakers and launching a monthly newsletter.

"The council had not been active for a while," she said. But she credited Hugh Gordon, a local mortgage company executive, for getting it back on track.

Nugent said not that many women have been in new-home sales positions, though the existing-home market seems to be the other way around.

Growing up in Montgomery County, her first job was at the Little Bennett Golf Course in Clarksburg. She later went to work for some homebuilders as a hostess, showing the house to potential buyers. She eventually became a manager for Regency Homes.

"I had a lot of drive, but I never thought I would be in sales," she said. "But it is not just sales, it's building a relationship, and too many salespeople forget that."

She later worked for Builders First Choice, representing more than 100 builders in seven communities. She was appointed trainer for the company, recruiting salespeople and training everyone from those entering the field to seasoned salespeople.

Her drive and leadership earned her the Max Award, presented to new-home sales professionals in the area. She sold $65 million in 2005, $38 million in 2006 and $27 million in 2007.

"It has been slow since then," she said. "Traffic across the board has been down. But people need to move, there are first-time buyers, those who need to downsize or up-size."

Like most real estate professionals, Nugent said this is the time to buy a house. Builders are dropping prices, even to the point of zero profit, Nugent said.

"A lot of new-home builders are 'defeaturing,' they are taking out or leaving out things like hardwood floors and finished basements to get the price down. If the buyer wants those things, they can negotiate for them later on."

Coming from Montgomery County in 1994, Nugent said she wasn't sure about the Frederick market. But employers like Bechtel moved to Frederick and brought people in.

"It is a quaint community, but very cosmopolitan at the same time." said Nugent, who lives in downtown Frederick . She said she loves the restaurants and shops, but also the mountains and parks of Frederick .

As president of the Sales & Marketing Council, she is continuing her newsletter, saying members need to keep abreast of what is going on in the local market. New-home sales are being affected not only by lower prices for existing homes, but also the influx of foreclosures on the market. She was named Member of the Year of the council last year and has been a member since 1995.

She said the council did "kind of fade into the background for a while," mainly because people were so busy trying to sell houses.

"Now we are meeting every month, have excellent speakers, the newsletter, give each other tips, find out how the market is going for members." Lately, she said, vendors, such as those who sell home improvement products or services, are attending.

She said the gloom and doom of the media on the housing market is not showing the entire picture. Some members are selling two to five homes a month, she said.

"I love it," she said of her job. She joined Wormald in October 2007. "My average settlement is around $415,000. Someone getting a house in the high $300,000s is really doing OK."