An Honest Real Estate Résumé

CAVEAT: This post contains information that may surprise you a little, but hopefully you'll find it informative about our industry and about me, too. I hope you will take the time to read it, but I understand if you don't. :)

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Real estate is an industry filled with self-congratulatory behavior. I do it myself. We want to point out when we're doing our jobs well, helping clients buy and sell homes. So I will continue post about my sales and about the good days we have. This is marketing.

I once heard a real estate coach say, "We are in the friend-making business" years ago, and that's always stuck with me. I agree with him. Like many other businesses, ours is about relationships. With that in mind, many of my clients become friends, and many of my friends become clients.

Since I think good friendships are based in honesty, I want to give you an honest résumé. You are unlikely to see this from other agents and brokers, although it's certainly possible.

Here we go:

I am not the top broker in our town. Not even close. I probably never will be, though I know that God could certainly choose to bless me and make that happen. As an agent, I am not in the "top 25" or the "top 50", or even in the "top 100" for Austin. In fact, I am not normally in the top 1000. Austin has roughly 10,000 agents with at least one transaction in the MLS over the past couple of years. I ranked #1261 and #2558 over the past two years, respectively. Not bad, but not award-worthy, of course. I have been able to provide for my family with our real estate income since 2001, though it hasn't always been smooth sailing, and I am thankful for family and long-term savings (mostly inheritance) during the times when we have "valleys".

Granted, in addition to my own sales, I also run a company and help to train and support other agents, and I think we have some marvelous people working with us. I am very thankful for that.

I don't really specialize in only one area of town. I have sold properties in almost every MLS area we have. I can handle your transaction pretty much anywhere in or near Austin. In addition to homes, we handle condos, land, ranches, leasing, and even apartment locating. We do not currently handle property management because of the liabilities involved and the small return per property.

We can handle ANY price range. The most expensive place I ever showed to a buyer client was $7.5 million. We had a contract in place for months, but the buyer could not produce the money when it mattered. The most expensive listing I have handled was $4.2 million, on Lake Austin. It sold for around $3.5 million. We regularly handle sales in the $200-400k range, and the least expensive place I recall selling was a condo for $55,000, but that was a long time ago.

I frequently sell BRAND-NEW homes, too. This is a reasonable percentage of our business. As a buyer, having an agent represent you on a new home purchase costs you nothing, because our commission is built in to the builder's pricing already. No (reputable) volume builder will give you a discount when you come without an agent. I always tell potential clients who are considering new homes to get an agent even if they don't like me personally. It behooves you to do so. If you're considering this, get in touch.

I haven't done much in the way of commercial real estate, though I have come close a few times. I would love to learn more and sell more in that realm going forward. I have some experience with commercial leases, but I would love to sell a skyscraper someday, too. Who wouldn't? :)

So, with all of that in mind, I can also tell you that we have never been sued. I helped found our company in 2004. I have also never had to enter into a mediation to resolve a dispute. I am not taking credit for this. It's a blessing.

We always strive to make things right when we make mistakes, and we do make mistakes on occasion. As my wife is fond of saying, "Pobody's nerfect". We try to handle every transaction with the utmost care and honesty, always keeping communication open. I have been threatened a handful of times, but nothing ever transpired from those. I had one complaint against one of our agents years ago to TREC (Texas Real Estate Commission). Our agent was wrong, and I told him so. I had to give a written response and establish a clear policy with him, and that was enough to clear it up.

You now know most of the pertinent details about me, so how can I help you or your friends or loved ones? I have some ambitious goals that I'm working on going forward with our company and my personal sales, and I would love your support to help achieve these.

If you or anyone you know are looking to buy or sell or lease, feel free to call or text me at 512-796-7653. I am always available as a resource to answer your questions.