Here is an updated compendium of comments I've read, received, etc., regarding experiences with Realtors in the Austin area. I've removed some of the older, "anonymous" comments.
I shouldn't have to say this, but: This list is highly subjective, and your experience may vary; the opinions are not Tivoli's. I will be happy to add your experience if you send e-mail to jim.carson@tivoli.com. Please indicate if it is okay to attribute the comments to you.
Comments are alphabetically ordered w.r.t. last name. I may have edited out some stuff delimited by square brackets [...]
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Name Company Phone #
Laurel Brown Heagerty Realtors 343-0270
We bought our house in April 1993 from Laurel Brown of Heagerty Realtors
(343-0270). She was great. Some of the highlights:
1) Tireless. Showed us over 30 houses which she had carefully prescreened,
allowing us to make the most of our two house/job hunting trips. We
had her going from 9 'til dark.
2) Informed. Gave us a tour of neighborhoods from Austin to Georgetown,
showing us "representative" houses in each, along with info on
everything from schools to crime rates.
3) Helpful. We were in New York; she arranged and was present for the
pest, engineer, and pool inspections and the closing. She just
dropped off the homestead forms last week.
[Paul Hoffmann (hoffmann@austin.ibm.com)]
Diane Christy Sheila Plotsky 345-1030(W) 258-5319(H)
Diane is very knowledgeable about the Northwest end of town, including
Northwest Hills, Great Hills, and further north. She also has a lot of
experience with builders and helped to keep ours honest while we were
building our house. Diane is very friendly and pleasant to work with,
not pushy at all. [Tom McDonald (tcm@austin.ibm.com)]
Gene Dillard Easter&Easter, BH&G 346-1692
I highly recommend Gene Dillard at Easter&Easter,Better Homes and
Gardens Realty. I purchased my house through him and so did a number of
my friends. He is extremely knowledgeable of the Austin area and a very
hard worker. He is consistently among the top sales agents in Austin.
[David Buck (bucky@vnet.ibm.com)]
Carol Dochen Carol Dochen Realtors 345-2227
Carol was the listing agent on the house we bought 5 years ago, and has
subsequently helped us buy land, sell that house, and work with a builder
to build a new house. We have referred her to numerous friends, and have
never had a bad report come back about her. She is very honest,
straightforward, and knowledgeable. She pays good attention to detail.
I can recommend her with no hesitation. She works more in the
north/northwest than the rest of the city. Irene Smith (also mentioned
in this FAQ) acts as Carol's backup if Carol is out of town for some
reason. [Jeanne Sirkin (jsirkin@austin.ibm.com)]
Susan Dudley Amelia Bullock 327-4800
She was very helpful and patient, and took me all over the place while
I was trying to figure out what I wanted. I thought she did a good job
and was pleased with her. I started looking in April, and found the
house in [...] October, and we had a contract in December. It was a
long process. [Delaina Foster (foster@austin.wireline.slb.com)]
Dorie Dunham Easter & Easter (BH&G) 483-7412
I was also a first time home buyer, and even though I did a lot of research
on my own, I was always able to ask Dorie any questions I might have. If
she herself did not know the answer, she would get back to me right away
after she investigated it. I used her as a buyer's agent to acquire my
new home.
In general, she was very knowledgeable about the whole process. She was
also very patient with me, which is a quality I find rare among realtors
these days. She didn't pressure me into buying anything, and would offer
up her honest opinion when I asked for it. She helped me find a David
Weekly home that I am having built. She really understood what type of
home I wanted, and didn't waste time showing me homes I could either not
afford or was not interested in.
I have worked with her from March of this year and will close sometime in
late January or early February, and I still get regular calls from her to
see how the process is coming along. She has even helped me locate some
people to help with installing my draperies when I move in. If ever she
thinks she has a suggestion that will help me, she will present it to me.
In general, I was very pleased with her. I have not worked with many
house and property realtors in town, but I have worked with many apartment
realtors and she was far superior to any of those. [...]
If you have any more questions for me regarding her, feel free to email
me at kavcak@milo.amd.com I'll be happy to answer any questions you have
about her or the services she performed.
[Mike Kavcak (kavcak@milo.amd.com)]
John Harris Harris & Associates
I would like to throw the name of John Harris into the ring of good
realtors in the Austin area. John is extremely knowledgeable, professional,
honest, and straight forward. He does not work on Sundays though, as he
reserves that time to be with his family. He has his own firm:
Harris & Associates. [Rogers Hellman (rogers1@austin.ibm.com)]
Mary Holcomb Gardner Group 452-0990
I heartily recommend Mary Holcomb from the Gardner Group. She's
extremely professional, very familiar with Austin and the Austin
market, very helpful and considerate and (most important!) respectful
of what her customer wants. [anonymous]
Mary was our third realtor, and definitely the most competent. She
handled the many of the loose ends left hanging by the seller's realtor.
[Jim Carson (jcarson@tivoli.com)]
Jim Jackson Capitol Area Realty, Inc. 444-6590 (w) 264-1247 (h)
IMHO Jim is much better than any of the real estate agents I know or have
worked with in the past. He is honest, you may not like what he informs
you of, but he's going to keep you informed. He is a retired engineer
[...] professional [...] takes his job seriously [...] understands he's
working for you [and] understands real estate and will explain it to you.
He has large industry negotiations training [...] is a very good inspector
for you on the structure of the house [who] will point out possible repairs
the house needs. He understands databases and reports and knows how to
use MLS to find listings (i.e. underpriced, possible fixeruppers, etc.) He
has a good working relations with good, reliable mortgage and title
companies. He is very meticulous, previews all of the documents you will
see and then reviews them with you (contract, closing papers, etc.). He
will work as a buyer's agent [...] He lists (sells) homes.
[Robert Felps (felps@cactus.org)]
Althea Osborn Keller Williams 327-8848
"Amy already knows this, but here's another plug for Keller-Williams,
specifically Althea Osborn. I thought the rest of Austin might want to
know about this terrific agent. You will simply not find a better agent,
IMHO. She's consistently a Top Ten Agent in Austin, but she gives such
good service that no matter if you're buying a shack, raw land, a
mansion, or something in between, you'll never feel like anything other
than special to her. She knows Austin inside and out, and she has such
clout with builders, developers, bankers, and mortgage people that you
get a fair shake. [...] Her assistant is Maureen." [Alan R. Weiss
(alanw@pets.sps.mot.com)]
"My wife and I used Althea two years ago when we moved to Austin. I
agree completely with [...] assessment. If we move again in the Austin
area, she will be the first person we call. Oh yea, Maureen [her
assistant] is terrific to. Great pair of very classy ladies!" [posted
to net, misplaced author's name. -jc]
Larry Shumake Prudential Owens Realty 483-6000
We bought a house almost 7 years ago with the help of Larry Shumake,
Prudential Owens Realty, 483-6000. Larry went out of his way to help us
find a house that we liked and helped us deal with a somewhat troublesome
builder. Recently, (many years after the sale) he helped us evaluate the
worth of our property when we were considering refinancing. A couple of
colleagues at work have also used him and have been very happy with his
work. I am very happy to recommend him. [Paul Wiley
(wiley@demologus.sps.mot.com)]
Peter Smith Keller Williams 707-3975
He offers the unusual service of being able to sell you an existing home or
he can personally build a new home for you since he is an Architect/
Builder/Agent. If, for example, you can't find exactly what you are
looking for, he can take a house that is close and MAKE it into what
you want. If you are tired of getting bullshitted to about "atmosphere"
and "character" in a house, call Peter and talk about insulation and
plumbing. He is very smart, hardworking and honest, I recommend him
highly. His office is in north Austin and he lives in Rosedale.
(Ed Travis, Ed_Travis@APRDLGTR.sps.mot.com)
Clay Speer Regatta Real Estate
Mr Speer was the seller's realtor in our transaction, so my comments are
heavily prejudiced. He was working at a somewhat reduced commission.
Apparently the sellers were so furious with him that at one point they
told him to remove his sign from their yard and stopped dealing with
him entirely. Suffice to say I wouldn't use him to sell *my* home.
[Jim Carson (jcarson@tivoli.com)]
Sandy Turner Amelia Bullock 335-8474
Sandy is very thorough and knows Austin extremely well. Also, an easy
person to deal with. [...] She spent a great deal of time with my wife,
showing her many homes. My wife then decided we were going to build and
Sandy did the rest - found lots, found builders, helped us through the
entire process of closing on the lot and the house when it was finished.
We had a hard time with the building process, being unknowlegable,
first-time builders. We probably wouldn't have gotten through it without
her holding our hands. [anonymous]
We had a bad experience with our first realtor, then tried Sandy Turner
for a couple of weeks until we decided that we couldn't work well with
her, either. [Jim Carson (jcarson@tivoli.com)]
David Whitaker Patricia Lin Realtors.
Good person, good job. Found a house for me last year, about $10K less
than the number we had pegged as a target. No pressure to spend up; in
fact, talked me *down* on target price. Did good footwork on previewing
houses, etc. I have no connection with him other than that purchase.
[James R. Van Artsdalen (james@bigtex.cactus.org)]