Are You a First Time Home Buyer?

First Time Home Buyer Tips & Process

We Would Love to Help You!

We love working with first time home buyers and we have helped hundreds of clients purchase their first homes in Austin and the surrounding areas. We understand the unique challenges that buying your first home presents and we can help you through every step of the process. We know that you want to understand all of your options and to make sure that you're making the right decision. We pride ourselves on our no pressure approach and would love to help guide you through the process.


Tips & Process

  1. Initial Consultation

    To get started, we like to schedule a short phone call or in person meeting to discuss your priorities & time frame. During this call or meeting, we can discuss the buying process, different areas of town, and any other questions you might have. Would you prefer to get started over email? That's also completely fine!
  2. Lender Introduction

    If you haven't already spoken with a lender, it's great to start that conversation so that you can get a pre-approval letter, which you will need to make an offer on a home. Even if you don't plan to make an offer right away, a lender pre-approval will show you how much your monthly payments will be at different price points, so we can effectively set your price range.
  3. Targeted Property Searches

    It's great for you to search online on your own, but we will also set up highly targeted property searches based on the locations we've identified and your specific needs in your new home. The MLS provides us a powerful property search that we have years of experience using, so we can taylor your searches just for you. We will create a separate search for each area/neighborhood that you want to explore, which allows you to easily organize your search.
  4. Organize Your Favorites

    We'll provide a client portal that allows you to save favorites, possibilities, and discard properties that you don't like. You can make notes on properties so that you can easily remember what you liked about each home. If you're buying your new home with your partner or family, this allows you to share your thoughts on different properties and areas easily.
  5. Tour Areas & Properties

    Everyone moves at their own pace and we're happy to move as quickly or slowly as you would like to. We've found that it's best to spend 2-4 hours on your first appointments looking at homes, as that allows us to arrow down your location. After you know exactly which neighborhoods you would like to target, we can view homes as they hit the market, or spend more time to look at many homes in one outing.
  6. Move Forward With a Purchase

    When you're ready to move forward with your purchase, we will guide you through the traditional home buying process. We do understand that a relocation can present unique challenges that usually involve purchasing remotely, and we're happy to help you through this process.
 

WE WOULD LOVE TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR HOME PURCHASE!

Call 512-883-5445

Or please fill out the short form below & we will contact you via email or phone (however you’d prefer) to help you with your home purchase. We look forward to helping you!

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2300+ Client reviews!

Blessed to have connected with Kristen! I can’t say enough great things about Kristen. Her professionalism, market knowledge, and communication were beyond compare. She was incredibly patient throughout our home search. We looked at a countless amount of homes (we are very picky), and never once felt she was trying to push us in to something that wasn’t the right fit for the sake of a sale. We always felt she had our best interest in mind. Couldn’t recommend her more!!!

Sally was referred to me via a business network when I first moved to Austin in 2022. She helped me understand the area, evaluate my options, and find the perfect spot in a tough market. Sally has been a joy to work with because she creates partnerships + friendships with her clients!

I was impressed by Sally’s expertise in selling both my investment property and my primary residence, and in helping us buy our dream home. At our initial meeting, we found Sally knew the real estate market, but found even more impressive her emotional quotient in understanding and navigating the differences between my partner’s and my very different personalities. For my investment property, she timed the showings and sale perfectly and created a helpful Excel spreadsheet comparing the many offers. She was also savvy enough to suggest we pay the tenants a fair amount of money to make the property available for viewing from 9am – 5pm on the first weekend to make it as easy as possible for potential buyers to get through, and we let her deal directly with the tenants because we could tell her people skills would serve us well

We got multiple offers by the deadline on Monday afternoon with one outlier that was $150K higher than what we had unsuccessfully listed the property for (with a different realtor) a year earlier!

When it came to selling my primary home, Sally’s expertise in the luxury market, and in historic homes in particular, truly shone. She understood that selling a high-end property, with various restrictions, required a different approach. Sally crafted a listing for the home that perfectly captured its unique character and premier location. Her marketing strategy was well timed and appropriate for the more limited market, attracting the right buyer pool and creating a sense of exclusivity around the property. She suggested listing it on the private market for a week or two before sending a message that it would be listed on the MLS. She organized private showings that allowed buyers to experience the warmth and charm of the home and the neighborhood, which I believe was instrumental in securing a sale.

The pricing and marketing strategy Sally recommended was spot-on, and we sold the home at a price that far exceeded our expectations. Sally helped thread the needle perfectly.

Sally is also accessible. We found more well-known realtors would respond to our email days later, whereas she was always available right away to answer my questions, and provided us with regular updates, making sure every detail was handled with care. Selling a high-end property can be a stressful experience with fewer potential buyers and some downtime inherent in waiting for the right buyer, but Sally made it a smooth and surprisingly easy process encouraging us to be patient while giving us enough information on what was happening to satisfy both me and my partner. In the end, we were thrilled with the results

Sally’s rep of us as sellers could not have been more professional, but her work repping us as buyers is the most memorable. We were trying to be our dream home in an overheated market, and Sally gave us advice that at each turn proved invaluable. She recommended offering just the right amount above the offer price for us to make it to the next round of offers. She handled a very difficult appraisal process by advising us on financing sources, even offering to help us put down a higher amount by loaning us money herself! We were able to finance the home without taking her up on that offer, but how many realtors make that kind of offer to their clients? In the end, we closed on the house ontime and ended up with the home of our dreams, thanks to Sally’s world-class advice and service.

We cannot say enough good things about Sally’s technical knowledge, people skills, and responsiveness. You won’t find a better realtor in Austin.

I have lived here in Austin for more twenty-five years, and have bought and sold several homes and rented others during those years. I have worked with five realtors during that time. SALLY IS BY FAR THE BEST OF ANY IN TOWN. Her work ethic is simply unmatched. She hides her competitive streak underneath a layer of Austin hip and friendly, but she will absolutely get you the best home, the best deal, and stop at NOTHING to get your home sold as well!

Sally loves real estate. She has a genuine passion for Austin, too, and for her client’s well-being. She took time to understand my needs and was always available to answer any questions and provide me with honest and insightful advice.

We toured many homes in Barton Hills and settled on a great home that was hotly contested by builders and homeowners. Sally understood how we could be the preferred buyer without getting into a bidding war. She knew the motivations of the Seller and we maneuvered and negotiated the contract and secured my dream home.

Furthermore, at the 11th hour, the day before we were set to close, our lender said we needed to put a fence around the pool before they would release the funds. The seller was not inclined to extend the closing again. We were out of town. Sally saved the day by racing to Home Depot and getting the largest tarpaulin available and then securing it over the pool at the house. Sent pics to the lender and we were set to close.

In short, Sally will work harder and smarter than anyone. She’s simply the best.

Sally is incredible! She spent nearly 2 years with us – understanding our very specific preferences and needs – to help us find our dream home. She was the first agent to reach out when the home was listed and negotiated the contract astutely so that we secured the home. The home was only in the framed stage, still had a few months until completion. Once it was completed, however, our plans had changed and we needed to get out of the contract. We were expecting to have to relinquish our very considerable deposit. But Sally spent the entire weekend working on a way to get us out of the contract AND get our deposit back. Everyone we have spoken to about this extraordinary outcome has been surprised that Sally managed to get our deposit back for us. Thank you Sally, we can’t recommend her highly enough.

Sally is reliable, diligent in her research, prompt on exchanges, creative in deal making, and has a tremendous work ethic. She is the sole reason we were able to close on our primary residence, which has been our dream home and a fantastic investment. From there, we’ve gone on to close on multiple rental property purchases in Austin together. Thanks to her astute analysis, we’ve passed on many deals as well, which has proven just as valuable. I cannot recommend her highly enough.

I highly recommend Kiel if you’re looking to rent a place in Austin. We originally met him to look around a particular unit, and when it was not to our satisfaction, he was able to quickly take us around many more units that day. He also set up a whole day of viewings for the very next day! Within 48 hours we had done enough viewings to be confident in choosing a new home. The landlord accepted our offer and Kiel handled all of the paperwork, even stopping by our hotel to pick up the needed checks. We couldn’t be happier.
Kiel is highly organized and unlike some realtors in the Austin area, he is responsive and ready to move quickly. We were always able to contact him and never left waiting.

Kiel has your BACK!! We are so grateful to have had his guidance and knowledge while navigating the intense, frustrating and way competitive Austin rental market. He quickly picked up on our taste and designed a game plan to help us push through the clutter and get to the properties that best suited us. He was ALWAYS available to us and answered our emails, calls and texts with great speed. We’re so grateful to have had him on our search team. Because my goodness, it really is a crazy market out there!

Kiel was amazing to work with! He walked us through everything, explained anything we didn’t understand, and he is is just a great guy to work with. As a first time home buyer, his knowledge was invaluable. 10/10 would recommend!

Kiel was referred to me by a friend, and we were so pleased with his services. He jumped in and guided us through the entire process, made himself readily available for us during the whole process, checked in with us via text every step of the way, and provided any and all information we requested. As a first time home buyer, I was not totally familiar with the process. Kiel helped me through the lending process, walk through inspection and closing procedures. It was such a pleasure to work with him, and we look forward to hiring him again when we purchase our next property.

I’ve never met anyone as knowledgeable and hard working as Kiel. Everything he said he was going to do, he did it. Kiel is a very easy person to get along with. He made us comfortable with the process and also made it fun. In 5 words…HE GETS THE JOB DONE!

It was great working with Kiel. He understood what we really wanted in a home. When it came to the process of the contract, it was obvious how knowledgeable he was. He did exactly what we wanted while giving great advice.

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