Thence House group

Brokered by Kuper Sotheby’s International Realty

Guidance For Your Next Chapter. Helping buyers and sellers navigate the central Texas real estate market with confidence.

  • Cereal and Neighbors

    Yesterday I was having one of those days. The kind where you do not really want to talk about it, you just want snacks. So I did what any reasonable person would do. I texted my neighbor and asked if she had any junk cereal.

    She didn’t, but she correctly read the urgency (no clue how) and sourced Lucky Charms from another neighbor.

    Within minutes, a bag of cereal showed up on my porch, no explanation required. It turns out there is an entire unspoken language among neighbors, and “do you have cereal?” is shorthand for possible emotional crisis, time to show up for each other. The response was immediate and automatic.

    This is the part of real estate that never makes it into a listing photo. You can measure square footage, count bedrooms, and walk through a kitchen, but you cannot see the community waiting for you until you actually live there. A house becomes a home when the people around it become people who show up. I have sold a lot of houses over the years, and the best ones were never just structures. They came with neighbors who notice when something is off, who wave every morning, who will leave cereal on your porch without asking why.

  • Behind Every Homeowner, There is a Story Like This

     I don’t talk about the downsides to my job very often. I almost feel like I don’t have the right. I’m too aware how fortunate I am. But anyone who’s ever worked in customer service knows it’s not always fun. I would love to say I show up to work excited every day, but that’s not true. There are some days I’m just tired.

    I was tired when I was supposed to meet a new client for the first time a few weeks ago. It was a sweaty, humid 101 and we no longer had a model in the community, so I was waiting outside her home; She was 30 minutes late. My inner dialog was grumpy and indignant. When she finally pulled up, I reminded myself of the countless times I personally had been late, took a deep breath, smiled, and walked toward her car.

    My company, had been participating in an income restricted, affordable housing program to help credit worthy buyers who can’t afford the skyrocketing Austin prices, realize their dream of home ownership. I grew up poor. I know what it means for some of these folks. Or I thought I did, but I’ve seen some things recently that made me question how I ever thought I had it bad.

    My appointment that day was with a single mom. She had been working two jobs to qualify to buy her first home through this program and today was the day. She explained she had a hard time getting off work and was apologetic, but you should have seen her beam with excitement as I showed her, her new home. Her joy was so great, within minutes I was just as excited as she was. My mood immediately lifted.

    She had a calming presence and was easy to like, so we were fast friends. She also had strong accent and I’m always curious what brings people to me. So, when we sat down to write her contract I asked her, her story and where she was from. She told me she moved from Burundi years ago. In my ignorance I asked what made her want to move to America. She patiently explained the genocide in Rwanda didn’t start there. It started in her home in Burundi. What she told me next had me blinking away tears the entire rest of the contract. Out of respect I will keep details to myself, but it’s enough to know, she made it to safety, only through the kindness of a missionary organization she worked for. Lots of hard work later, she sat in my office finally realizing a LIFETIME DREAM of homeownership with ME, the grumpy lady who just an hour before was completely oblivious to the honor she was about to witness.

    If that won’t set you straight again, nothing will.  

  • It’s a Team Sport

    Looking back, I still have mixed emotions about that year. By any standard, a $47.2 million year is amazing, but underneath the gratitude I felt a little like a fraud. It didn’t come easy. I worked my tail off and was busier and more stressed than I could remember, but that year I had help, a lot of help getting there. It wasn’t something I did alone.

    Most years in this business are pretty solitary. I was often the only agent working alone, and success rode entirely on my ability to help buyers find the right home and manage their purchases through to completion, and in new construction that can take seven to nine months with many obstacles in between.

    There were years I came in first and knew I’d earned it, fighting my way to the finish line with each one of my clients. There were years where my numbers didn’t look this good, or even close, but I still knew my all and felt confident no one could have done better. And there were stretches where I had to be honest with myself about whether I was really doing my best, and the answer, admitted with some shame, was sometimes no.

    That year was different. I had a team behind me that made it nearly impossible to fail. They kept me sharp, kept me moving, and met with me regularly to game plan and adjust strategy the moment something needed to change.

    Here’s why that season still matters to you now. It taught me what a well run team makes possible, and I’ve carried that standard forward. Today, that same commitment to strategy and teamwork lives on through Thence House, where Carrie Kissel and I work as partners, now backed by an amazing team. Whether you’re buying or selling, you get the same benefit that made that year what it was: a team who’ve spent decades learning how to get it right, working for you.

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