About Us
Welcome to our website! We know that choosing a real estate agent is a lot like choosing a mate in life. You want to make sure the match is going to “work.” There’s nothing worse than spending a lot of time with someone that you either don’t enjoy being with or you don’t trust to have your interests in mind. On the other hand, there is great joy when you’re “with” someone that truly is a good “fit” for you.
Please be sure and watch our introductory video to get a feel for who we are. We truly care about our clients and want the experience to truly be a good experience for them. Here is some feedback from a recent client:
We work pretty much all aspects of the real estate business in the hill country: Residential, Farm & Ranch, Commercial, and Property Management. We work with first-time buyers, move-up buyers, investors, ranchers, those looking to build and even those looking to start a business. We really know this part of the Hill Country and go that extra mile to help our clients. Our territory extends from Bulverde to the Boerne/ Fair Oaks Ranch area to Pipe Creek/Bandera back to Comfort to Center Point and Kerrville all the way to the Ingram/Harper area. We are members of San Antonio, Kerrville, and Gillespie County Multiple Listing Services.
Our Community and Real Estate Blogsite provides great information for those desiring to move to the Hill Country. We keep our clients up to date with Things To Do in the Hill Country, Community News, Market Reports, and multiple MLS Search sources.
Here’s Julie’s resume:
Julie has worked in various aspects of the Real Estate business since about 1981. She started out in the Title Insurance business, worked as a Legal Assistant to several prominent Real Estate Lawyers in Dallas, Texas, has bought, sold, and developed real estate as personal investments, and has been working as a full-time Hill Country area Realtor since June, 2004. She has lived in and/or owned real estate in Fair Oaks Ranch, Boerne, Comfort, Center Point, and Kerrville. Julie is the broker and co-owner of Hill Country Home & Ranch Team which began operations in 2004. Julie is married to Buddy, also her partner in the business, and we live about 5 minutes from the town of Comfort, Texas.
Buddy has also worked in many aspects of the real estate business, including real estate development, renovation projects, and real estate sales. He has owned a number of businesses and has a “knack” for knowing a little bit about everything. He pastored a church just outside of Fair Oaks Ranch for 8 years and now provides pastoral counseling to those we call “wayfarers” as described below.
Our offices are in Comfort, Texas, the center of the I-10 Corridor of the Hill Country. Come by and see us!
Our Personal Priorities (Who We Are):
1. Ministry Focused. Encouraging People in the Love of Christ and Promoting the Manifestation of the Love of Christ in this Earth.
2. Community Minded. Encouraging People to Find their Place in the Local Body of Christ and Local Community.
3. Relocation Facilitators. We are primarily Buyer’s Agents – Specializing in Relocation to the Hill Country.
As for our Blog Site, We have a similar focus:
1. HILL COUNTRY RELOCATION SPECIALISTS & LOCAL INFORMATION
We seek to answer questions, such as,
What is it like to live in the various communities in the Hill Country? What are the people like?Which community is right for me and my needs?
Where are the medical facilities, schools, etc.? What other resources are there?
Plus: What fun things are there to do in the Hill Country? Where do I go for the best Burger, BBQ? Where are the local hangouts? etc.
We are a great resource for those relocating to the Hill Country. Call us. We’d love to help you find your dream home or investment of land in the Hill Country.
2. VOICE OF OUR LOCAL COMMUNITIES
We live and office in the community of Comfort, Texas and do business in all of the communities surrounding us. As such, it is our desire to give the people here a “VOICE” tin their local community by encouraging involvement in the various local activities/groups and by encouraging participation through responding to articles written about issues related to the local communities.
3. REAL ESTATE INFORMATION RESOURCE
As “Full Service Realtors”, it is our desire to provide Real Estate information (news/statistics) in order to help Buyers/Sellers assess market conditions, understand what is currently on the market, and understand the real estate process. We also seek to introduce ourselves and define the services we provide.
4. MINISTRY RESOURCE & CARE
It is our desire to not only help people find their physical homes but also to help them find their “spiritual homes” as well once they get here. We seek to introduce those moving here to the various ministries/churches in the area so that they can find a “spiritual” connection here as well.
We also to seek to serve those we refer to as “wayfarers,” those locals without a church home. Our ministry focus is on developing a healthy body of Believers who know who they are in Christ, encouraging true relationships within the Body and service to others.
OUR REAL ESTATE STRATEGY: CONNECTING BUYERS & SELLERS FOR A WIN/WIN RESULT
What separates a good real estate agent from a really GREAT one? I am an observer by nature and I am always observing agents to determine who the good ones are and who are not. Quite honestly, there are times when I look at listings that I am about to show to a client and I cringe after I notice who the listing agent is. I do that because, as in all businesses, there are real estate agents who are not pleasant to deal with, who aren’t very efficient at doing their job (my #1 pet peeve), and, in terms of their negotiating techniques on behalf of their clients, they are operating at a 2 or 3 year old level. “This is MINE and you can’t have it!”
Our tag line for our business is: “Connecting Buyers & Sellers for a Win/Win Result.” It pretty much sums up who we are and how we do business. First, our belief is that the real estate business is about matching willing buyers and willing sellers. We’re not trying to convince anyone to do anything they don’t want to do. Secondly, we believe that we can do that that in a win/win way for all.
There are some in the real estate business who would take exception to our strategy about the win/win aspect and say that representation is exclusively about getting your client the very best deal (e.g., it’s not a win/win, but a win/lose, with the “win” in favor of MY client and the lose in favor of YOUR client). Another way of saying it is, “We absolutely won’t leave anything on the table.”
While it certainly IS our goal to get our client the very best deal possible (and we really are quite good at it), the problem with the Win/Lose approach is that it creates an adversarial relationship between the parties. Win/Lose negotiators often have strong egos and they have an extremely limited view of what the client’s REAL interests are. To say it a different way, they are negotiating based from their own ego, not in the true interest of the client. Even though the strategy sounds like a good idea for the client, quite often the results are less than what you might expect. The problem is that adversarial negotiating quite often ends up in compromise in order to get the deal done and so … sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. And sometimes the adversarial relationship continues … even into the courts.
The alternative way of negotiating is based on interests. It’s a bigger picture view and it provides for many more possible solutions. The truth is that people and situations are complex and every transaction has multiple factors that influence whether a person is getting a good deal or not. For example, who wants a great price on something that doesn’t interest them? or work for their family?
What we are trying to do is match interests and so we we feel like it is our job (and we spend most of our time observing and anticipating) what the changing interests of both parties are so that we can create a contractual agreement that both parties want to live up to. Sometimes, the hardest task is getting people to “see outside the box” … that their interests truly are being served with the creative solution that we are offering. See future articles with the keyword, “Interest Based Negotiations” for further elaboration the subject.
Connecting Buyers & Sellers for a Win/Win Result: It’s what we do. It’s who we are. And, it takes advantage of what people truthfully want to do. It is our feeling that if we are creative in putting deals together, we will get much better results than the next guy … and those results will be win/win for all!
If you are looking for win/win results, give us a call at 830-995-2511. We’d love to visit with you.
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