CARLA UMLAUF, Realtor®, ABR, CLHMS, CNE, GRI

She is very pleasant, personable, and knowledgeable about the real-estate business.

Carla was very helpful with each phase of our purchase. She found a good balance of listening to our needs and also making her own constructive suggestions. She knows Austin's neighborhoods really well, including schools, parks, traffic, and even tax rates. She knew how long our target homes had been on the market and often knew the history of the house and why it was not selling. She got our list of potential houses down to a nice manageable size so we could focus on seeing only on the most promising homes. For example, one area of town tended to have the right "numbers" as far as price, location, and square footage, but Carla found that the layout of most of these houses would not work well for our young family. She did the ground work to find a couple of exceptions for us to look at instead of dragging us to one bad match after another. Carla is more than just an everyday realtor. She has some architectural and construction knowledge as well, plus a sharp eye for design. She could often tell us whether the construction was going to cause problems, especially for quirky older homes. And she was very helpful in mentally arranging a home to suit or family's needs. The home was finally selected was a short sale, which required a lot of persistence and dedication on Carla's part. Fortunately, I was mostly unaware of the extra work Carla was doing in the background, but I do know she was making a lot of phone calls to keep everything on track. In the end, the transaction went smoothly for a short sale.

Carla responded immediately to our initial contact which we based on a selection from Angie's list. She was very thorough in explaining the ins and outs of the home purchase process. She listened carefully, did her homework, and came back to us with a list of properties that was perfectly tailored to our needs and wishes. Her insights on properties we visited with her were on target and very helpful. We never felt rushed in making our selection, and she acted immediately in submitting our bid when we did. She worked smoothly and effectively with the seller's agent, making the purchasing process simple and wrinkle-free. Her insights at closing were a great help. At every step, Carla was thoroughly professional yet warm, bright and a joy to work with. She is an absolute gem and we cannot recommend her highly enough!

Carla made the whole process a breeze. She knew the inside scoop for all the neighborhoods around town, not just the real estate numbers, but also day-to-day issues like restaurants, traffic, schools, etc. She really knows Austin. We ended up very happy in a house where we did not initially expect to live, thanks to Carla's recommendation.

Well, we're living in our dream home in large part because of Carla. We would totally recommend her to anyone looking for a real estate expert who will deliver truly stellar service, advice and recommendations.

Unexpectedly, I had to close on my old house and find a new house very quickly, with a very small budget. Carla is the only agent I can imagine who could have pulled off this miracle and found me a really fabulous house in a great neighborhood. She and her assistant, Scott Harvey, worked tirelessly for me, got to know my tastes right away, and showed me houses with that quirky Austin charm. When complications arose with the sale of my old house, Carla went way above and beyond the call of duty to make it possible to close. She gave me confidence in what started out to be a hideously stressful situation, and the outcome is far above my expectations. I cannot recommend her too highly!