Contact Luke Allen
I answer my own phone and reply to my own email, within a day, with an answer rather than an acknowledgement.
Reach me
Three ways in, one person at the other end
There is no team, no assistant screening the line, and no form that lands in a queue. Whichever way you choose, it is me.
- Call or text
- 254-718-2567
My own number, not an office line. If I am with a client I call back within the day, and a text with what you are looking at gets a faster answer than a voicemail. - Write
- luke@austinmdg.com
Or the form on this page, which reaches the same inbox. Either way the reply comes from me within a day, with a real answer rather than an acknowledgement. - Meet
- At the brokerage, 1401 West Ave Ste B, Austin, TX 78701, by appointment, or at the property, which is usually more useful. First conversations are as often a walk down a block as a meeting.
What to send
Five kinds of note, and what makes each one answerable
A note with these in it gets a real answer on the first reply instead of a list of questions. None of it is required. All of it helps.
Buying
- The areas you are weighing, a price band, whether you are pre-approved or paying cash, and when you need to be in. If you are also selling, say so first, because the sequencing changes the plan.
Selling
- The address, your timeline, and anything that makes the property unusual: a renovation, a view, a lot that is hard to read from the street. A valuation takes a day or two and comes with the sales it rests on.
Investing
- What you already own, whether a 1031 exchange is in play and where its clock stands, and whether you are underwriting to rent or to hold. The forty-five day identification window is the first thing I will ask about.
Relocating
- Where you are coming from, where you will work, your dates, and whether schools matter. The honest conversation is about tradeoffs you cannot see from a listing, and it starts with those four things.
Just thinking
- Say so. If you are months out, or years, you will be treated that way: a straight answer to the question you asked and nothing added to a list. Early questions are the ones worth asking.
Afterwards
What happens to what you send
Your note is written to this site’s own records and sent to my inbox, and that is the whole journey. It is not sold, it is not shared with a lender or a vendor, and it does not put you on a sequence of automated emails you have to unsubscribe from. You hear from me once, with an answer, and then only if you write back.
If you used the affordability calculator on the buying page before writing, nothing from it comes with your note. The arithmetic runs in your browser and is never sent anywhere, so what you typed about income or debt stays with you. If you want me to know it, tell me in the note.
And if the honest answer to your question is that the plan does not work, or that I am not the right person for it, that is the answer you will get. Most of my business arrives by referral, which only works if the first conversation was worth having.
Where
Based downtown, working the whole metro
The brokerage is Austin Marketing + Development Group LLC, at 1401 West Ave Ste B, Austin, TX 78701, at the northwest edge of downtown. I work across Travis, Williamson, Hays, Bastrop and Caldwell counties: luxury and towers, first homes, investment property, new construction, relocations. Central Austin is where I can tell you the things that are not written down, and the five ZIP pages are the longest version of that: 78701, 78702, 78703, 78704, 78705.
Before we talk
Two notices Texas asks you to read
The Texas Real Estate Commission requires a broker to give you the Information About Brokerage Services notice at the first substantive conversation. It explains whom an agent represents and what that means for you, and it is short. The Consumer Protection Notice is beside it. Both are here so that when we speak, you have already seen them.
Information About Brokerage Services and TREC Consumer Protection Notice. Luke Allen, Licensed Texas REALTOR, license #788149, sponsored by Austin Marketing + Development Group LLC, license #9014959.
Early questionsare welcome.So arelate ones.