Tom Thornton, ABR

Tom came highly recommended by good friends of ours. He helped us find a home in southwest Austin, and we plan to work with him again when we’re ready to sell our current home.
When we first met with Tom, we had outgrown our current space in east Austin and needed to find a home that worked better for our growing family. We also wanted to move down to southwest Austin, an area that we were much less familiar with.
Tom was wonderful in guiding us towards neighborhoods that would meet our needs, and was so knowledgeable about the real estate market in different parts of town. He really listened to what we were looking for in a home, narrowed in quickly on the style and location we wanted, never pressured us to go beyond our budget, and he was able to find us just the right property.
Once we found the right place, Tom was able to guide us through the purchase process so that we avoided a bidding war and were able to get under contract quickly.
Tom was also very patient with our two young children who came with us to look at houses, and treated them as an important part of the house hunt rather than an annoyance.
Tom was always easy to reach by email, text, and phone. We also liked the online database that we had access to through Realty Austin so that we could preview properties before we went to see them in person, saving us lots of time and running around.
We will happily recommend Tom to our friends.

I was referred to Tom through a friend, and he is extraordinarily professional, capable, and knowledgeable about Austin real estate. He’s also very friendly and super approachable! I believe he specializes in south and perhaps west? Austin, but handles properties anywhere in the city. I engaged with Tom twice — once to look for a home on the east side, which I called off because we agreed that the opportunities did not match what I was looking for at the time, and later to help me with an unusual real estate transaction when selling my home. Through both processes, he was extraordinarily available, with an experience and knowledge of the market that I could trust. His opinion and experience helped _​immensely_​, and he was an indispensable resource to have on your side when negotiating and closing real estate deals. He also has a great passion for local cuisine and cocktails, and has great referrals for related services you might need!

Friendly, helpful, and trustworthy, Tom was a great agent. His market guidance (backed up with trend data) helped us price our home with confidence and get a ton of great offers really quickly. And Realty Austin’s services like their listings search, photography package and staging consultation were invaluable to helping us sell our house VERY quickly. I recommend Tom to all my friends.

Tom is quite simply one of the best in the realty business. He is very process oriented and leaves nothing to chance. It was because of his process, knowledge, and his team that my home sold in less than 4 hours!
Four years earlier I leveraged Tom’s insight to Austin neighborhoods to find the perfect home for me – an Austin newbie. His understanding of the Austin market when compared to my list of «must haves» meant we did not waste time viewing properties that were not a fit.
I highly recommend Tom to those looking to buy or sell.

We have been waffling on selling our home for the past three years and Tom has been very long suffering taking us from home to home and doing comps on our existing house.
We also have a rental property in Massachusetts and Tom was able to match us with a realtor back East that we also can’t say enough good things about.
We are once again in the moving train and going to call him soon to start our hunt. I’ve no doubt he will help us with practical advice and professionalism despite the fact we’ve tired our own selves out talking about moving so many times. :)
With so many realtors in ATX it’s important to be able to work with someone you trust, you can’t go wrong with Tom and the Realty Austin team!

Working with Tom was an absolute pleasure! My wife and I used him to purchase our first condo and he kept me informed of all of the details. Although it took a little longer than anticipated with the bank to get my loan approved, he kept pushing on them to hurry up and did whatever he could to make sure we closed as soon as possible.
Tom is very knowledgeable of the real estate industry and their website
is what initially drew me in since I think the site is great and easy to use.
I’d definitely recommend Tom and would use him in the future.

Tom Thornton is a 5 Star +. What counts in a realtor is their knowledge, your access to them (personal), online services GREAT WEB SITE that is user friendly (show me the house before we drive there), discovering what you want and narrrowing the field, information on the property when you go see them, the
site helped as I came from out of state and did not know a lot about the area (s). Tom went out beyond the call of duty and earned every penny. If I were to sell, he’d be my guy. Fair, balanced and will tell you the truth.

Working with Tom was an absolute pleasure!
This was my first time selling a home and he walked me through everything concisely and knowledgeably.
The sale actually took a little longer than both of us anticipated due to a few quirks with the property, but Tom was able respond and adjust our strategy resulting in a successful sale.
I would highly recommend Tom to anyone looking to sell their home in Austin.

Me and my family have used Tom three times. Purchasing a condominium in Austin twice and selling one once.
I could not be more complimentary of Tom and his work with helping us through the buying and selling process. His knowledge of the Austin market and what is available was second to none. I am a first time home buyer on the second condo (the first was with my family) and Tom’s help has been extremely invaluable and I don’t think I could have done this without his help. He helped us through every step of the process and had insightful tips at each stage of the way. He was able to break down the contract for me and when I went to buy with the seller I had little or no questions because he had broken down the complicated language in what was not a standard contract.
On top of all of this he was flexible and easy to work with. He is extremely personable and I feel is someone I can trust. As long as he is in the Austin market I will definitely utilize his skills in the future and recommend him to my friends and family.

I would not recommend Tom as a broker. I found him to be very negligent and careless. My husband and I were not kept up to date on important matters and we were constantly having to contact him to ask him what was happening next. I have bought and sold several homes, worked with several brokers, and he was by far the WORST!
Here are just some of his failings:
He failed to tell us that our Buyer was conducting a final walk through at a certain time and date. This left us in a bad situation. He proceeded to deny that we were not informed of this and said he was going to send me the e-​mail he wrote. I had the e-​mail and it mentioned NOTHING about this. Needless to say, there was zero follow up on his part.
He kept the check we received from the Buyer until after escrow closed, after our escrow agent asked him about it.
He made careless errors on the description of our home, omitting major features.
He failed to notify us that we needed a green inspection done, forcing us to coordinate this while we were overseas in Europe. This was not an easy task.
He said he was going to split the cost of a stager with us. He gave us less than half of the cost and if we disputed it, it would have moved back our close date.
He failed to inform us not to pay our home owner’s dues. They were added to the final escrow, so we paid them twice.
When I tried to discuss with him the things I was unhappy about, he just dismissed me and accused me of trying to cause trouble. He was clearly NOT open to feedback. I found him very egotistical and somewhat incompetent. There are much better brokers out there. At one time he might have been hungry and on-​top of things, but those days are long gone. The only reason he gets 2 stars is because my home did close.

My house hunt experience was made so much easier by Tom. He is very professional and knows his stuff, and I definitely needed a realtor who could guide me through the various steps as he did. Three thumbs up.