My name is Robert Kleven. I am currently a real estate agent and have been for nearly nine years. Before I got into the real estate industry, I had a notable experience with my first home purchase and sale which made me a believer in home ownership over renting.

Here's my story:

I moved to Austin from Wichita, Kansas in May of 1998. I lived in an apartment for the first 6 months in Austin. It didn't take me long to realize that rent in Austin was high compared to where I came from (especially near the university). I decided if I was going to have to pay that much for rent, I might as well buy my own place. So after my 6 month lease, I decided to stop paying into someone else's investment and buy My Own house.
Within two weeks of my initial idea, I was pre-qualified for a loan and under contract on my first home. This was very exciting for me.

The sales price for this house was approx $74k (I wish houses were still that inexpensive in Austin). I liked my new house. I painted and installed new flooring in the bedrooms the first week after moving in. I bought my first lawn mower at Wal-Mart for $99 and added an in-wall entertainment system to accommodate my entertainment center and books and added some red paint to one of the kitchen walls.

I lived in this home in South Austin for just over two years before deciding to sell so I could find something a little closer to downtown. I tried selling the house myself (FSBO-For Sale By Owner), but to my dismay realized that I wasn't prepared for every Tom, Dick and Harry that was going to knock on my door at random times during the day an night and ask me if they could see my house. At that point I was trying to sell the house for $100k. The unexpected prospects were annoying, so I decided to talk to the Realtor that initially helped me purchase the house. We signed a listing agreement and decided to market the property for $109,900. I had a contract on the house within a couple of weeks.

At closing I collected a check after my mortgage loan, all commissions and closing costs had been paid for $26,000! The great thing was that because I had lived there for two years, I didn't have to pay any capital gains taxes on this money.

I made some calculations: the mortgage payment I had been making was approx $712/mo, during the time I lived there I had spent approx $18.5k with all mortgage payments combined (FYI this included tax and insurance at 6.25% interest). Simple math. I walked away with $26k had spent $18.5k with a difference of $7,500! This essentially was the equivalent of living free for 26 months and walking away with $7,500.
Of course I had spent about $2,500 upfront to close but even so I walked away after living free for 26 months with nearly $5,000!

TRY PULLING THAT OFF WHILE PAYING RENT!

Now I am a real estate agent of 8 years. I get many of my clients in their homes with very little money out of pocket.

I supply all the data and advice my clients want to help determine the potential for the property to go up in value and do it without putting pressure on you to buy. I will make sure you are on the right track and introduce you to the right people to help remedy credit issues (if any), get good low interest financing, and help you come up with a realistic plan.*
-I sincerely do want my clients to be successful as well as enjoy their new home.

Right now... interest rates are excellent and if you are a first time home buyer, you can get an $8000 tax credit if you close before April 30th of 2010. This is not just a write off, but an actual $8000 credit from the Government in an effort to stimulate the economy. This is great to fix up your new home to build some immediate equity and a great way to offset your down payment and/or closing costs.*

Want to learn more?
Call or email me.

Have a good one....

Robert Kleven Realtor®
Broker Empire Realty / RFKrealty.com
(tel) 512-773-3335 (fax) 512-366-9712
Robert@RFKrealty.com