Crossland Team – Keller Williams Realty

I have lived in Austin most of my life, and finally scraped together the pennies to purchase my first home. Being very frugal with my money, I spoke with a handful of real estate agents, many who were noticeably eager to «earn my business.» Joe Gage stood out from the crowd with his calm demeanor and absolute priority on understanding my goals.
My second concern once moving forward, was having a either a «salesman realtor», one who is more interested in making the sale or alternatively the «lethargic realtor», one that doesn’t follow through after you take the initial steps with them. These are the things you can only learn about your realtor as you spend time searching for a home and visiting them. I can say without a doubt, Joe was neither of these things.
Joe helped bring my dreams into a reality. He was with me every step of the way, and made sure that we were looking at properties that matched my long list of criteria. If you are looking for a home in the Austin Area, give Joe Gage a ring and at least consider him along with the other agents you have talked to. If nothing else, talk to him so you can set a good benchmark for the «gold standard» in real estate purchasing. But I will say that I would be surprised if you can find a better agent that has his level of experience and expertise in the Austin market.

I recently completed purchasing a home with Joe at Crossland. He is as good as it gets. I had an unfortunately lengthy process (6 months) due to a less then satisfactory realtor selling my home in Maryland. Throughout the entire process Joe was more than helpful and pleasant. His advice and understanding of the market is top notch. I would recommend Crossland (if I personally know you I would insist) if you are in the market for buying or selling a home. In an industry where customer service is the name of the game, they have taken everyone to school.

As a service provider to many property management companies, I had many choices for my investment. I could not be more pleased that I chose to work with Steve with Sylvia Crossland. Sylvia represented me in the purchase of my first rental property ⁹⁄₁₃. She was very knowledgeable of the market and all processes. I felt we got the best price for a really great property. She was very attentive to all my questions and concerns. The house did not close until the end of October, which is not the best time to lease properties due to holidays… but…Steve leased the property, at the price I wanted before Thanksgiving for 18 months! Now this is all good, but the real test is when the unexpected comes up… tenants purchased a home and needed to vacate early… due to Steve’s ability to find well qualified tenants and execute a lease that protected my interest… there was no loss of income to me and yet again, Steve leased the house within a month to yet another qualified tenant for even more money, i could not be more pleased with the service provided by Crossland Real Estate. My only wish is that they would service my other property in San Marcos:)
I highly recommend Crossland Real Estate.
Ginny V

This review is about Joe Gage, their real estate agent. I’m based in Sam Francisco and was looking for investment property in Austin. I tried out three different agents based on recommendations from different sources, including Unilocal.Joe clearly stands out. He’s very patient and responsive. I’m not familiar with the area at all thus had a lot of questions. His email reply contains detailed information of the neighborhood, including shops nearby, schools and so on. He regularly screen houses and give recommendations once he sees a good fit for investment house offered at reasonable price. He’s very knowledgeable about the area. All his recommendations comes with details around why he thinks it’s a good investment and sales/​rental data in the neighborhood to justify the price he thinks it’s worth as well as the expected rental income. I found him to be very methodical and organized. He’s not a typical sales person. Maybe this is because he used to be an accountant. Needless to say he earned our trust and we went with him to make the purchase. I was very impressed through the whole process. He’s very calm and never pushy. His recommendation on the bid price was right on and he was very good at following up with various parties to push things through. The process went through very smoothly. If anyone is looking for a good real estate agent in Austin, I’d recommend Joe whole-​heartedly. His professionalism and calm personality make him a real pleasure to work with.

Steve and Sylvia have been great to work with. I bought a house, sight-​unseen with Sylvia, and then turned it over to Steve to manage as an investment property. As advertised, the process has been turn-​key: the rental income hits my bank account every month and the entire process has been smooth and low key.

We’ve been tenants at one of Crossland Real Estate’s managed properties for about a year and a half now. We’re very pleased to be working with Steve as the property manager. He’s been polite, and always helpful whenever we’ve needed him.
Most recently, our air conditioning went out, and Steve had someone there the same day we reported it. When it was determined the unit needed to be repaired or replaced, the unit was replaced altogether. The installation was fast, and we were back in cooled comfort in no time.
Steve is very responsive, and always professional. Can’t say enough good things about Steve and Sylvia!

We have been tenants with Crossland for almost a year now. While moving in we discovered a few things that needed repair and everything was tended to in a timely manner. On Friday of SXSW we woke up to a burst pipe and the floor of one of our bedrooms was soaking wet. We contacted Steve by email and received a phone call from him immediately. He arranged for a plumber to come that day as well as a water extraction company. We were so impressed by how quickly and efficiently the matter was resolved. We are very happy with Steve and his company!

I had a home to sell in Austin and Steve was the person who I trusted to get the job done. I was doing this sale while in Virginia and Steve managed the whole process, with a very challenging property that needed a lot of work. From his initial work on improving the property, to the listing, and final sale, he was absolutely terrific. Very thorough in his work and quick as well. I appreciated his knowledge of the market in Austin and advice on listing the house. We sold it for more than we had hoped for and had multiple offers the day we listed it. I can say that Steve worked with my best interest in mind at all times. Thanks so much Steve.

I stayed with the Crosslands for 7 yrs because of their honesty, good judgment, and congeniality.
When I wanted to purchase a house in 2006, I searched the internet for a month to find a realtor, and found Steve’s blog. His investment transparency and knowledge in the market (especially the Southwest area) won me over. Being a first time buyer and haven’t even been to Austin yet, they walked me through all the details and provided suggestions for homes through email. Once I was ready to buy, I flew over, took a look at a handful of homes, and decided to choose a property that they believed would be a good investment and I would enjoy living in.
Fast forward 2013, turns out the house was a great investment. Price, house size, lot size, neighborhood, amenities, and location all contributed to numerous bids 10% over asking within the first day on MLS. Also, I followed all of Sylvia’s suggestions for sprucing up the house and hired contractors to fix up the rest. Her ideas really made a difference, I didn’t even want to sell the house after it looked so nice.
I truly appreciate all their help (e.g., suggestions, concerns, investing — as if they were buying the house) and the way they conduct business in such a friendly way. And it was very nice that they kept in touch every year with an email, card, or gift. Yes, it’s good business, but who does that any more… good people.
Thanks Sylvia! Thanks Steve!

I hired Sylvia because I wanted to get top dollar for my house. Using her extensive contacts in the industry Sylvia brought in a flooring vendor and a professional home stager to make the changes needed to price my house at the top of the range for my neighborhood. Sylvia was active every step of the way too picking out the colors and materials that would make the best impression with prospective buyers.
The result was multiple offers first day. We went under contract that evening with an offer for more than what I was originally asking. Needless to say I was very impressed and satisfied with the results. Sylvia stayed engaged throughout closing and helped me purchase another home here in Austin as well. I would recommend Sylvia to anyone looking to buy or sell in Austin.
Quinn

Sylvia was the ideal realtor for my family. She was great to work with: collaborative, a crisp and clear communicator, and a constant professional. Most importantly, she knows how to get your home sold and achieve your goals. In the end it’s about results, right? We sold our home in less than 30 days, with several showings. Other realtors we interviewed before her were just not going to work due to lack of knowledge and professionalism (cheesy marketing, off-​putting personalities.) By contrast, Sylvia was down to earth and a pleasure to work with. She stays on top of the Austin real estate market… she understands it well, shares her knowledge, and does what she says she will do. I would hire her again in a heartbeat if we were still in the Austin area.

Steve Crossland initially helped me to get my home in the market for rent. He did a great job and moved very quickly. This was my first time using a property management company to take care of my home. I had a lot of questions and he was very knowledgeable. He was prompt, patient, frank, and honest. I then soon later decided to sell the house rather than rent it out, which he was able to do also. He prepped the house for sale and had it listed within days. The house sold in 24 hours with competitive offers over the asking price! The transaction was done via phone and email and went smoothly.
I couldn’t be happier. I highly recommend the Crossland team!

I wish I had wonderful things to say about them as everyone else, but my first and only encounter with them has left me with a sour taste. I filled out a contact form and asked if they could help me rent out rooms in home.
I got a response asking where the home was located, and after I responded that it was in Round Rock, I got another response saying they don’t handle Round Rock. As far as I understand, the description here in Unilocal states Austin and the surrounding areas, isn’t Round Rock a surrounding are? In addition, the map provided here in Unilocal clearly shows the Round Rock area included in the red shaded portion of serving locations.
Needless to say, this was very disappointing. The worse part was that after I told Steve I lived in Round Rock, he then stated he had just noticed I was asking about roommates, and not renting out the entire home. I was pretty clear in my first communication, why not start by telling me you don’t provide this service? Would have saved us both some time.
I gave them one star because he did refer me to another service that could assist me with renter screening, but the deceiving of the service area, plus the lack of noticing my initial question referred to renters of rooms, and not renters of the entire home, was, in my opinion, a complete service snafu.
UPDATE: Please notice the LACK of professionalism from Steve with his response to my review. Since he did not get his way to force me to change his review from MY personal experience with him, he is now posting my personal business on the net for everyone to see that I am unemployed. Steve, stating personal information about a customer is not only laughable, but bordering on invasion of privacy as well. You are just supporting your bad customer service by telling the world information I shared with you and you only, especially exposing details of my personal life. Thank you for supporting my point.

My husband and I have bought 4 homes, sold 3 of them, and relocated out of state 3 times. So we’ve worked with a handful of realtors. However, Steve and Sylvia are by far the best realtors we’ve ever worked with.
When we recently relocated to Austin, we had already sold our house in Florida and were living in a small rented vacation home here in town. At the time our son was 3 years old and I was 8 months pregnant with our daughter. My husband runs his own business and was working out of our tiny rental. Needless to say, we were under a lot of pressure and desperate to find a home very quickly.
We were focused on finding a home in Northwest Austin, which is a great area for families but also sometimes pricy and competitive. Even though Steve came up with plenty of homes for us to view, it was still challenging to find the right house at the right price. But Steve worked tirelessly and continued to find more houses for us to look at day after day. He also kept our spirits up when we were feeling hopeless about finding the right home before our baby arrived. Steve and Sylvia always made us feel like we were their top priority and they were immediately available to help us with whatever we needed. I’m pretty sure that our time sensitive situation caused us to be fairly high maintenance clients for them!
We did finally find a home we liked and closed the deal in time for us to move in just 2 weeks before our daughter was born. It was a crazy, stressful, hectic experience to say the least. We are so grateful that we found Steve and Sylvia to help us with our relocation and home purchase here in Austin. They are truly good hearted, dedicated, hard working people and they will always have your best interests in mind. I would definitely recommend them to friends and family (and I have!).

My wife and I own a house in Austin but live in Seattle right now. I’m in the real estate business so I know a good manager/​broker when I see one. We are so lucky we found Crossland to work with in Austin!
Steve is an outstanding property manager. He is fair to tenants and owners alike. He has created leases which are fair and protect everyone involved. His high standards for maintenance and repair of the house make sure the tenant has a nice, well maintained home. And yes, he does hold both sides to the details within the lease (and why should they not be… we all read them and sign them agreeing to the terms).
We are always comfortable knowing Steve is taking great care of our house in Austin. And that we are working with someone who truly wants to provide the best home for the renter, as well as make sure the property owner is getting fair market rent.
Thank you Steve!

Current Tenant in Leander with a broken A/​C — First, THANK YOU STEVE for such a quick response to our repair request. I submitted it around 10:00 p.m. Sunday night and you responded by 7:30 a.m. the next morning. Second, I wanted to tell you that I thought both the representative who checked the old unit yesterday and the reps that installed the new system today were all very polite and worked efficiently with little or no disturbances to me or my family’s regular routine. Also they left no mess at all and you can only tell they were here by the new thermostat that sits on the wall where the old one was along with the shiny new unit outside on the A/​C slab.
I just wanted to thank you for the speedy response to the issue and to let you know the Service Wizard company did a great job. I know the temps are starting to cool off but having two children in the house when the temps are in the 90’s is just not fun. I still can’t believe we got an entire new HVAC system in less than 48 hours from the time I put in the service request on Sunday!
We always appreciate how quickly you respond to any issues we have at this property.

FAKE REVIEWS?
Mr Crossland, it looks like you received a negative review, and then tried to bury it with positive reviews. 13 Positive reviews in one week? Were all of these customers or just your real estate friends? This is not how Unilocal works. Is this the same lack of integrity that prospective customers would receive from you. I am VERY disappointed.
-=-=ORIGINAL REVIEW BELOW=-=-
Unprofessional and unpleasant demeanor. General lack of realistic market knowledge and trends. Probably better suited as a property manager, but lacks the proper people skills to be effective as either a listing or selling agent. Argumentative and combative.
Definitely would NOT recommend, especially as a listing or selling agent

Avid follower of Steve’s blog and posts on the City-​data forum. The local Real Estate market is highly micro-​segmented, and Steve’s insights are among the very best.
Although we have disagreed at times, i’ve learned something from every conversation. Crossland RE is as good as they come!

Steve has managed our rental properties in Austin since we left a year ago. We’ve been very pleased with his services. He is thorough, thoughtful and has taken care of everything for us. We just get an electronic statement in the mail and the rent via EFT, without having to spend any of our time trying to manage our properties from far away. Recently, both properties needed some of the inevitable upkeep — a dying tree and a dead AC — Steve proactively took care of it by making very reasonable decisions at very short notice.
We’ve recommended Steve to other friends in the same position and they’ve been pleased with his services as well.
We haven’t engaged him for real estate brokering services but imagine that his care and attention to detail will go a long way there as well.

Steve and Sylvia have managed my rental properties since I became an accidental landlord in 2005. During the screening process Steve stood out as being knowledgeable, professional and experienced.
The Crossland Team have been an excellent choice in savings of time and money, but more importantly handling legal, maintenance and tenant issues with zero unpleasant surprises. I receive monthly professional statements on-​line, prompt responses for ad-​hoc queries, market analysis for investment options, and enjoy reading the well informed blog entries. The Crossland Team has exceed my expectations and I heartily recommend them.