Crystal Olenbush and her team have represented me in 7+ transactions of various types and price points over the past 10 years. *** For most of these transactions, Crystal's made strong strategic recommendations that undeniably represent my best interest as a client vs. material gain for the brokerage. In Austin & Westlake, this team is playing chess while it seems every other brokerage in town is playing checkers. There's no doubt in my mind that I would not have the real estate assets I own today, including my primary residence, had I worked with any other realtor. Crystal operates within the luxury real estate market with 0 ego while knowing exactly how to navigate the abundance of ego types within it. Transactional volume matters very little to Crystal compared to the value she puts on earning and keeping her clients' trust and getting them what they need. I know only of Crystal's and her brokerage's accolades only by independent research. Taking care of her clients is the only thing that matters to her. read more

i first met Jim and Crysral Olenbush on a family photo shoot a few years ago and their patience and kindness with their children stood out to me. They hired to do headshots for their ataff and everyone of their team membets was on time and courteous-qualities that also stood out to me. i wasnt surprised to find out later that their brokerage is one of rhe highest performing offices in the city and that Crystal was 3rd highest in sales. I havent bought or sold a home with them so they had nothing to gain by taking the time to educate me and my daughter on the Austin market and to give us insight on a future listing. I was impressed by their level of integrity, wisdom and honesty. It's rare to find these days. read more

Crystal really caused huge issues for me that seriously impacted my life. She had my listing but stopped communicating. She would not return my calls for over three weeks, but had my listing under contract. I had no idea why. ZERO COMMUNICATION!!! The only way I got her to stop her childish games, was to put an honest review online. That woke her up. In my opinion, that behavior is highly unprofessional, downright immature and just plane bratty. Overall, the kajrvof performance caused me to lose a ton of money, because I was held in a trap, paying storage fees, allowing the Austin market to drop further, while my target home market rose, separating my sell price and my buying price further and further. Everyone knows there are prime months if the year to sell in, but no one would show it, or advise me, or tell me anything!! If she didn't want the listing, I would have been happy to go elsewhere. But don't sell your services, enter into a contract, then ignore your client!! When they did finally call me back, I got 3 completely different plans for what needed to be done to make my place show ready. How am I supposed to follow three contradicting plans?? One was new rugs and no art at all. One was no rugs and buy faux plants. One was buy neutral bedspreads and get some art! I would steer clear of her and her agents. It's possible that you could work with one and not ever have to deal with her. But in this market, it takes more time. Do you really want to take that risk? You need someone that's a great communicator with YOU and their own staff so that they are all clear on their priorities as a group. This group's all over the place and completely inexperienced. The minute I hired someone else, life got so much easier. I'm not sure what they think their job is. But you'll never find out because they don't know. I have never been so happy to part ways!! Life dies not have to be that hard!! Get someone that will answer your calls, and can communicate who they are going to target as your buyer, and how. I also made the mistake of letting one if her agents "find" me a new home. Not sure what she thought she was supposed to do there. Loved her as a person, but it just did not work! Don't do that. Let them show you how they are going to market and show your home before you give them more business. I trusted too easily, wasted 2024 and completely missed my opportunity to buy in Wimberley market. I changed. Had I been guided and had these folks been true professionals that knew how to adjust to changing makers conditions, things could have gone much better for me. My new realtor was able to think outside of the box and do a bit more than just, "come down on the price"! OK but the equation had many elements with lots of variables. Smart professional approaches challenges with new ideas! They don't just avoid calls because they don't know what to do!! They roll up their sleeves and go back to the drawing board and rework the equation with new thinking, until they find a solution. I think they just demand the client lower the sake price until it's easy for them to make the sale. But don't let them do that to you. You may need to lower the price, but can you find a home you can afford if you do? Are they helping? They should be!! Or are they dodging you when you don't agree to be low hanging fruit? Hire someone that's bright, and willing to work for that commission. By the way, the things that needed to be done to make my place show ready weren't any of the things on any of the three plans. I figured that one out on my own. Sometimes they are just "marking the corners" to convince you they know what they are doing. They didn't close the deal. That says it all!! read more

I just love Crystal. I've met a lot of realtors but she's the only one I've seen bring value to a deal. She understands to the core how real estate negotiations work. If you want results with the best outcome, talk to this woman! read more

What a wonderful experience. Crystal is awesome. She helped sell our home for over $100,000 the asking price. When my wife that does not speak that much English asked to have someone from the office that speaks Spanish explain to her the whole process... Wow, the agency put us in touch with one of their agents, Valeria, that was there to answer any questions, at anytime and guide us through the whole process. We could not ask for any better service. I would recommend Austin Real Estate to anyone. read more

I'm a realtor myself so I'm very picky about who I work with and relocating my family to a new city I knew we needed someone extremely knowledgeable. Thank god we found Crystal, not only did she help us find the perfect location for a home, she is so well connected and quick on her toes. When things got tough she was a bulldog and fought tooth and nails to get us what we needed to close. Everyone in the office was great at communicating throughout the whole process. We are so thankful for our experience. read more

Crystal Olenbush and her entire team at AustinRealestate.com are absolutely fabulous. Super professional, on target and responsive. Crystal sold our house the first weekend she had the listing. I'm convinced her staging ideas are what helped our house sell. I strongly recommend them if you want personal, expert representation! read more

I am so happy I found this team. Crystal leads a team of highly qualified/ knowledgeable, and friendly persons. They all went above and beyond to help us find the perfect home and settle in. Thank you AustinRealEstate. read more

My husband and I just bought our first house with the help of Crystal and her team. She was absolutely fantastic! We were very nervous and did not know what we were doing, but Crystal guided us through the process. She was quick to respond to emails and phone calls. She was very honest with us and worked hard to get us a great deal on a house that we love. She never tried to push something on us that we didn't like. She listened to what we were looking for and provided us with valuable input. It meant all the difference having a realtor that we could trust! I would highly recommend her! read more

We've used many realtors in the past (on our 7th home), but have never had a better experience then with Cantera. Was with us every step of the way through our purchase in Austin and even though there was complications, Jim took care of it all. Couldn't be happier. Highly recommended. read more

If I could give them Zero stars, I would. Had a home inspection by experts and attorneys on Monday to assess the magnitude of the deficiencies and cause of likely $300-500k of defects. Crystal and Jim Olenbush (aka Crystal Spring Guthrie and Crystal Spring Ruthkowski) of AustinRealEstate.com NEGLIGENTLY represented us in two separate deals that have led to large financial losses. A land deal which we were rushed in to as it was reportedly 'the only double lot in Spanish Oaks'. We so over paid to the clear benefit of AustinRealEstate.com that we have lost upwards of $250,000 in 3 YEARS of carrying costs despite being in one of the most desired locations in west Austin and can't sell the second lot for even close to what Crystal Olenbush recommended was a really great price. We have had multiple people tell us that they asked to see the remaining lot with intentions to build in Spanish Oaks and were so discouraged or turned off by Crystal Olenbush wanting to bait them into seeing a home she stood to get a bigger commission off of that they walked away, used different agents, and bought other lots in Spanish Oaks. It was always followed by the interesting comment about just not liking her or the psycho inference. I was always a bit taken back by what seemed so catty when it came to anything to do with Crystal Guthrie-Olenbush. We additionally bought a spec home which she claimed came with a builder warranty from a reputable builder building a 12,000sqft home for $6M around the corner. She never got anything in writing and then played stupid when we asked for it. The builder had a sordid past with multiple judgements against him, the home is full of deficiencies to the tune of $300-500k, and the 12,000 sqft home around the corner had to be demolished to the foundation. Then, Crystal came to our place of business claiming to have a very affluent friend buyer and was going to take 0% commission on the sale of our lot because of the massive loss and inability to resell for years but after we give her a steep discount the offer was withdrawn literally the next day. We met our obligations with her sending emails to friends about her being such a success story and thrilled with her results as she brought me a birthday gift weeks later, sending friends and others weeks after her procedures but confront her with who the offer was and why they backed out.....Then bizarrely she starts having an issue with what we did.....really? We wish we had never met the Olenbush duo......nobody enjoys losing $500-700k because of multiple misrepresentations made on selling or buying. Worse, seems like a very twisted way whether intentional or unintentional (as she clearly admitted to ignoring protocols, doing her own "research", and I was told by a doc that there was some "meddling" by a competitor that got her into the position she found herself in) to try to offset a massive E&O claim. Then again, Crystal is one of those 'know it all' twisted gals that will risk the safety of her baby for vanity as she tells physicians it is safe when clearly not to do certain procedures. Again, for nearly 700,000 reasons - we wish we had never used AustinRealEstate.com, Crystal or Jim Olenbush. read more

Crystal and her team are great! They took care of everything quickly and it was done quickly! I have used her twice now and I will use her again! read more

My wife and I just sold our home in the River Place section of northwest Austin. We chose Jason Bernknopf of Austin Real Estate to be our listing agent. We specifically wanted Jason because he was our realtor when we purchased the property in 2012. Jason is the consummate professional. He is responsive, attentive and thoroughly knowledgeable in his vocation. Jason represented our interests superbly. Our home sold in less than 60 days and we could not be more pleased with Jason's performance in making this happen. Thanks Jason!! read more

Looking for a home is a huge undertaking! There are a billion websites to look at, hundreds of available home - it's overwhelming! Crystal was simply amazing! She helped us navigate the confusing waters of buying a first home, gave great advice throughout the entire process, and still follows up with us frequently (over a year later!) to make sure we're a-ok! We definitely felt like we had the best person in our corner! Her knowledge of the area and Texas real estate is exceptional and leaves you feeling 100% at ease. She's so good in fact that from our first day out with her to a home purchase was only 2 months! read more

Best website to search for property in the Austin, Texas area. The site is very easy to use with lots of photos and the ability to save favorites. Agents are friendly and helpful, without being pushy. Highly recommend read more

It's really hard to articulate how refreshing it is to deal with a real professional. Crystal Olenbush is by far the best-of-the-best and is the subject matter expert when it comes to Austin real estate. My fiance and I had moved to Austin from the Midwest and had no idea where we wanted to live. Crystal met with us when we first started looking at homes, and within about 30 minutes she qualified us for a very specific location just by briefly chatting about what's important to us. She was SPOT ON. In addition to being a total bad ass, she's patient as all get out. We set a timeline of about 18 months from the time we met with her, until we were going to be ready to move into a new home. She kept in touch the entire time, occasionally sending us listings just so we could keep up with the market. We ended up pulling the trigger a little sooner than initially expected, but she hopped right into the driver's seat, and took charge. She went to bat for us when it was time to make offers, and managed to negotiate one hell of a deal for the absolute PERFECT home for us. Did I mention she did all of this while nearly 9 months pregnant and didn't skip a beat? She also has a fabulous assistant, Ashley, so if Crystal is busy, you can always get help. read more

I've worked with Cantera for years and trust them completely with delivering great service to real estate clients. Cantera Real Estate has an incredible website, which makes it easy to search for homes in Austin, Texas. Crystal Guthrie is available non-stop to help find your dream home. And she will. Give Cantera a call, especially if you are relocating from outside the Austin area. They make the entire homebuying process so smooth and easy. Thank you Crystal and Cantera!! read more

Scott Hamilton was our realtor and he was awesome! My husband and I decided to sell our home of over 25 years and he helped us every step of the way. He was totally professional, making sure we understood the whole process. (Things had changed a bit since we bought our home back in the day!!) He got our home sold in less than 3 days and we got more money than we were asking! It doesn't get any better than that! I would recommend Scott to anyone looking to either sell or buy a property. Thanks, Scott...and thank you, Cantera Real Estate!! read more

Crystal is simply marvelous and superb, a consummate professional and a warm and personable human being, trustworthy and dependable. Her knowledge, experience, patience, and readiness to offer the greatest assistance possible are just incredible and life-assuring. Our recent experience with her ranks absolutely the best among some 5 property deals we went through in the last 25 years. We would recommend her to anyone who demands the most immaculate track record and exceptional deal making skills in a realtor. She's a real gem! A fabulous talent in the city of Austin. read more

Having lived in my house for 16 years I was unfamiliar with what to do (and most importantly - what NOT to do) to get it to get it ready to sell. After interviewing 3 realtors I chose Scott Hamilton because of his impressive marketing work, his prompt response to my inquiry and the fact that he told me what I needed to hear - not want I wanted to hear (but in a polite way). Throughout the entire selling process he was attentive to my questions, made me feel that I was his most important client and that we were a team working the process to get this house sold. I feel that because of his impressive pre-listing marketing, his excellent photos of the house and his knowledge of the market I not only had 4 offers in 48 hours, closed in 4 weeks for OVER the my asking price, but I also got $12,500 OVER what the other realtors said I might be able to get for the house. Everyone I talked to about the process of selling my house (even former realtors) were very impressed with Scott and his work and I personally want to thank him for making what is a very stressful process as easy as it could have been. read more

Can't say enough good things about Cantera Real Estate. We flew in last minute from Washington DC to determine if Austin was the place for us to live. Crystal dropped everything and worked hard to help us find options that were a fit - despite the knowledge that we might not move forward. She remembered all the details we sent - including wanting a climbing tree for our kids. She was sweet, warm and knowledgeable. In the end, we did not relocate to Austin for personal reasons, but will always remember her professionalism, time and understanding. Our experience is that good real estate agents are hard to find. Look no further! read more

This was a very pleasant home buying experience. Amora Thurston was our realtor and from the beginning she was very professional and truly represented us to the very last step. We were from San Antonio and she accommodated us to our schedule and kept us well informed. This was our 3rd home purchase and I would have to say this was the most stress free of the three. This was definitely because Amora had our best interest in every situation that came across no matter how small or difficult it was. read more

Heather Greenberg is by far the best realtor I have worked with. She's very knowledgeable about all aspects of the home searching & buying process, from neighborhoods to negotiation to financing. She was available at every step to provide advice and perspective, and if she didn't know the answer, she'd find it. She's been in the Austin market from before the housing bubble, so she understands the relative values of different neighborhoods and the potential value of currently undervalued areas. Two specific examples of her proactive approach--she saved me from bidding on a house that turned out to be in a flood zone, and she saved me time in looking at new properties in an area where the houses have been on the market for an unusually long time. Heather is very easy to talk to, and is just a lovely person to be around. I have already recommended to co-workers and friends that they work with her on any property. Don't waste your time hoping you have a great realtor, just call Heather! read more

Do not use this agency! They do not return phone calls, the agents did not show up to my closing and they were constantly late to the meetings through the process. We worked with a different agent and they held us up on numerous occasions and were 3 hours late to the closing. Not to mention the agent who was responsible sent someone else who didn't have any information about the property. read more

Heather Greenberg knows Austin - she knows people who get things done in Austin, and she worked incredibly hard to help me sell my house - an amazing Realtor. I live in Chicagoland, but had a house in Austin I needed to sell. In one month, Heather helped me get the house cleaned up, repaired, and ready for presentation. Her contacts in the community for anything I needed were boundless - and 100% reliable in every case, which was a huge relief since I did not know the area. The house sold quickly - a month later - thanks to Heather's intelligent positioning of the house in the market and diligent showings. Heather was the best partner in selling a house - always listening to what I hoped to accomplish, always communicating quickly so I knew exactly what was going on with the house, ever knowledgeable about how to tackle issues with the house, a genius at making the house presentable - and an incredibly nice person on top of all that. I highly recommend working with Heather for real estate needs - her tireless energy and finely honed professionalism were a godsend in getting the house sold. read more