Martha Maples is a hard working California software company employee. Each year, she´s diligently squirreled away a modest amount of her income into a 401K plan, and she and her husband Matt were wise enough to purchase property in 2002 that now has several hundred thousand dollars in positive equity.

Martha and Matt hear of one particularly chatty individual at a friend´s cocktail party discussing real estate in Austin. Apparently ´Austin missed our boom, and is now ready for a boom of it´s own", and "have you ever been to Austin? It´s nothing like you might imagine Texas to be!" and of course, "my duplex in Austin has gone up $20K in value the last year".

Martha and Matt are sophisticated people, and they don´t want to let their personal residence home equity just sit there and rot, so it occurs to them to look further into Austin as a potential investment area, but they put it off because they don´t know a soul in Austin, and the idea of investing in another state is, well, a little scary.

Eventually one Sunday while the kids are at camp, Martha goes to Google and types in "Austin Investment Property". Sure enough, Castle Hill Investments´ website pops up, and out of curiosity, Martha surfs the site. Figuring she has nothing to lose, she sends an email to the company with a few comments about her goals, her real estate experience, and her contact information.

Within one business day, one of the expert sales staff at Castle Hill has called and emailed Martha, and listens attentively to Martha´s goals over the phone. Martha is added to a periodic property email list, and is invited down to Austin to see "what all the fuss is about" and get a "hands-on", guided tour of the area.

Martha reminds Matt that they haven´t vacationed in a while, so both fly down to Austin on a Thursday three weeks later, and spend the majority of Friday driving around and seeing Austin from an insider´s perspective.

After some number crunching with Castle Hill provided pro forma spreadsheets, as well as holding meetings with both a property manager and a lender, Martha and Matt decide to make an offer on a duplex in Austin´s Technology Corridor. The numbers look good ($185,000 for a duplex with 2/2´s both sides generating $1500/mo in rent), the property showed well, and the interest rates just dipped below 6% on a 30 year fixed.

The Castle Hill Investments representative "writes the offer" and negotiates on behalf of the Maples to get them a great price on the property. There is some negotiation, and ultimately a mutually desirable price is settled on. Then Castle Hill´s crack team gets to work:

• Jessica Caplan, Castle Hill´s full-time transaction processor, introduces herself as well as all parties (agents, buyer, title company, lender, etc) to each other. Jessica works with each agent to ensure an exemplary client experience.
• Earnest and option money checks are either left with the agent for receipted the contract at title; or are requested to be sent via Fedex to the title company immediately upon the investor´s return home.
• A professional inspection is scheduled with a licensed, insured, and bonded third party inspection company
• Texas´ residential real estate contracts utilize an "option period" which gives a buyer from 7 to 10 days to inspect a property, review leases, and do all other due diligence. The buyer may terminate the contract in exchange for a small amount of consideration to the seller (known as the "option fee" – usually about $200).
• Castle Hill Investments carefully tracks each day of the option period to ensure that the property is carefully vetted
• Any post-inspection repair allowance is requested and negotiated with the seller
• Jessica and her team work with the buyer and the buyer´s lender to ensure that insurance is ordered and prepared, that the lender is doing their job to close on time, and that the leases and other property documentation are properly provided to the buyer during the escrow period.

As the transaction winds its way closer to the closing stage, the title company prepares documentation for overnighting to the buyer (who is usually not present at the closing).

By the time Martha and Matt have received their lenders´ closing documentation via Fedex, they have carefully scrutinized detailed inspection reports about the property, current and past tenant leases, have their property management teams lined up, and are generally feeling confident about the future of their investments. All the while, their Castle Hill representative is holding their hands, and leading them through the process.

When the property has closed, all leases and documentation relevant to the property as well as the keys and tenant contact information is transferred by Castle Hill to the buyers´ property manager, and notifications are sent out by the property manager to the tenants immediately notifying them of the new property management in place, and where to mail their rent checks moving forward.

Martha and Matt then have years of periodic genial consultations with their property manager, with Castle Hill about market and property condition and status, and advice when to finally sell and benefit from their responsible investment.

Given that Castle Hill Investments sells more than triple its next runner up in most investment property, you can count on receiving flyers from us for years to come marketing to you to allow us to sell your property – so it´s unlikely that we´ll fall out of memory too quickly. Lucky you!