Open House Austin Real Estate Blog

FIRST TIME BUYER Stephanie Douglass FIRST TIME BUYER Stephanie Douglass

How Much Money Do You Need to Buy a House?

Many people think there are lots of hidden fees when buying a house and it’s often what holds them back from making any moves. In some ways this is correct, but in reality it’s because there’s a lack of education around home buying. Read to learn exactly how much it costs to buy a house!

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Austin Stephanie Douglass Austin Stephanie Douglass

How To Navigate a Hot Housing Market

It’s hard to know how to progress during this chaos, and it is definitely an overwhelming time in Real Estate for buyers, sellers, and agents alike. But y’all, we’ve been at this for a minute now - so we’ve got you!

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home investing Stephanie Douglass home investing Stephanie Douglass

Should I Buy a House Now or Wait?

Rent is something you consider on a monthly basis. But have you ever done the math and realized how much you’ve actually spent on rent? Here we break down 11 years of rent spent by one person in Austin, and what would have happened if she bought a home instead.

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house hacking Stephanie Douglass house hacking Stephanie Douglass

A Year Airbnb-ing My Room in Austin TX

Since moving to Austin after college in 2012, I always saw the benefit of buying a house and having roommates help pay my mortgage payment. I finally had the opportunity to do so in 2017. I renovated the home, and now make an income through Air bnb.

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home investing Stephanie Douglass home investing Stephanie Douglass

How to Legally Protect Yourself in a Real Estate Partnership

No matter the terms of your partnership, it is extremely important to legally protect yourself in any arrangement. Recently, attorney Lori Daves shared some tips with attendees of the Go Forth Investor Meetup on how to make sure you CYA (my words, not hers) when entering a transaction within a partnership. Here is an overview of what we learned.

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home investing Stephanie Douglass home investing Stephanie Douglass

How To Buy, Renovate, and Profit from a Commercial Property in Austin as a 20-Something

My business partner, Steph, and I both house-hack at our primary residences and have also recently started to “office-hack.” What is office hacking? Office-hacking is getting others to pay for your mortgage at the commercial space that you also occupy. Learn how we turned a run down space, into our dream office/event space!

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Women in Real Estate Stephanie Douglass Women in Real Estate Stephanie Douglass

The Story of Open House Austin

When I started my search to find an office space in Austin, I was a bit overwhelmed at the costs associated with it. I was beginning to give up on finding an affordable commercial space. Right before I lost hope, I stumbled upon a yellow building for sale. Read to see how we turned it into our beautiful office/event space!

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Stephanie Douglass Stephanie Douglass

Open House Austin Launch Party Photos!

Thank you SO much for coming out to our grand opening on Saturday, June 1st. We were so amazed at how many friends, family, clients and strangers came together that night and celebrated with us. Click through to see photos from the party of the year!

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Austin Stephanie Douglass Austin Stephanie Douglass

The Austinite's Guide to Better Dating

After a few years of dating in Austin learned a lot and it got better...it wasn’t the men who sucked, it was the way I was meeting people that sucked. I wasn’t being direct, and clear on what I wanted. When I started dating with intention, I began meeting kind, thoughtful and fun people...one of those guys I’m still with.

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house hacking Stephanie Douglass house hacking Stephanie Douglass

The Life of an Austin Tiny Home Dweller

Amanda had built her entire home from scratch, we were amazed and had many questions. She shared her story with us and spent almost two hours answering our questions. She’s allowed me to share her story and the answers to our questions with you all as well.

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