A different road to real estate.
Budapest. San Francisco. Los Angeles. California real estate. Appraisal. Austin.
I entered real estate in my early twenties and have spent more than two decades looking at homes from different sides of the table: sales, brokerage, development and appraisal. Today, Austin is home, and all of that experience comes with me when I advise a buyer or seller.
Real estate was not the original plan.
I grew up in Budapest. San Francisco was my first stop in the United States. Los Angeles changed the direction.
After San Francisco, I moved to Los Angeles and worked in talent representation. It was an education in people, presentation, discretion and negotiation, but it also made me realize I wanted a different kind of career.
Working around high-profile people early in my career also taught me something I still value today: privacy, discretion and direct communication matter.
Then a person connected with Apple’s founding team told me, quite simply, that I should go into real estate. I listened.
Sales + Brokerage
Representing buyers and sellers taught me how people actually make decisions around a home, especially when the decision is not obvious.
Development
Working alongside developers taught me how land, plans, light, privacy, materials and construction choices show up again at resale.
Appraisal
Appraisal taught me to slow down, study the evidence and separate an appealing story from supported value.
Budapest, California, Austin.
The places changed and the work expanded. Each chapter added something I still use when I advise a buyer or seller today.
The deal I lost changed the way I represent buyers.
About a year into real estate, I thought I had found exactly what my buyers wanted.
We toured an on-market home priced around $3.5 million. They loved it and we wrote the offer.
Another agent had shown them several new-construction opportunities that were not publicly listed. One of those homes was a better fit.
I never forgot it. Since then, I have always tried to understand the broader opportunity set: what is active, what is coming, what may be available privately and what is still being built.
Today, Compass’s private and Coming Soon network gives me a much larger way to act on that lesson. The technology is newer. The habit is not.
Development changed the way I look at a house.
I wanted to understand what happens before a property ever reaches the market. Working alongside developers gave me that view.
Over the years, I worked alongside developers on more than 12 residential projects in Southern California. I helped identify and secure development sites, stayed close to projects through construction and ultimately helped position and sell the completed homes.
I was not the builder or general contractor. The value of the experience was seeing how lot selection, floor plan, light, privacy, materials, construction and finish choices affect the way a buyer experiences the finished home.
That perspective still follows me into a resale home. I notice how the house sits on the lot, how the rooms connect, where the light comes from and which improvements are likely to matter later.
A Southern California project under construction during my Pier to Pier Brokers years.
The property still has to support the story.
Sales taught me why people fall in love with a home. Appraisal taught me to ask whether the evidence supports the price. I value both sides of that equation.
“Square footage is a data point. It is not a pricing method.”
Appraisal remains an active part of my professional work. A formal appraisal is a separate professional engagement, but the discipline stays with me when I represent a buyer or seller: site, condition, quality, construction, function, view, lot and current competition all matter.
See my valuation approach →Good real estate advice should make the decision clearer, not louder.
Experience matters only if it helps someone understand the property, the market and the choice in front of them.
Look beyond the obvious.
The public listing is only one layer of the market. Active, Coming Soon, private, new construction and agent-to-agent opportunities can all matter.
Explore the private market →Understand the property.
Lot, light, privacy, condition, construction, function and location often tell you more than a neighborhood average ever will.
How I think about value →Tell the truth about value.
Good presentation matters. So does listening when the market gives us evidence we did not expect.
Read the seller side →Keep the process calm.
Buying or selling a home can be complicated. It does not need more drama. My job is to keep the important things visible and the decision moving.
Read the buyer side →I advise people about a place I actually live.
Budapest shaped me. California built my career. Austin became home.
My family and I moved to Austin in 2020 and settled in Serene Hills in the Lakeway area. I became licensed in Texas in 2021. Today, a large part of my work is across West Austin and the Lake Travis corridor, including Lakeway, Serene Hills, Bee Cave, Westlake, Barton Creek and Spicewood.
I live in Serene Hills, serve as Assistant Secretary of the HOA Board and publish the Serene Hills Journal. I spend a lot of time following what is changing around the neighborhood, Lakeway, Highway 71 and western Austin because this is where I live, not because these are content categories. The useful part of local knowledge is practical: which streets feel different, which lots carry a premium, what is being built nearby, how the drive really works and what a buyer may care about years after closing.
Questions people ask me.
How did I get into real estate?
After first coming to the United States through San Francisco, I moved to Los Angeles and worked in talent representation. A person connected with Apple’s founding team told me I should go into real estate. I took the advice, entered the business in my early twenties and received a Rising Star award at my first South Bay brokerage after generating more revenue than any other new agent there.
How am I licensed in Texas and California?
In Texas, I have been a licensed real estate agent since 2021 and work as an Austin Real Estate Advisor with Compass. My real estate broker license is in California, where I became a broker in 2008.
Am I also a real estate appraiser?
Yes. I am a Texas Certified General Real Estate Appraiser and have completed more than 3,000 appraisal reports, with approximately 200–300 appraisal assignments annually. Formal appraisal work is separate from my brokerage work.
What was my role in residential development?
I worked alongside developers on more than 12 Southern California residential projects involving development-site acquisition, construction-stage decisions, property positioning and completed-home sales. I was not the builder or general contractor.
Where do I work in Austin?
I work throughout greater Austin, with particular focus on Serene Hills, Lakeway, Bee Cave, Lake Travis, Westlake, Barton Creek, Spicewood and surrounding West Austin communities.
What are you trying to figure out?
Buying, selling, value, timing, a particular property or simply what is happening in this part of Austin. That is usually the best place to begin.