Austin Real Estate Advisor · Compass
A different roadto real estate.
Budapest. San Francisco. Los Angeles. California real estate. Development. 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. Austin is home now, and all of that experience comes with me when I advise a buyer or seller.
Texas Agent·California Broker·Certified General Appraiser
VerifyTexas Agent + Certified General Appraiser · TREC ↗California Broker · DRE #01405276 ↗
Or text Diana Diana on Compass
01 / My Story
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 taught me something I still value today: privacy, direct communication and knowing when not to make a situation louder than it needs to be.
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 answer 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.
I have bought and sold multiple homes with Diana. She has been my trusted real estate broker and longtime friend.
The Road Here
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.
From Budapest to Austin · 23+ years
Budapest
Hungary
San Francisco
First stop
Los Angeles
Talent agency
Real Estate
California
Broker
California
South Bay
Site → sale
Valuation
New lens
Austin
Texas becomes home
23+ yearsMultiple marketsOne career built around property
Checking current properties…
Nothing is publicly listed at this moment. I'm often working with Private Exclusive and Coming Soon homes before they appear broadly.
Private + Coming SoonRecently sold.
All Past Sales02 / An Early Lesson
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.
03 / Residential Development
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.
04 / What Makes a Home Great
A great home doesn’t have to be new.
New can be wonderful. But new is not what makes a home great.
ProportionFlowLightFunctionSense of place
Some of the best homes have been standing for generations.
What makes them endure is rarely a particular finish, a trend or the year they were built. It is the way the house sits on the land, the proportions of the rooms, the light, the flow and the places that naturally become part of everyday life.
I have always had a strong instinct for design and for how a home feels. I can usually walk into a house and quickly see what gives it character, what feels timeless, what is simply having a moment and what may already feel dated even if it was installed yesterday.
Part of that instinct comes from sheer exposure. Between real estate and appraisal work, I see hundreds of homes in a typical year. An appraisal is not simply a walk-through. I am studying the property closely: its site, construction, condition, quality, layout, functionality, improvements and actual measurements. Then the work continues with detailed research into the other homes that compete with it and how they compare.
Over more than 23 years in real estate, including years of active appraisal work, I have physically walked through thousands and thousands of homes. That kind of repetition teaches you things that are difficult to learn from photographs, listing data or price per square foot alone. You begin to recognize why one floor plan works and another fights you, why one renovation will age well and another already feels dated, and why two houses that look similar on paper can feel completely different when you are standing inside them.
Good design is not the same thing as expensive design. Beautiful materials cannot fix a poor floor plan, and the newest finish does not automatically make a house better.
The homes that last have something deeper: proportion, function, character and a sense of place that belongs to that particular house. Finishes can change. The underlying qualities that make a home feel right can continue to work for generations.
Every Home Has a Story
I have learned that every home has a story. You just have to slow down long enough to hear what the house is telling you.
05 / Appraisal
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.
Approximately 200 to 300 appraisal assignments annually
Selected lakefront, ranch and estate assignments up to $25M
“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.
Much of my appraisal work is luxury property in Tarrytown, Westlake, Rollingwood, Barton Creek, Lake Austin, Lake Travis, Spicewood and Lake LBJ. Before I accept an assignment, I make sure I can reach enough sales data and market information to complete it well. In a non-disclosure state like Texas, that step matters most at the top of the market. My appraisal services are provided through The Appraisal Shop, the appraisal firm I am affiliated with.
Luxury residential sales and Certified General appraisal are two disciplines seldom found in the same career. I practice both.
06 / What I Believe
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 marketUnderstand the property.
Lot, light, privacy, condition, construction, function and location often tell you more than a neighborhood average ever will.
How I think about valueTell the truth about value.
Good presentation matters. So does listening when the market gives us evidence we did not expect.
Read the seller sideKeep 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 side07 / Austin Became Home
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, much of my work is across West Austin and the Lake Travis corridor, including Lakeway, Serene Hills, Bee Cave, Spicewood, Westlake, Tarrytown, Rollingwood, Barton Creek and Lake Austin.
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.
Why This Site Looks This Way
A sense of place.
This site takes its cues from the part of Austin I know best: limestone and the fossils held inside it, live oak and sage, Lake Travis water, dusty wildflowers and warm Texas light.
The serif type gives the stories room to breathe. The cleaner type carries the practical information. Even the soft shapes borrow from hills, water, stone, vegetation and the geological layers beneath them rather than decoration for decoration’s sake.
The landscape is present without the site becoming landscape-themed.
I wanted it to feel the same way I try to work: calm, local, useful and a little unexpected.
08 / A Few Useful Details
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 (verify with TREC). My real estate broker license is in California, where I became a broker in 2008 (DRE #01405276, verify with the California DRE).
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 to 300 appraisal assignments annually. The bulk of my luxury appraisal work falls between $1 million and $15 million. I also take on selected lakefront, ranch and estate assignments up to $25 million when I can reach enough data to complete them well. My appraisal services are provided through The Appraisal Shop, the appraisal firm I am affiliated with, and formal appraisal work is separate from my brokerage work. My Texas licenses can be verified through TREC.
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. That work was part of Pier to Pier Brokers, the Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach brokerage I co-founded.
Where do I work in Austin?
I work throughout greater Austin, with particular focus on Serene Hills, Lakeway, Bee Cave, Lake Travis, Spicewood, Westlake, Tarrytown, Rollingwood, Barton Creek, Lake Austin and surrounding West Austin communities.
Start With the Real Question
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.
Diana Roberts · Austin Real Estate Advisor · Compass
Texas Agent · California Broker · Certified General Appraiser
512.888.8326 · diana.roberts@compass.com · Compass profile ↗