A note from Austin Hellickson

Sec. 1, Why this site

Why a site just for PCS moves

On a PCS move the calendar is in charge, so I plan these purchases in a different order.

A typical buyer can wait for the right house. They can let a deal fall apart and try again next month. Someone with orders usually can’t. The report date is fixed, the household goods are already scheduled, and there is often one adult doing the house hunting while the other is somewhere with bad cell service. The usual real estate process asks them to make decisions in the wrong order: find a house, then figure out the move.

So I flipped it. I start every conversation with dates. When do you report? When can you realistically travel? When does school start? When does your current lease end? Once those are on paper, the rest of the plan has a shape, and we can see right away where it’s tight and where there’s room.

Battle Buddy is the name I gave that approach. The term means the person who looks out for you and keeps track of the details when you have too many of them. That’s the part of this job I take most seriously.

Sec. 2, How I work

How I work with military families

Everything goes on paper

After our first conversation I send a written plan: your report date, the steps counted back from it, who you need to talk to and when, and what I’ll be doing in the meantime. When dates change, and they often do, I update it and send it again. You should never have to reconstruct the plan from a string of text messages.

I work with whoever is here

Very often the spouse is running the search while the service member is in the field, on a deployment or finishing up at the old duty station. I set things up so both of you stay in it: one person at the showing, the other on video, and short written notes afterward so nobody is relying on memory.

Remote tours that show you the real house

I walk homes on video from the curb inward. I open cabinets, check under sinks, look at the ceilings, and tell you about the things a camera misses, like smell, noise and how steep the driveway feels. Then I drive from the house to your side of base at the hour you’d be commuting and tell you how long it actually took.

Lender introductions, and you choose

I introduce buyers to a few lenders who close VA loans regularly, so you can compare them side by side. You’re free to use any lender, including your own bank or credit union. I’ll work with whoever you pick.

A straight answer on whether to buy at all

For a short assignment, or when the numbers don’t line up, renting can be the better call. If I think that’s true for you, I’ll say it. I lay out that trade in on-post housing at JBLM versus buying off post. The same goes for sellers on the way out: some families are better off selling, some are better off keeping the house as a rental, and I’ll price the sale side for you along with the questions to ask a property manager about rents. The numbers I’d look at first are in selling or renting your house when you PCS from JBLM.

Sec. 3, What I don’t do

What I don’t do

I’m a real estate broker. I represent buyers and sellers. I don’t make loans, set interest rates, approve credit or speak for the VA or the Department of Defense. When a question belongs to a lender, a tax professional, a property manager or your legal assistance office, I’ll tell you so and point you to the right kind of person to ask.

I also won’t tell you that a house will appraise, that a deal will close by a certain date, or that a home will sell for a certain price. I’ll tell you what I see, what I’d do, and what could go wrong, so you can make the call with your eyes open.

Sec. 4, Role and office

My role and my office

In Washington, a managing broker license sits above the standard broker license and requires additional experience and education. I hold that license with LPT Realty, and my office is at 1230 Fryar Ave in Sumner, east of Tacoma. Most of the work with military families happens by phone, by video, and at the houses themselves, from Lakewood and DuPont down to Spanaway and Yelm, so the office is mostly where the paperwork lives.

I’m also part of Homexa, a network of 300+ agents across 25 states. For military families that mostly matters on the way out. When orders send you somewhere else, I can introduce you to an agent where you’re going, and pass along what I know about your situation so you don’t have to start from the beginning. You’ll still choose your own agent there.

Sec. 5, Questions

Questions about working with Austin