About Austin
Managing Broker with LPT Realty, working out of an office in Sumner at the foot of the Bonney Lake plateau.
My name is Austin Hellickson. I’m a Managing Broker with LPT Realty, and I help people buy and sell homes in Bonney Lake and around Lake Tapps, and in Sumner, Buckley, and elsewhere in Pierce County.
My office is at 1230 Fryar Ave in Sumner, a few minutes from the bottom of the SR 410 hill. From there the plateau is close enough for a second showing with a contractor in tow, or a listing appointment set up the same week.
What does a Managing Broker do?
A Washington license level, with more training and experience behind it.
In Washington, a managing broker is a licensed real estate broker who has met additional education and experience requirements and is qualified to supervise other brokers. For a client, it means the broker on your contract has the training and experience the state requires of people who supervise other brokers.
A lot of trouble in a real estate deal starts with a detail nobody read closely: an HOA rule, an inspection deadline, a line in a builder’s contract. Catching those early is a large part of what a broker is paid for.
Why I focus on the plateau
The rules can change from one side of a road to the other.
The Bonney Lake name covers an incorporated city, unincorporated neighborhoods, a large planned community, an island with its own association, and a long, winding lakeshore. School boundaries cross city lines. HOAs range from a page of rules to a thick binder. Lake access can mean a private dock, a shared slip, or a path to a community beach. Two houses on the same Lake Tapps cove can differ on whether the dock was ever permitted and on which school district the kids attend, and neither shows up in the listing photos. Getting those facts right for a specific house is most of the job, and it’s hard to do well from across the county.
So I keep my attention on the plateau and the valley towns around it. This site is where I’ve written down what I know about them, in a form you can use before we meet.
How I work with buyers and sellers
Buyers start with a map. Sellers start with a walk through the house.
With buyers, I start with the questions that narrow the map: where you need to get to each day, which school district matters to you, how close to the water you want to be, and what monthly payment feels right once taxes and dues are counted. Washington requires a written buyer agreement, and I go through ours with you line by line before we start.
Then we look at homes, and I do the reading most buyers don’t have time for: the HOA documents, the permits, the parcel details, and the comparable sales that tell us what a house is worth. When it’s time to write an offer, I explain every term and the reasoning behind it, and I tell you what I would do if it were my money.
With sellers, I start in person, walking the house. I’ll point out what a buyer’s inspector is likely to write up and what I’d leave alone. We price from comparable sales I’ll show you, and you make the call.
After that I coordinate the photography and the showings, and I pass along what buyers and their brokers say about the house, the unflattering parts included. You shouldn’t have to chase me for news about your own house.
LPT Realty and Homexa
Who the brokerage is, and what the network adds.
My brokerage is LPT Realty. This site is an initiative by Homexa®, a network of 300+ agents across 25 states. That network is useful when a client is moving to or from somewhere outside Washington and needs a good agent on the other end of the move.
To be clear about roles: Homexa is not a licensed real estate brokerage, appraiser, or lender. Brokerage services are provided by independently licensed real estate professionals, and in Bonney Lake and around Lake Tapps, that’s me.
How to reach me
A phone call is the quickest way to start.
Call me at 206.940.0942, email me at Austin.Hellickson@homexa.com, or use the contact page. Tell me what you’re thinking about, even if the move is a year or two out.
Austin
Managing Broker, LPT Realty