Tom's Background

"Tom Thornton is a Realtor specializing in Central and Southwest Austin residential properties. His neighborhoods of focus include Westlake, Downtown, Barton Hills, and Travis Heights. He is a member of the Austin Board of Realtors, Texas Association of Realtors, and National Association of Realtors. Tom has been awarded the Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR®) designation (the benchmark of excellence in buyer representation) by the Real Estate Buyer's Agent Council (REBAC). He is also certified as an EcoBroker by EcoBroker International. EcoBroker Certified® professionals help clients market properties with green features, save money, and live comfortably, through energy efficiency and environmentally-sensitive choices. He is a graduate of both London Business School (MBA) and Baylor University (BBA)."

Before entering real estate, Tom worked extensively in marketing and advertising, most recently as Vice President at Young and Rubicam's Knowledge Group in New York, which provided brand management and marketing strategy to clients like Yahoo!, Dannon, and Pfizer. Tom's marketing experience also includes time at J. Walter Thompson and Burson-Marsteller in New York. He worked for famed UK newspaper The Guardian and for Texas Monthly magazine early in his career. He is a graduate of both London Business School's MBA program and Baylor University.

A native Texan, Tom relocated to Austin from New York City in early 2006. He understands the trials and changes involved in moving to Austin from another area, and is happy to help clients learn more about our city.

Tom lives in the Westlake area with his wife and daughter, and is also a contributing music and food writer for Austinist, which has won multiple awards as Austin's best entertainment website. He has interviewed bands such as Snow Patrol, The Decemberists, and Crowded House along with celebrities like Will Ferrell. Tom has been interviewed as an "Austin culture expert" by BBC Radio 2, The Wall Street Journal, MTV.com, KUT, KROX, and News 8 Austin. He also writes for Go2.com, and is a former contributor to Gothamist. Tom's interests include travel, wine collecting, and music. He is always happy to share his knowledge of what Austin has to offer with clients!

Tom's Testimonials:
"My wife and I reside in Portland, Oregon. I am a commercial real estate lawyer and my wife is a residential real estate broker. So, we have knowledge and experience when it comes to real estate. However, when we decided to buy a condo in Austin, we thought we should find a local real estate professional to help us. My wife scoured the web  and, after talking with a few representatives, selected Tom Thornton of Realty Austin.
Tom turned out to be the perfect choice. He really knows the Austin market and was able to explain to us all of the things that are happening--or about to happen--in Austin. He was also instrumental in helping us determine how much we should offer and what concessions from the seller might be appropriate. As a result, we were able to select and purchase our condo over a three day visit. We could not have done this without Tom.
We highly recommend him."  - Joe and Shelley Voboril

"We were very happy with Tom Thornton and the Realty Austin team. We were coming from Minnesota and were unfamiliar with Austin and had a limited time to make a decision and wanted to close the sale long distance.  Before we arrived in Austin, Tom Thornton provided helpful information on real estate trends and neighborhoods and available listings.  Tom is personable and was patient with our questions and indecisions. Tom is intelligent, professional and very competent and complete.  In addition to finding us a nice home at a reasonable price, he also was an excellent tour guide of Austin. Tom helped us with home insurance, home inspection and extended warranty information and worked with our builder to make sure that necessary repairs were completed.  Our bank in Minnesota said that Realty Austin was exceptionally easy to work with for closing long distance. Thank you, Tom, for making the entire process of home buying as stress-free as possible." - Lori and Joel Bryant

"I appreciate all the work Tom put in to ensure that I was completely satisfied with my home purchase.  His insight on all of the neighborhoods I knew about, and those I didn't, made my decision a lot easier." - Jeff Thiebaud

"We engaged Tom to help us find an investment property. Tom explained the pros and cons of each of the neighborhoods we were looking in, gave us pricing info on comparable sales, and even expected rents. We told him the price range we were looking in, and he let us know immediately when a matching listing came on the market. We were able to act quickly and close with Tom's real estate acumen. It was an easy and clean transaction, and we could not be more pleased." - Cindy and Bryan Finnegan

“Tom was great. He was within easy reach. Whenever we called we always reached him and if not he called back ASAP. He knows the Austin area and was able to reduce our search time by leading us in the direction we needed to go. This was very helpful since we are not residents of Austin and are unfamiliar with the city. We also had Hurricane Ike to deal with, and so this added to our stress level. Tom was so understanding. He is someone we can recommend highly to anyone looking for a realtor in the Austin area.” - Kenneth and Sheila Stevens

“We are impressed with Tom's knowledge and positive outlook about living in Austin!”  - Mike & Christine Brandenburg

“He has been exactly what I was looking for, helpful, knowledgeable, but giving me the space I like when looking through listings. Nothing is worse than a pushy agent who thinks they can talk you into making a decision. I would recommend Tom to any of my friends and family.” - Jonathan Shopay

“It has been a pleasure to speak with, meet and work with Tom. I look forward to having him help me put my lease together. He is a great guy.” - Jason Perkins

“Very helpful, great resource, and fantastic to finally have someone focused on a buyer, instead of sellers!” - Emily Howard

“Tom did a great job of introducing himself and giving me ideas on which areas were best for my job. He has been very helpful even though I have not yet committed to the move to Austin.” - Jason Edwards