Chris is an Austin institution. He has helped me find an apartment 3 times over the past 14 years. I am forever impressed with his detailed knowledge of Austin realty. As he drives you through neighborhoods he will point out which complexes have the best management, random specs for each complex, and the names of all the local pet cats. Also, his turn around time is incredible. Give him your apartment parameters and he will have a decent list for your lickety split. He is patient, smart, and hardworking. And honest. That's what I appreciate most. You can clearly tell his priority is finding the best apartment for you and not a commission. Seriously, if you tell him you want something between 14 and 16 hundred per month he will find some on your low AND your high end. Previous realtors I have worked with suspiciously only ever found places on my high end. Chris is an all around great guy. I've referred him to a handful of friends and he helped each of them find what they wanted. read more

Chris Bee is an excellent agent for the following reasons: -he takes calls on weekends and will show you apartments at a moment's notice -he knows about older properties other realtors don't show -he's been around a long time and knows the city very well -he knows Hyde Park, Manor Rd., Burnet Rd., West Campus, North Loop, and North Campus properties very well -he's good at finding properties in a lower price range. That said, he's eccentric, he's weird, and he's better at showing properties "off the beaten path" than the newer complexes. I've gone to see properties with him several times, and he's not drunk, but he does mumble. If you're looking for something upscale or in north or south Austin, you might be better off with another realtor. read more

An Austin institution indeed! Chris' knowledge of the area is truly impressive, after having found new homes and apartments for countless people over the decades. Look, he's getting up there in years, and is not moving as fast as I'm sure he once did. He's a bit of a mumbler and has got the classic laugh of a dirty old man. But beware of judging books by their covers: he's a sweetheart, a pet-owner and a confirmed dog-lover! His head for names and properties is undiminished, he maintains contacts all over the metro area, and he's easy and pleasant to work with. When the two of you arrive at a property he's selected, he may get out of his car wanting to converse about something he just heard on the radio, perhaps causing you to think: "Man, just focus on me and my wants!" But (when you think about it), in his gentle and easy-going way, he serves as a reminder that there's more to what's going on right now than your own concerns. Go with his flow. Tell 'im Doug and Andy sent ya. And don't worry! You'll find in time what you're looking for. read more

Chris is a really nice guy and a very thorough agent. I met him while shopping for an apartment rental. Chris really took the time to understand my needs and then beat the streets to find me something. He knew many apartment managers by name and seemed to have a very comprehensive knowledge of Central Austin. I recommend him highly for any needs you might have. read more

Called Chris up. All I could hear through his deep subdued muffled voice, and the telephone static (turns out he was eating while on his headset) was the address of the apartment we were to meet at, and that we'd meet in 5 minutes. See you there I said. After finishing up riding with a realtor with a personality unappealing to my palette, Chris was a breath of fresh air. Well maybe not fresh air. His car was scattered with envelopes and papers, and he had a worn traffic cone in his backseat. When I got in the car he almost put his elbow in his half eaten ZEN stir fry resting on the armrest. He seemed unaware. That's why I liked him. He was at ease in himself. At the same time, Chris was very aware of the changes and apartments in Austin. I would list a place I saw on Craigslist and he would tell me about the real estate agency and aspects of the apartment. All the while, he gave random facts about Austin. He told me about the shooting in 1966 from the University Tower, and how the two police who took down the gunmen argued over who pulled the trigger first. He's been at this 15 years. Chris breathes this city. He showed me several off the path gems in my price range. He also really saved me from a challenging situation. The apt I signed with 4 months ago told me my apt wasn't ready 2 days prior to my move in (this Friday). So I chose the 3rd place Chris showed me, and emailed the realtor before writing this. In conclusion, I'd like to say Chris is authentic Austin. He could easily costar in Slackers 2. I'll always remember the solar powered flower rocking shades, bobbing up and down on his dashboard forever and ever. Amen. read more

I can't count how many times over the years that I've given Chris's number to someone who was moving to Austin and said, "You HAVE to call my realtor." Chris Bee set me up with my first Austin apartment 4.5 years ago, and he helped me find my next one this week. When I went out searching with him this time, I wasn't sure if we'd be able to find "the one," but the one ended up being the second place he showed me out of eight buildings in one Saturday afternoon. Chris has an impressive rolladex of buildings, especially around the North Loop/Burnet area. Just give him your price range and he'll find the right place. He has connections with a lot of buildings that don't list their apartments online on in any of the other normal data bases. When I started my first apartment search, other apartment locators kept showing me the same places, nowhere near where I wanted to live for nowhere near the price I wanted to pay. Chris hits it out of the park, for me and for all of my friends who have found their apartments through him. read more

Friends of mine recommended working with Chris to find apartments in the Hyde Park/North Loop area. He was able to meet up with my roommate and me with one day's notice on two different occasions and helped us ultimately find a great place. He works very hard to find you the right place and he took us to see a lot of properties as well as spent time on the phone with apartment complexes just to check on availability (apparently a lot of them don't list their available places online). A few things to keep in mind: Chris moves slowly, but the ends justify the means :) Try to make an appointment for a weekday, we went on a weekend and a lot of property managers were off and not able to show us apartments if the keys Chris had didn't work. Be specific about what you're looking for, but also aware that you're not going to be looking at the fancy high rises. Who would want to live there, anyway? Prepare for cat-related humor. Thank you so much for all your help, Chris! I'll be sure to send my friends to you when they're looking for a new pad. read more

Others reviewers sum it up- Chris Bee is kinda weird and kinda scatterbrained. That said, he's clearly a sweet, old school Austin guy who actually cares about finding people a new home, and he has access to listings not posted on Craigslist. After gathering my info, he showed us a great house that was exactly the size, price and location we were after- didn't try to upsell a pricier place, didn't try to push us into a make-it-work situation- just asked what we wanted and delivered. He connected us with the property managers and followed up multiple times over the next 3 days, when we signed a lease. After dealing with some other realtors in town, it felt good knowing my $ went towards the commission of a nice guy. read more

Chris Bee is awesome. I didn't know what to expect after I had been given the run around by a few other realtors. We met at a coffee shop and he drove us around to all the small complexes in the area (which we asked for instead of big impersonal ones) that would allow my giant dog. Chris started opening up and cracking jokes while getting to know exactly what we were looking for in an apartment. He had such great relationships with the management teams at all the properties, they were all delighted to see him and I think that helped us get great customer service. We ended up saving hundreds of dollars by signing a lease at a place we didn't even know existed before Chris showed us. He also followed up with a phone call afterwards to check in. Great work ethic, animal lover (ask about his cats), and all around nice guy! read more

There are other reviews for Chris Bee under Avignon Realty... I wish I had googled him after our first call, where he sounded disorganized and I thought, perhaps intoxicated. He couldn't get my name straight and asked the same questions more than once. He said he would email me a list of properties and we could go look at the ones that fit my criteria and budget. Two days later, I had to text him to remind him to send the list so I could look at it in advance of our appointment. The list included many areas of town, like West Campus and Riverside, that I said I DIDN'T want to live in, as well as the property I currently reside, haha. In any case, I found 7 that looked promising and emailed him the names and locator numbers, asking that he call ahead to see if they had something in the next 30 days or we'd just skip it. Well, 11am rolls around, no sign of Chris. I called him 15 mins later, and it sounded like my call woke him up. He was disoriented and it seemed he thought this was our first convo, asking my price range and where I currently lived. Once he realized who I was, he told me he hadn't even checked his email(!) and proceeded to look it up while we were on the phone, mumbling something about personal stuff going on... Not good. I had to resend him the email and tell him which account it was going to, and then he said he'd call the properties for availability and get back to me. Close to noon he called back and said he could come pick me up. I was on the phone when he called 2x a row, and he left a rambling message accusing me of getting his list just so I can "undercut" him out of a commission, and he was going to get out of the business soon because of people like me. WOW! I called him back, and he didn't even apologize for his rude message. I then googled him, seeing the other bad reviews, I just didn't think I wanted to waste my time with this weird situation any further. Uh, NO, I am not trying to rip you off, I am sitting here an hour past our appointment time waiting for you to get *your* act together, dude! My time is valuable and he disrespected it, and whatever personal issues this man has are obviously bleeding over into his ability to do his job properly. I feel bad that he has problems, but it's not on me to deal with it, and my experience reflects that of most of the other reviews, rather than the stellar one posted before me by someone who perhaps got Mr Bee on a rare good and lucid day. However, since the vast majority of his good reviews under Avignon seem to be written by sockpuppet accounts with next to no other reviews except to give Chris 5 stars (most of which have been filtered by Yelp), all I can say to that is: seems legit. read more

Yes Chris Bee is an unusual guy, and yes his car is a bit messy with papers and files. However, I had a great experience with Chris Bee because: 1) He shows you the properties you want to see! I have dealt with agents in the past that only showed properties that gave them high commission. In Austin, this meant those very large housing communities, which I really don't like. Chris will show you properties of all kinds in all neighborhoods if that's what you're looking for. He doesn't just try to steer you to a property that'll pay him an extra large commission. 2) He also works on weekends. This is extremely convenient for people that work during the week (me and most people). 3) He was respectful and professional. He spent many hours showing me apartments. I ended up getting lucky and finding a below market rate sublease from a guy off craigslist. When I told Chris I found something elsewhere, he was understanding. read more

DEEP BREATH: When someone recommends something or someone to you, it very rarely starts off with "This dude made me very uncomfortable." I was not looking forward to calling Chris after my friend told me her experience, I hate talking on the phone, and human interactions in general make me anxious. The first time we used Chris was three years ago, he was not our first realtor; we had the joy of working with a young, hip guy from urban squared. He did not listen to us. We gave up on him and I sucked it up and called Chris, he is an older gentleman who LOVES CATS, like really loves them and kind of smells like a cat lover... He then showed us this AMAZING apartment off Enfield, under our budget and twice the size of the other apartments we had been shown. We moved in. This time around my husband and I decided to look at as many options as possible, with the sky rocketing rent in Austin we wanted to be sure we got the most bang for our buck, so we made an appointment with Chris and another realtor. The other guy we saw was AWESOME and showed us some really great places, but we decided to still see Chris since I took a day off work to look at apartments. After a very mumbling phone call with Chris my husband and I went to the location. An older apartment building in Hyde Park, convinced we had already found our apartment and was just doing our due diligence I was NOT looking forward to this encounter. Chris told us to just go ahead and enter the apartment and he would be there shortly. We opened the door, and it was ours. It was about 120sq ft larger than any other properties we looked, all hard floors which is a big plus for us because my husband is asthmatic and allergic to our two cats that I forced him to get by bombarding him with cute pictures and crying when I drag him to the animal shelter. Judge me if you want, I needed those cats and now he wouldn't have it any other way. We waited about 15 minutes for Chris to show up, inside the apartment we knew we were going to take, the other apartments Chris was going to show us were far up north and we really weren't interested in the north. Chris finally arrived and I really don't know how to say this politely or nicely so please just don't assume I am the biggest jerk in the world. He did not have a very pleasant aroma; it was a bit distracting which is a shame since he really is a very kind man who genuinely wants to help his clients. That being said, he gets pretty upset if you mention seeing another realtor. In the end we got the apartment, Chris is sort of like a smelly unicorn apartment finder. My advice: call Chris, hope he didn't eat anything that upset his stomach before your visit, tell him exactly what you want and I promise you won't be disappointed. This review was difficult for me to write, I tend to have comedic approach to life and writing, in fact this isn't the first review I wrote for our experience, but my normal rambling banter and poking fun at myself and the world around me came out incredibly mean spirited. So tldr; Chris is great at what he does, he will listen to you and show you unlisted properties, he has a lot of connections but at some point he will probably make you wish you hadn't made that call but in the end you will be happy with the outcome. One day of running around with this eccentric fellow will lead to a year or so of living in a place you love for a price you can swallow. read more

Chris helped my fiancé and I find a place in the North Loop/Hyde Park area. We were up against many challenges to find a place. We wanted something very specific, in an area that tends to be both high demand and/expensive. We wanted a place that was economical, cute, would accept our Dalmatian, a yard, walking distance from restaurants and shops if possible, and wood floors, etc. Chris KNOWS the area, he knows the neighborhoods like the back of his hand as he is VERY aware of the market, the area, and what is available. Despite his charmingly quirky and eccentric personality, (which I found interesting, extensively knowledgeable and quite frankly, filled with great stories and old Austin charm) he will find you what you're looking for!!! He is a very good realtor who knows the market and will get you what you want. Don't discount the value of seasoned realtors and their extensive knowledge. Especially real estate experience. I appreciate that he was able to meet all our high demands (we found a perfect place within a week or two and Chris never gave up on us). He found us a place that was like a needle in a haystack. We are now happy as clams and are walking distance (a block or two) from all the restaurants like Hyde Park Grill, Quacks Bakery, Dolce Vita, etc. We have a cute vintage garage apartment built in 1910 with wood floors, a backyard, big windows with sunlight steaming in, and a beautiful park for our Dalmatian Kasamar to play with other dogs. Thank you Chris, for making our Hyde Park dream come true! Kaz says thanks too!!! read more

Chris has helped me twice so far. He is an extremely hard-working person, and he is super funny. He'll crack jokes the whole time, which eases the stress of apartment hunting. He knows the places that aren't listed on Craigslist. I would recommend him to anyone for a house or apartment. read more

After unsuccessfully searching for a place on my own, my partner and I reached out to Chris who was a godsend. Within one day he was able to locate several housing options and was very knowledgable about both the properties and the surrounding areas. We were very impressed with his approach, as he never failed to be direct and realistic with us. Many realtors will try to find what's best for their commission and not what is the optimal fit for you. I can't recommend him enough to anyone who is looking for a new living situation in any part of the city. Extremely funny gentleman as well. He had us cracking up with a few of his jokes while we're commuting from place to place. read more

Wow. After reading these other reviews I gotta say many of them hit the bulls eye accurately describing this genuine old Austin character. As odd as he is, Chris communicates, is available at a moment's notice, listens to you, is kind and funny and the real deal. We rode around in his car (which is a hoarder's paradise much to my horror -- I'm a bit of a neat freak), but he's an expert and historian all rolled into one. While I was open to old apartments and guest houses and garage apartments in north campus and Hyde Park (I work at UT), I was also open to more swanky new apartment complexes. He took me to The Platform on MLK, a mile east of campus, and I found a brand new apartment that was too good to pass up. That was it. After two hours with Chris, I found my apartment and couldn't be happier. read more

Extremely helpful and thourogh when you need to find housing he has so much experience of the area and knows how to approach the situation.

Chris Bee is truly a nice guy and a realtor who is not going to rip you off. Sure he may be disorganized, but he will find you a place, very quickly, within your price limit, without trying to change the prices on you for his benefit. He knows Austin very well as he has been doing this for so many years. He helped me find my current apartment that I've been living in for 2 years now and I plan to continue using him for future rentals/buys. It took a single day to find a place and I'm thankful for that. I think the people who have commented on him negatively are individuals who don't care about people and just want to judge. read more

Chris is a very honest and Genuine Realtor. Firstly, Realtor s will ask what your prize range is and which part of the city. If your prize range is Low then he takes you to places where sometimes are not the best to our judgement. Places with low prize range and low commission pay for Locators are sometimes not the best but Chris just takes people to show them everything. But that suits the prize Range.. That is common sense. Chris also knows places where you almost pay more then $ 800 for 1 bedroom apartments. Chris does a great Job with giving rides across town and that is a lot to appreciate. I recommend Using Chris. He is Old school but Genuine. Chris, you just happen to run into Ugly people by nature. Starvoz read more

Spoke with Chris on the phone and he is super knowledgable and helpful with his recommendations. He knows what he is talking about.

We looked at 7-8 rental properties last Saturday with Chris. The experience was a good one at that point, though he seemed like a bit of a character, and we arranged to see a final property on Monday morning at 9:30 AM. He was a half an hour late to this appointment and caused us to be delayed for meetings at 10:30. After looking at the place, we decided we would take another property that Chris had not shown us. He became extremely angry at this point. He shouted at us calling us "flakes" and "ugly Americans." He moved his car to block us in and continued to scream that we were "spoiled rich kids whose parents pay all the bills" (I am 32.) He would not leave or stop yelling until I called 911 from my phone, after which he drove off. It was a very unsettling experience to start off a move to a new city on and I strongly suggest to anyone considering the Austin real estate market, that you find a more emotionally stable broker. The rental market is competitive enough without having to get the police involved. read more

Chris helped my wife and I find the perfect place in Austin for such a good price. He knows all the properties in Austin and will work his butt off to find the right place for you. We are so glad we worked with Chris. read more

I recently had the pleasure of working with Mr. Bee. He is a comical, unique individual but professional at the same time. Chris Bee is extremely knowledgeable and has been in the business for a long time. He showed my friend and I a few apartments, all in his desired area, and didn't try to up-sell him any expensive complexes. Some other reviewers comment on his "dirty" or "messy" car, but all I saw were files on his dashboard and maybe a drink in the cupholder. Lucky? Perhaps. I did not have a negative experience at all. As a matter of fact, it was very pleasant and Mr. Bee had my friend and I laughing so hard!! Unfortunately, my friend did not lease at any of the apartment complexes Chris Bee showed us. When I informed Mr. Bee about this, he was very professional and handled it like a champ. Thus, I thought the least I could do is write about my positive experience with him. read more

Chris Bee is one of the hardest working people I have ever met. He will not stop until you find the perfect home. My boyfriend and I are fairly selective when it comes to where we want to live, which is just a nicer way of saying that we are difficult. Chris Bee not only helped us find a place that meets our high expectations, but also, worked around our less than flexible work schedules. I cannot recommend him highly enough, he will actually listen to what you want and always give you his honest opinion so you don't feel like you're just being jerked around. Between his sincerity and his dedication I can't imagine working with anyone else. Our last realtor pales in comparison, where he seemed to only care about his commission, Chris Bee actually cares about his clients. There's not more you can ask for than for someone to actually be passionate about helping you find a place to call home. read more

I was searching for an apartment and was recommended Chris Bee from a friend at work. Chris was a huge help to me in looking for a place. I called him and over the phone explained my budget, the neighborhoods I was interested in, and other small details about what I need. When we met up, he already had several places prepared to show me and had spoken with leasing agents in many of them ahead of time to ensure they had keys to the open units so we could check them out without much waiting around to seeing the places. We met in the morning and started looking at places right away. Our search went on for 3-4 hours and it was very nice to be able to have the time to look at as many places as I needed to see before I felt satisfied with my options without feeling rushed. Chris was incredibly knowledgeable of all the areas of town in which I was looking. He has several documents available on hand in his car of locations, prices, and contacts. He already knew most of the information of the places we visited such as what bills I would be paying for, if the AC was central or a window unit, the square footage. I was amazed at how much information he could tell me about each of these units before even showing up to see the place or speak with their on-site leasing agents. He even knew what all the good places to eat and hang out nearby were and any construction and development that was planned for the area. Chris was a very cool, dedicated guy who seems to genuinely want to find the perfect place for his clients. I think he mentioned that he'd been working in this business for over 15 years or so and it definitely shows. I have never had a realtor that knew more about the areas of town than Chris. In the end, I found a great place that was in my budget and am very satisfied. I will recommend Chris Bee in the future to anyone who asks me if I know a good realtor. read more