Eric Bramlett's Blog: All Categories

Your credit report and credit score makes huge differences in your life, and in your finances. If you have a great credit score, your home, car, insurance, and more will cost you thousands less because you are deemed “credit worthy.” If you have poor credit, you can be denied a home loan, refinance, and even auto insurance. Yet, most people have absolutely no idea what is necessary to improve their own credit score to accomplish their goals. If you follow these tips, you are sure to see your score improve.

1) Avoid Fee Credit Repair Services
Everyone has seen the credit repair signs on the side of the road and the advertisers online promising to fix your credit – for a fee. Although there may be reputable credit repair specialists somewhere, I… Read Full Post

New home communities are more popular than ever!  With good reason – new home builders are using popular, open floor-plans, including appliances, sod, and blinds, and helping make it easier than ever to get into a new home with little or no money.  New home transactions typically seem a lot easier, as well.  If a buyer chose to, they could get through a new home transaction without contacting anyone except the on-site sales agent!  However, this would open you up to HUGE losses.  Take these simple steps to protect yourself in a new home transaction, and to ensure that yours is a success.

1) Use a Realtor Who Has New Home Sales Experience
Many people think that they can save money by not using, or don’t need the services of a Realtor when buying a new… Read Full Post

As a real estate broker, I meet plenty of people at dinner parties who, when the subject comes up, mention that they are real estate investors.  The conversation will go on for a bit, and I typically classify the person in question as either a true investor, or a real estate “investor.”  True investors typically have a number of transactions under their belt, realize that they’re still learning, and are open to any insight I can provide – and I am always open to their insight.  The real estate “investor” typically has never actually taken the leap and bought a property purely for investment, doesn’t realize the difficulties of real estate investment, and proceeds to overwhelm me with their “expert knowledge.”  What they should do, is listen.

1)    It’s… Read Full Post

4) Lack of Proper Funding
If you've taken the time to create your business plan, than you should definitely have your budget, but I can't stress enough the importance of having and following your budget. However, the budget alone doesn't address the important aspect of funding. 90% of all small businesses fail due to lack of funding. Typically, new agents will want to have 3 months of reserves in savings before taking the leap into full time agency. However, money in the bank isn't the only way to answer the question of funding. Maybe your partner can support you for a certain period of time. You can keep a part-time job that won't interfere with your business as a Real Estate Agent. Many successful waiters make the transition to successful real estate…

Every time I talk to someone about my business and career, it always comes up that "they've thought about getting into real estate" or know someone who has. With so many people thinking about getting into real estate, and getting into real estate - why aren't there more successful Realtors in the world? Well, there's only so much business to go around, so there can only be so many Real Estate Agents in the world. I feel, however, that the inherent nature of the business, and how different it is from traditional careers, makes it difficult for the average person to successfully make the transition into the Real Estate Business. As a Broker, I see many new agents make their way into my office - for an interview, and sometimes to begin their careers. New Real…

We all have, and have heard the horror stories, “I found a __________ (Realtor, Mortgage Broker, Inspector, Insurance Agent, Inspector, Plumber, etc…) and he/she was so inept that the experience was AWFUL!  Best case, the situations end with a lot of frustration.  Worst case, working with a poor business-person can cost a lot of money.  As a small business owner, I always ask two questions: 1) What did they do wrong?  (Everyone always has LOTS to say about this) & 2) How did you find this person’s services?  More often than not, my friend telling the “bad experience” story found the “bad businessperson” through traditional advertising – not through referral.  These are the 7 Top Reasons why you should always find your business vendors by referral. 

1)…

I got my start in the real estate business about four years ago - when the market in Austin, Texas could be described as "bad," "on the decline," "busting," or worse!!!  We preferred to describe it as a "buyer's market."  This way, it made the real estate buyer feel privileged - not foolish.  At that time, when I was lucky enough to find someone willing to risk the "buyer's market," we'd search high and low for weeks to find the perfect home - and then the question would come, "How low do you think we should come in?"

More often than not, in a buyer's market, we'd start at around 90-95% of the seller's asking price.  If we offered 95%, usually it was taken.  If we offered 90% - we'd usually go back and forth a bit until we landed at, you guessed it, 95%. …

Cat Mountain in Austin, Texas is located just north off 2222, & 2 miles West of Mopac (Loop 1).  Cat Mountain real estate offers homes & villas that began construction in the late 70's, and it was continuously developed through the 80's & 90's.  Cat Mountain real estate offers phenomenal views of Lake Austin - the 360 bridge is prominently featured from many homes' windows.  The villas are priced in the low $300's & the homes are priced from the $400's - with an average sold price of $514,382 at $170.89/s.f.  The highest sold price in 2006 was $1.2m.

Cat Mountain offers close proximity to Austin's downtown business district, the tech-heavy Northwest Corridor, the Lake Austin 360 boat ramp, and a short 15 minute drive to Lake Travis.    For more… Read Full Post