Today we’d like to introduce you to Brandon Holley.
Hi Brandon, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I am the broker and owner of Holley Homes Realty in Austin, Texas. I work across South Austin, Buda, Kyle, and Bastrop, mostly with first-time buyers, new construction clients, and families relocating to Central Texas.
I did not plan on any of this. Out of college, I was a field engineer in oil and gas. I was good at it, and I was miserable, and I left because I wanted a life that belonged to me. Real estate looked like a way to build something myself and be around people instead of a job site.
My first year nearly ended it. I lost clients, I had no income guarantee, and I questioned whether I was smart enough to be in this business at all. Instead of quitting, I moved brokerages and took on leasing, doing ten or more a month. It was not glamorous, and other agents looked down on it, but it paid the bills, and it built a follow-up system that turned tenants into buyers years later.
I got my broker’s license and opened Holley Homes Realty in January of 2021.
I got lucky at the start. Every one of my clients came over with me, so I hit the ground running instead of starting from zero. The hard part was not the real estate. It was everything around it. Getting the legal side set up correctly, which I could not have done without a great attorney, and then learning the behind-the-scenes work nobody warns you about. Taxes, mostly. I am still learning how to be a better broker while also being a reliable agent to my own clients. I would not change a thing.
Most of what I have built since then is on the education side. I have been rebuilding my client guides to be specific to the areas I actually serve, including a relocation guide for South Austin, Buda, Kyle, and Bastrop, and a guide on MUDs and PIDs, because almost nobody explains what those districts cost you before you are already under contract.
I also started making YouTube videos, badly at first, and kept going until they got useful. That eventually led to a segment on American Dream TV. That one started with an email about a meeting at the Four Seasons, and who turns down a meeting at the Four Seasons. I want to be honest that I pay for those segments. But it lines up with what I was already doing; the businesses and people I feature never pay anything, and it gives me a real way to shine a light on what makes this area worth moving to.
I have one agent with me now, and I am working toward five by the end of 2026. I have had a couple come on and not work out, which taught me to be more selective. I would rather grow slowly with the right people than quickly with anyone.
Where I sit today: more than 175 transactions, 4.9 stars on Google across 64 reviews, and a YouTube channel past 400 subscribers.
Someone asked me recently how I would know it was working. I do not know that I ever will. The market goes up, and it goes down, and it always will. The most I can do is keep moving forward and keep helping people. So far that has been enough.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not even close, and I would be suspicious of anyone who says otherwise.
The hardest year was 2025. The market went way down. Nobody was buying, listings weren’t moving, and there wasn’t much I could do about any of it except keep working. I closed nine deals that year. That is not a number I am going to brag about, but in a year when most agents closed nothing at all, it kept the lights on, and it kept my clients moving. Sometimes surviving a year is the whole accomplishment.
What I am struggling with right now is different, and it is mostly time. I am trying to build a brokerage centered on information in a market that changes faster than I can document it. I am rebuilding my guides. I am rebuilding my website. I am trying to keep both updated with current market data. Every one of those is half done, because there is only one of me.
The bigger struggle is affordability. I work with a lot of first-time buyers, and this area is outpacing what people earn. That is the honest problem, and no amount of marketing fixes it.
What I can do is change how people think about the first house. New construction gets a bad reputation, and I do not think all of it is warranted. Some builders are not great, and I will tell you which ones and help you do the research. But a starter home is not supposed to be your forever home. It is a building block. Buy it, take care of it, get your inspections, stay on top of issues, learn how to actually own a home. Then sell it, use the equity, and buy the one you really wanted. That is exactly what I did.
I believe homeownership is one of the most reliable ways a family builds wealth over time. So my job is to find the path in for people who assume there is not one. That means builder incentives, honest conversations about what you can actually afford versus what a lender approved you for, and starting the plan three years early if that is what it takes.
It also means putting my own money in when it helps. When the situation allows for it, and subject to restrictions and lender approval, I would rather put part of my compensation toward a client’s closing costs than hand them a closing gift. I have had families become homeowners because of that who did not think they had enough to get to the table.
I have not solved it. I am not sure anyone has. But I would rather spend my time on that problem than an easier one.
We’ve been impressed with Holley Homes Realty, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Holley Homes Realty is my brokerage, based in Austin. I work primarily in South Austin, Buda, Kyle, and Bastrop, and I focus on first-time buyers, new construction, and families relocating to Central Texas.
What I am trying to be known for is information. Not listings, information.
The one I have been working hardest to cover is property taxes. Texas property taxes are high, and they are real, and a lot of people relocating here do not find that out until they are looking at a payment they did not expect. What they hear first is that Texas has no state income tax, and that is true. But those two things have to be weighed against each other. Most of my relocation clients come from California, and I get a lot from Idaho and the Northeast as well. If you are coming from a state with income tax, moving here might genuinely be cheaper for you. It also might not be. It depends on what you earn, what you buy, and where you buy it. That is math worth doing before you move, not after, and I would rather walk someone through it honestly and have them decide Texas is not for them than have them get here and feel misled.
The same goes for MUDs and PIDs. Those districts are all over the areas I work, they change what you pay every single year, and most people never hear the acronym until they are already under contract. So I have been building guides that lay all of it out, area by area, for South Austin, Buda, Kyle, and Bastrop, along with buyer and seller guides and checklists that walk through each step.
What working with me actually looks like is a relationship where you feel comfortable asking questions, no matter what they are and no matter how far out you are. I want you to know I am here for you and not trying to hand you off so I can close a deal.
What sets me apart is probably what I refuse to do. I try to be as honest as I can, even when it costs me. I will not work with someone who does not respect my time. And I will not fight for a deal in a way that is unfair to the other side. There are agents who will. I am not one of them.
Brand-wise, the thing I am most proud of is not an award. It is the clients who keep coming back. Someone I have not heard from in a few years reaching out because they need help with something. That is the whole business to me. If people who worked with me years ago still think of me first, then I built the right thing.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
I did have a mentor early on. It was my broker at the time, and I trusted them completely because I did not know anything yet and they were the person in front of me. Looking back, I wish it had been someone else. They did not know much more than I did. I just could not tell the difference at the time.
That is my actual advice, and it is not the advice people usually give. Everyone says go find a mentor. Nobody says vet them. Being willing to help you is not the same as being qualified to. Ask what they have actually built. Ask how many deals they closed last year, not five years ago. Ask what they would do differently. If the answers are vague, keep looking, because a confident person who does not know what they are doing will cost you more than having nobody.
What works for me now is real coaching. I have a coach through Tom Ferry International and we meet every Thursday morning. It gives me two things I could not get on my own. Tools I would not have found, and a network of people practicing at the highest level in this business. When I have a problem I have never seen before, that is who I call.
On networking, I am going to give you an unpopular answer. I do not go to networking events. That time goes to my friends and my family. I would rather build a small number of real relationships and do good enough work that people send me business, than spend my evenings collecting business cards from people who will not remember me. That may not be right for everyone. It is right for me, and my business has grown fine without it.
The other half of this is that the mentor experience changed how I run my own brokerage. I try to do everything differently than that broker did. If an agent with me needs help, they get it. If they want to be left alone, they get that too. What they will never get from me is the answer I got, which was no.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://holleyhomesrealty.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holley_homes_realty/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holleyhomesrealty/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonholleyhomes/
- Twitter: https://x.com/holleyhomes
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brandonholleyhomes
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/brandon-holley-realtor-austin
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@brandonholleyhomes
