Braswell, Broker Associate, CRS, GRI, ABR
"Relocation and Referral Certified"
Sponsored by Coldwell Banker Realty
TREC License #0373505
Information About Brokerage Services:
https://members.har.com/mhf/terms/dispBrokerInfo.cfm?sitetype=aws&cid=373505
Consumer Protection Notice:
https://members.har.com/mhf/terms/dispBrokerInfo.cfm?sitetype=aws&cid=373505
My purpose and philosophy:
This page is
not the typical page owned by a real estate agent. Yes, real estate pays the bills and helps keep our rescue cats living in the style to which they have become accustomed. But it is also a way to share ways for my friends and clients to learn ways to maintain their home and it's value, plus tips and experiences that I have learned on enjoying other homeowner related things such as gardening and growing fruit, vegetables and berries in an attractive and substantiable manner in a suburban setting. Texas is an amazing place to live! Many people considering moving to the State, as well as some new and longtime residents, may not be aware of how diverse and amazing the State is. Therefore, I also love to share some of my experiences in the outdoors in case someone is not aware of the many great opportunities available to Texans. Especially when it comes to enjoying the Texas outdoors through hiking, nature appreciation, hunting, or fishing. I also love gadgets and learning new, more efficient ways to do things. In my real estate career, I am lucky enough to meet and help people from all over the world. In do that, I often am exposed to different perspectives on dealing with mundane things in life, as well as new ways to solve or prevent common challenges that we all face in day to day living. I have a list of cool gadgets and devices, as well as some tips on doing things around the home that I will also be sharing. Those of you that already know me well, know that I have family members that are military veterans and first responders. One of my goals is to share my success with the community by offering special help to veterans, first responders and community helpers. When you support me and my real estate business, you support those efforts as well. A personal confession:
Even though I consider myself a hardcore "Dog Person", having owned numerous dogs, including several Labs that I hunted with and competed with in Hunt Tests, Agility and Obedience; I currently find myself dogless. In fact, my home now seems to be infested with an unruly horde of rescue cats. In the American fashion, I choose to blame others for my predicament. In this case, I blame Phyllis, who is a sucker for anyone or any critter needing help. It turns out that I excel at trapping feral cats, a skill that I unknowing perfected during my many years of hunting all manner of Texas critters with both a rifle and a bow. Phyllis finds the unfortunate waifs, and it somehow has become my job to catch the ungrateful beasts. While I am a world class Cat Catcher, Phyllis is the world's worst "Cat Re-homer". Thus our current predicament. While on a recent listing appointment with some lifelong friends, on meeting their dog I proudly announced that I was a "Dog Person". After they recovered from their laughter, which left them temporarily speechless, they informed me that according to my personal Facebooks page, and the ratio of cat related pics to all other posts, I was most defiantly a Cat Person. You can only imagine my shame! If you, or anyone that you know, is the in the unfortunate need of a cat that is already spayed/neutered and that has had it's shots, I can probably help you out. And, if you, or anyone that you know, has a real estate need in Houston, or within about 100 miles, please think of me. Rescuing and rehabbing feral cats is second in cost only to the care and maintenance of a teenage daughter. Professional info
I have over three and one half decades of real estate experience that I love sharing with folks. I obtained my real estate license in 1986. But I am also the son of a very successful real estate agent. Since I was in the third grade, I was hauled around to countless real estate appointments and open houses. I even helped fix up a couple of homes my folks bought to flip back in the '70s. Little did we all know that "flipping" would become such a thing! While in high school, my second, and sometimes third job, was mowing lawns and installing landscaping for several of the local builders. In Texas, a person does not need a real estate license to sell new homes. There's not even an age criteria. During my junior and senior year of high school, and on summer breaks while attending Texas A&M, I often helped my mother at the new home sales office she managed. I jokingly say that I have been in the real estate business since I was 8 years old! My mother and I accidently started a real estate company in 1986 while looking for ways to help people sell their current homes and buy one of the custom homes that we represented for five local guilders and The Friendswood Development Company. Initially, we only listed homes for people that were going to purchase one of our new homes. Times were tough for real estate sellers in the late 1980s and soon people noticed that homes listed by us were selling when many other local ones weren't . So folks began asking us for our help, and within about a year our resale business eclipsed our new home business! Even some local mortgage companies, Fannie Mae, and MGIC (a mortgage insurance company) noticed our success and asked us to help them with some of their numerous area foreclosures. About that time, several relocation companies, via word of mouth from their transferees, also contacted us and asked to help with their transferees. After about 5 years in the real estate business, and shortly after I obtained Texas Real Estate Broker's License, a mortgage company made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. No, not like in The Godfather, but financially. They asked me to join their company as a mortgage broker and as an company representative to area brokerages teaching local real estate agents how to properly write contracts and about the myriad rules and regulations of FHA and VA loans. About a year later, the mortgage company was doing so well they got bought out. I decided that didn't care for the new owner's management style, and that I really liked the real estate side of the business better. So I transitioned back to the family real estate company and helped open our new, full time, resale office. A few years after that, what happens to many successful small businesses also happened to us. A major player in the Houston real estate market made the family an incredible offer to join them. Since we had never actually intended to start a real estate company, no matter that it turned out to be extremely successful, we were glad to take the offer and give up the day to day headaches of management. For the last 20 years I've been focused solely on helping my clients buy and sell real estate of all types with a focus on achieving the best price and terms for my clients while also emphasizing a strong resale potential. Joel
P.S. If you, or someone that you know, has a real estate need, I would really appreciate a chance to visit with them.
