New real estate company opens

Patton Brantley has opened his own real estate firm, targeting first-time homebuyers under the age of 35. Brantley, who worked as an agent with Burns & Company for five years before opening his company in March, says he was motivated to target the niche because of the incentives being marketed to first-time homebuyers — everything from $8,000 federal tax credits to record low interest rates. “I’m trying to get everybody I know to buy houses because you aren’t going to see things like this ever again,” says Brantley, who is marketing homes in several neighborhoods, including Spring Lake off of Bluebonnet Boulevard. Brantley says he hopes to have three agents working for him by the end of the year. “It’s been a lot more fun than I expected,” he says.—Timothy Boone