James Brinkman

I've lived in Northwest Austin since 1976 and have helped people buy and sell homes here since 1995, with nearly 700 home sales along the way.

Most of my work is with longtime homeowners making their next move, and with buyers relocating for work who need the right part of Austin.

My family came here when I was four. My dad was part of the IBM team that worked at NASA in Houston, and after the Apollo missions ended he took a transfer to IBM in Austin. I grew up in Spicewood Estates and went to Spicewood Elementary. For sixth grade I was bussed all the way to C.D. Fulkes in downtown Round Rock, then I was there the year Canyon Vista Middle School opened, eating lunch on the sidewalk for six weeks in hundred-degree heat because the cafeteria wasn't finished. Then Westwood, then the University of Texas, where I earned a BBA in Finance and Real Estate at the McCombs School of Business.

I started in real estate in 1992 as a market analyst, earned my license in 1995 and became a broker in 2002. My wife and I bought our first house in Oak Forest, and since 2004 we've lived on the Mountain in the Spicewood Estates area. I hold the CRS, CNE and SRES designations, and I work every listing and every buyer myself.

My approach is simple. I teach first, so you understand what's happening in the market and on your street. Then I tell you what I'd do if it were my house, even when that means walking away from a house with real problems or a deal that's wrong for you. The decision is always yours. No pressure. Just perspective.

When I'm not working, I play music. My band, Big State, plays alt-country and roots rock out of Austin. Our 2024 album, Viva Ne'er-Do-Wells, was recorded at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, spent five weeks in the Roots Music Report Top 10 and made the AMA Top 100. Our records have been played on more than 80 radio stations across North America, Europe and Australia, including Bob Harris Country on BBC Radio 2.

Closer to home, I'm a Sunshine Keeper with Austin Sunshine Camps, and I volunteer on the ropes course at the camps. I also make Serve Austin Sunday, a video series spotlighting the people who run local nonprofits, and a weekly video on what the Austin market is doing.

The rest of the time, you'll probably find me outside. I hike a lot, often with my dog, Cooper, and I've done some mountain climbing, hiked The Narrows in Zion and rappelled there too.