by Audra Anders for The Aha! Connection
About two years ago I started hearing about Farmhouse Realty but had no idea where in the world they came from. Their social media was amazing, and I happened to recognize a couple of their faces as people I’d seen at Dunwoody United Methodist Church. As it turns out, while the founder, Brandon Adkins, was teaching a Sunday School Class at DUMC my youngest son was the youth volunteer for Casey Drake’s Vacation Bible School Class. I love the small town/small world connections experienced while living in Dunwoody!
Peggy and I sat down recently with Brandon over coffee and tea at Crema. Peggy recognized him immediately from their time together as DUMC Preschool and Vanderlyn parents and we quickly eased into a lovely conversation about all our common connections. I noticed right away that Brandon seems very kind, loves his boys, and his heart is on fire for our Dunwoody community.
Let me tell you a little about Brandon. He has three boys…Ben (12), Will (10) and Sam (6). Brandon was raised in Cobb County, has graduate and undergraduate degrees from UGA, and began his illustrious 11-year career at KPMG as a CPA. While at KPMG his industry of focus was…real estate. Brandon even had the amazing opportunity to spend 3 years in Australia with KPMG.
When he moved back to the states, he spent a year in Atlanta and a year in Boston working with KPMG’s private equity clients. In 2010, when his first son was on the way, he chose to settle in the Dunwoody North neighborhood primarily due to the awesome Brook Run Park across the street. He started his family there and spent many hours at the park and getting to know Dunwoody, GA.
Brandon fell in love with Dunwoody, decided to put roots here and basically spent the next three years shopping for his dream house. Brandon’s face lit up when telling Peggy and me about studying/watching every home listing, every bus stop, every neighborhood, every park during the search for his forever home. In 2011, Brandon left KPMG to be an interim (short term) stay-at-home dad until he could find the right childcare fit. As it turns out….Brandon was the perfect fit as a stay-at-home Dad for SIX YEARS until he made his next career move.
As the boys grew older and didn’t need full time childcare, Brandon was anxious to get back to work. However, he wanted the flexibility to be with the kids after school, on school breaks, etc. He has always been interested in Real Estate, so he started out slow by first obtaining his real estate license. In 2017, Brandon joined Keller Williams and was mentored by fellow Dunwoodian, Michael Culver.
Brandon was successful right away. In fact, he sold his first house a mere 17 days after obtaining his license, which at the time was a Keller Williams Atlanta Perimeter Rookie record! When we asked Brandon why he has been so successful, he claims it was not the CPA/Masters/KPMG experience but more likely his success has been fueled by the network he made as a stay-at-home Dad. The master’s degree and consulting experience are the cherry on the top, but the many referrals, his co-workers, office manager and clients are all a result of his being a Dunwoody Dad.
He told us about his first listing. The home was in The Branches and a competitor was also there even though the owners had stated they wanted to do a “for sale by owner” and weren’t interested in listing with a realtor. Brandon boldly knocked on the door to introduce himself and forged a relationship with the owners. He used his CPA background to show this owner why he would list his house at a certain price which happened to be higher than others had suggested by $100,000. The owner rolled the dice on Brandon and ended up with multiple offers and sold over list price. Brandon feels he has a skill set advantage when it comes to real estate….and that is PRICING. But ultimately he believes his biggest advantage is his and his team’s network around Dunwoody.
Covid became a reality and suddenly Brandon was back home again running virtual school for his three sons. He still sold houses, but the market was stagnant. Once the market started getting stronger again, Brandon realized that he wanted to be an entrepreneur and to lead his own team. He felt a need to share what he had learned with others, so he obtained his Broker’s license, created Farmhouse Realty, and hired smart, savvy people he had gotten to know during his years as a stay-at-home Dad.
When asked why he chose the company name “Farmhouse”…Brandon indicates it came out of a sense of place/identity. He wants it to truly be a local business. The farmhouse is the Dunwoody “icon” and is also a name that works well outside the community while still giving a direct nod to Dunwoody.
When I asked Brandon: “What is different about Farmhouse Realty?” He immediately responded with the following three words: LOCAL | HONEST | GRATEFUL Brandon says the Farmhouse team always defaults to these three words during the entire buying or selling process.
According to Brandon, the hardest part of real estate is getting people to hire you as their agent. He doesn’t pursue random leads because he wants Farmhouse Realty to stay a “boutique” firm where referrals, connections and relationships drive business. Brandon wants to be an advocate for Dunwoody and shows that by supporting many local events/teams/charities.
Brandon also knows Georgia lakes, so has helped lots of Dunwoody folks with land and lake houses. He’s your guy if you desire a lake house….he recently helped Billy Payne and his son find an AMAZING Lake Oconee home (off market) via his Georgia lake home connections.
Earlier I mentioned I sensed Brandon is “on fire” for our community. I wasn’t wrong. After our chat, I learned Brandon earned a “Dunwoody Citizen Commendation” in 2014 for heroically helping a Dunwoody Police Officer put handcuffs on a suspect in his neighborhood. The officer struggled with the suspect and injured his wrist and ankle in the process. He was unable to get his handcuffs out of his handcuff case and Brandon saw what was happening and stopped to help.
Stay tuned for more information about other members of the Farmhouse Realty team in the months to come!
Brandon Adkins, Farmhouse Realty
CPA, Owner, Managing Broker
brandon@farmhousega.com
678-983-4747 (cell)
770-864-1337(office)
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by Audra Anders for The Aha! Connection
