User:Murenovich/sandbox

= Blair Brandt =

Early Life & Education

 * Blair Brandt was born in New York City on January 11th 1988. When he was a very young boy he moved to Palm Beach, Florida, where he attended the Palm Beach Day School. Through his academic and athletic pursuits, Brandt was admitted to Deerfield Academy, a nationally renowned New England prep school, in 2003 at the age of 15. Brandt played tennis at Deerfield Academy, and after an unsuccessful effort to attend Princeton University, enrolled at the University of Richmond in Virginia.

College & Beyond

 * While a freshman at the University of Richmond, Brandt started a student-run laundry service for undergraduates. During his junior year in 2008, Brandt went abroad for four months to Madrid, Spain, where he organized an off-campus apartment for him and his roommates. When their lease ended, the landlord scammed the group and left the country with their security deposit, one of Brandt's first triggers that young adults require additional guidance and ethics during their real estate transactions.


 * Originally pursuing a career in investment banking, Brandt was on his way to Lazard Freres when the internship program was cancelled. Returning to Florida with no job, Brandt attended a cocktail party for Christian Angle, a top real estate agent in Florida, and was later offered a job as an assistant to Angle.

Creating The Next Step Realty

 * It was while he was at Christian Angle Real Estate that Brandt had the idea for Next Step Realty, after a dry sales market led him to instead assist many of his friends who were graduating from college and moving to Miami and Manhattan. His other major inspiration came from his failed attempts to create relationships with clients who already had loyal ties to other brokers; leading to the idea of helping clients starting with their first apartment and onwards for life.

In the Press

 * Blair Brandt is a frequent guest on Fox Business's, "Money with Melissa Francis".

Other Interests

 * Brandt is known to be an islomaniac, or one who has an obsession with islands, and frequently visits Palm Beach, Florida, Nantucket, Massachusetts, and Bermuda. Outside of Next Step, he was also briefly dating Jessie Leavitt, a star of the reality show NYC Prep, during her time on the show.