In Texas, “real estate agent” and “real estate broker” are two different licenses with different requirements, not interchangeable job titles. A sales agent works under a sponsoring broker. A broker has met additional education and experience requirements set by the Texas Real Estate Commission (roughly 900 hours of coursework beyond the base license, plus a minimum of four years of documented, active transaction experience) and can operate independently or run their own brokerage. That distinction matters more than most buyers and sellers in Burnet realize until they need it.
I’m Robbie English, Managing Broker and Designated REALTOR at Uncommon Highland Lakes Realty. This page is specifically about what working with the broker, rather than one of the agents a broker supervises, actually gets you in a Burnet transaction.
What a Broker’s Oversight Actually Covers
Every real estate transaction in Texas has to run through a sponsoring broker, whether or not the client ever meets that person. In most brokerages, that oversight is little more than a formality: a signature on a file the broker never looked at closely. At Uncommon Highland Lakes Realty, I’m both the broker of record and the agent working your file, which means the review happens in real time, not after the fact when something’s already gone wrong.
That matters in Burnet more than in a straightforward subdivision sale. A property inside city limits on municipal water and sewer is a fairly simple contract. A property in Delaware Springs or The Ranch at Delaware Creek comes with HOA disclosures and deed restrictions that need to be read, not skimmed. A property out past the city line on well and septic needs the septic system’s permit history checked with Burnet County and the well’s yield and water quality documented before you’re past your option period. I’ve walked broker-level review through all three types in this market.
Decades of Experience, Applied Locally
I’ve spent more than 40 years in real estate, and since 2016 I’ve also worked as a national real estate instructor, teaching other agents and brokers contracts, negotiation, agency law, and broker responsibility across Texas and beyond. Teaching broker responsibility for a living means I know exactly where transactions typically break down: undisclosed repairs, missed HOA documents, financing contingencies that don’t match the actual timeline. I build my own Burnet transactions to avoid those failure points from the start.
Why This Matters More When a Deal Gets Complicated
Most home sales close without drama. The value of broker-level representation shows up in the ones that don’t: an appraisal that comes in low, a title issue that surfaces late, a buyer or seller who wants to renegotiate after inspection, an estate sale with more than one heir involved. In those moments, you want the person making decisions to have the authority and the experience to make them, not a call to a sponsoring broker who’s never seen your file. As the broker, I can resolve those issues directly.
Uncommon Highland Lakes Realty
The brokerage name is a statement about how I structure it: a small, deliberately un-corporate operation where clients deal directly with the broker instead of being routed through a large team. I built Uncommon Highland Lakes Realty around that idea, and it’s how I represent buyers and sellers throughout Burnet and the rest of the Highland Lakes.
Work Directly With the Broker
If you’d rather have the broker on your file from the first phone call instead of the last resort if something goes wrong, reach out. I’m Robbie English, Managing Broker at Uncommon Highland Lakes Realty, and you can call me directly at 830-953-5571 to talk through your Burnet purchase or sale.
