JT Bramlette was interviewed by Andrew Waite of Personal Real Estate Investor Magazine in the June 2010 edition. JT Bramlette discusses his past investment strategies and his current project, Melrose on the Beach.

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INVESTOR STRATEGIES
FROM
GULFSTREAM IV
TO ALANTIC
GULFSTREAM
May- June 2013 . Personal Real Estate Investor www.PersonalRealEstateInvestorMag.com108

3. www.PersonalRealEstateInvestorMag.com May - June 2013 . Personal Real Estate Investor 109
By Andrew Waite
JT Bramlette is an extraordinarily resilient investor and
personality.
My first meeting with a 26-year-old JT was in the
cabin of a Gulfstream IV, at Falcon Field Mesa, Ariz., in
2007. Bramlette was majority owner in a partnership that
owned the G-IV. This plane was his sales power tool used
to spirit investors from their homes to resort investments
in Wyoming and the West. Then came the crash, and lever-
aged properties ate themselves alive.
That was then, and The Atlantic Gulfstream is now.
LOSING HIS RELIGION
As Bramlette tells the story, his biggest issue was los-
ing self-confidence. How could he have let down so many
people: partners, clients, staff and family? But this was the
story of so many real estate and business people. JT had
never seen bad times, so he took the outcome to heart.
“Being in the business as long as I have been now, this
looks obvious,” says Bramlette, “but getting started so
young, I had to learn to embrace problems, then under-
stand the concept and implement the notion of how to turn
lemons into lemonade.”
He continues: “Today I realize that most everyone
around me is older, and many of them made their money
in the S&L crisis, making clear there is more opportunity
now than in any booming market.”
HELP ME, HELP YOU BOOTSTRAPS
“My first realization was that sitting and sulking over
my losses and bruised confidence was getting me nowhere,”
says Bramlette. “I decided to go back to former investors,
ask for money and create funds and go after FDIC dis-
tressed assets. We had made money together when times
had been good, and most of them were happy to help me
again! We first began to rebuild cash flow in 2009. It was
a good start, but we were at a disadvantage as a small fish
in a big pond just when the big funds were showing up.
Our investors wanted higher returns that could not com-
pete with funds with lesser return and longer time expecta-
tions.”
So Bramlette found a niche that was perceived by banks
as too messy and complicated. This was “the participating
note” market.
“It works like this,” says Bramlette. “Say, there is a com-
mercial building or resort with a non-performing $20 mil-
lion note attached where a number of banks had partici-
pated in financing. If we could control the lead participant
interest, we could buy, lead and control the entire property
as majority participant with as little as a 15 percent to 20
percent holding. In the beginning of this market the beauty
was that there was no competition. It was possible to buy
out the minority participants (often failed banks) for five to
six cents cents on the dollar and then consolidate the note
by selling control or buying out the minority participants.
As we got better at it and showed there were 15 percent to
20 percent returns available, in came deep-pocketed com-
petition.”
Bramlette and his team began looking for one-off dis-
tressed assets in the second-home resort market and came
across “Melrose on the Beach” in Daufuskie Island, Georgia.
This is on an island across the estuary from the lighthouse
at Hilton Head, S.C. Access to this historic resort is via
35-minute ferry from Hilton Head. Melrose at the Beach
has a historic inn, a Jack Nicklaus signature golf course,
equestrian trails, polo and “Glamping” (a growing global
phenomenon of luxury camping). Melrose is adding luxu-
ry ferry service from Savannah, Ga., one hour away where,
coincidently, Gulfstream Bizjets are built.
FLIGHT FREE ISLAND GETAWAY?
“The downturn taught us that fewer parents can afford
to load the family on a flight to a Caribbean island or
Hawaii,” says Bramlette, “but they still want the island
getaway. Melrose on the Beach is designed to achieve that

4. May- June 2013 . Personal Real Estate Investor www.PersonalRealEstateInvestorMag.com110
getaway via family SUV or minivan. The
offshore and island experience starts at
the dedicated ferry service we begin out of
Savannah in Fall 2013. This is the ‘welcome
to our spa’ experience, golf, horses or luxury
camping.”
FROM TREADING WATER
TO MAKING WAVES
At the time of the crash, Bramlette and
his partners were heavily invested in sec-
ond-home and resort properties in Jackson
Hole. “Now the question was how to keep
the ship intact,” says Bramlette. “It was a
juggling act keeping our business alive, our
staff paid and families safe. It was all about
finding cash flow in the businesses we
knew.”
With negative news dominating the pub-
lic consciousness, it took them 12 months
to assemble investors and raise the needed
capital. Every day, it seemed, the news just
got worse, with reports of financial disaster
at Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Merrill
Lynch and AIG — each worse than the pre-
vious.
“My family are my bigger cheerlead-
ers,” Bramlette says. “Nevertheless, I lost so
much self-confidence; I had never seen the
other side of a bull real estate market. Now
I really appreciate what I had, and where I
need to be. Melrose on the Beach closed in
June 2011, and then my dad was diagnosed
with brain cancer. I spent 16 months with
my parents and tried to remotely manage
the project.” After his father died in June
2012, Bramlette needed two months to
mourn, sort out family details and regroup.
“The bad times taught me to appreciate what
I have and what can be again,” Bramlette
says.
Melrose on the Beach is the group’s
first new project. The grand opening of the
beach club is April 27, 2013, with the resort’s
full grand opening planned for Spring 2014.
Knowing the products Bramlette brings
to market, the Gulfstream will fit right
in, whether it is a Savannah-built Bizjet or
marine lifeblood brought by a primordial
Atlantic current.
www.melroseonthebeach.com
888-851-4971
INVESTOR STRATEGIES
May- June 2013 . Personal Real Estate Investor110