July 30, 2025

Selling Round Top: Meet the Master Realtor

Round Top may be riding the wave as the fashionable new darling of jet setters, wheeler dealers, and society swells. But it has yet to lose that one critical factor important to outsiders negotiating village life in rural communities: It pays to get in good with locals.

“Round Top is a place where small town connections work,” said Frank Hillbolt of Round Top Real Estate, the town’s most established and successful real estate brokerage.

And those connections couldn’t be more crucial than the ones Hillbolt traffics in.

As the co-owner of Round Top Real Estate, Hillbolt is (like both his partner/co-owners Lisa Mayer and Lilla Blackburn-Sivek) a well-connected townie, familiar with the nooks/crannies and big-picture turf that has become one of the world’s most desirable places to live.

But in a one-square-mile burb rife with colorful folk, Hillbolt is a singular presence in the town’s daily machinations. Maybe that’s because he’s something of a Round Top Zelig: an everywhere, all-at-once jigger of high-proof energy in the essential cocktail that is Round Top. That’s Hillbolt adroitly talking up a brush-covered hillock that could be the site of the town’s next millionaire’s manse. That’s him smacking the bass as a member of a popular local party band. Yes, he’s that familiar figure taking his daily 4-to-6-mile walkabout; the angler fishing in that remote pond; the guy zipping around town in a Toyota 4Runner with the license plate RTROCKS.

Hillbolt’s ubiquity is his advantage, but it’s just one of the reasons he’s uniquely qualified to sell Round Top. His familiarity with and love for the area came from his parents, Charlotte and Grover Hillbolt, who owned a farm in Round Top since 1962 and founded Round Top Real Estate in 1988. Frank joined the company in 2002, the same year he moved to Round Top as a full-time resident. He immediately took an active role in town life, serving multiple terms as an alderman on the Round Top Town Council and as a past president of the Round Top Chamber of Commerce. In addition to civic engagement, he might be just as well known as a member of the classic rock band Black Cat Choir.

Having taken over his parents’ business in 2017, Hillbolt and his partners have positioned their company as the premier real estate firm specializing in Fayette, Austin, Colorado, Washington and Lee counties. While he considers himself Mr. 78954, Hillbolt and his associate Realtors have their fingers in the luscious slice of country life that has become so attractive to wealthy Houstonians and Austinites. Their team’s listings span everything from a 2-acre lot for $60,000 to a ranch estate of more than 1,000 acres going for a cool $14 million. In between is a portfolio of farms and ranches, historic homesteads and luxury residences all set within scenic pastures, rolling hills and lush oak groves that have made Round Top the stuff of landowner fantasies.

Hillbolt readily says that aspiring to Round Top life is still “affordable.”

“Buying a piece of a dream is still within reach in Round Top,” he said. “I can help you with that dream.”

But there’s no denying that Round Top has come up in the world and its land and home prices along with it.

“Round Top is changing before our very eyes,” he said. “It used to be a place to get away from folks and not be seen. Round Top now is a place to be seen.”

Many things contributed to the growth of Round Top’s reputation beyond the pivotal antiques show weeks. There was the development of Henkel Square; the opening of Market Hill; and the inevitable rise in the potent combination of arts/culture meets upscale shopping/amenities meets Southern charm/hospitality.

On the face of it, Round Top-area real estate these days might be likened to the thrill of the California Gold Rush. The interest in buying into genteel country life is that intense.

But as alluring as the town has become, it also remains a place where small-town charms reign and cows outnumber people.

Those looking to place their foot in Round Top’s door have smartly placed themselves in the capable hands of Hillbolt and the knowing agents and brokers at Round Top Real Estate.

“All my life I’ve heard how great Round Top is and that sooner or later it’ll catch on,” Hillbolt said. “That time is now.”

July 30, 2025

Selling Round Top: Meet the Master Realtor

Round Top may be riding the wave as the fashionable new darling of jet setters, wheeler dealers, and society swells. But it has yet to lose that one critical factor important to outsiders negotiating village life in rural communities: It pays to get in good with locals.

“Round Top is a place where small town connections work,” said Frank Hillbolt of Round Top Real Estate, the town’s most established and successful real estate brokerage.

And those connections couldn’t be more crucial than the ones Hillbolt traffics in.

As the co-owner of Round Top Real Estate, Hillbolt is (like both his partner/co-owners Lisa Mayer and Lilla Blackburn-Sivek) a well-connected townie, familiar with the nooks/crannies and big-picture turf that has become one of the world’s most desirable places to live.

But in a one-square-mile burb rife with colorful folk, Hillbolt is a singular presence in the town’s daily machinations. Maybe that’s because he’s something of a Round Top Zelig: an everywhere, all-at-once jigger of high-proof energy in the essential cocktail that is Round Top. That’s Hillbolt adroitly talking up a brush-covered hillock that could be the site of the town’s next millionaire’s manse. That’s him smacking the bass as a member of a popular local party band. Yes, he’s that familiar figure taking his daily 4-to-6-mile walkabout; the angler fishing in that remote pond; the guy zipping around town in a Toyota 4Runner with the license plate RTROCKS.

Hillbolt’s ubiquity is his advantage, but it’s just one of the reasons he’s uniquely qualified to sell Round Top. His familiarity with and love for the area came from his parents, Charlotte and Grover Hillbolt, who owned a farm in Round Top since 1962 and founded Round Top Real Estate in 1988. Frank joined the company in 2002, the same year he moved to Round Top as a full-time resident. He immediately took an active role in town life, serving multiple terms as an alderman on the Round Top Town Council and as a past president of the Round Top Chamber of Commerce. In addition to civic engagement, he might be just as well known as a member of the classic rock band Black Cat Choir.

Having taken over his parents’ business in 2017, Hillbolt and his partners have positioned their company as the premier real estate firm specializing in Fayette, Austin, Colorado, Washington and Lee counties. While he considers himself Mr. 78954, Hillbolt and his associate Realtors have their fingers in the luscious slice of country life that has become so attractive to wealthy Houstonians and Austinites. Their team’s listings span everything from a 2-acre lot for $60,000 to a ranch estate of more than 1,000 acres going for a cool $14 million. In between is a portfolio of farms and ranches, historic homesteads and luxury residences all set within scenic pastures, rolling hills and lush oak groves that have made Round Top the stuff of landowner fantasies.

Hillbolt readily says that aspiring to Round Top life is still “affordable.”

“Buying a piece of a dream is still within reach in Round Top,” he said. “I can help you with that dream.”

But there’s no denying that Round Top has come up in the world and its land and home prices along with it.

“Round Top is changing before our very eyes,” he said. “It used to be a place to get away from folks and not be seen. Round Top now is a place to be seen.”

Many things contributed to the growth of Round Top’s reputation beyond the pivotal antiques show weeks. There was the development of Henkel Square; the opening of Market Hill; and the inevitable rise in the potent combination of arts/culture meets upscale shopping/amenities meets Southern charm/hospitality.

On the face of it, Round Top-area real estate these days might be likened to the thrill of the California Gold Rush. The interest in buying into genteel country life is that intense.

But as alluring as the town has become, it also remains a place where small-town charms reign and cows outnumber people.

Those looking to place their foot in Round Top’s door have smartly placed themselves in the capable hands of Hillbolt and the knowing agents and brokers at Round Top Real Estate.

“All my life I’ve heard how great Round Top is and that sooner or later it’ll catch on,” Hillbolt said. “That time is now.”