REALTOR Roundup

We‘re at a pivotal point when we discuss Nashville’s future. It’s not often you have transportation overhaul bills on the table at the same time as zoning overhaul and codes reform. Transformational things can come from conversations on all three subjects and actions on them together.

As a Realtor who is known as a short-term rental expert in Nashville, I get a lot of calls from Realtors about their short-term rental (STR) clients. The top questions I receive are about the current rules and regulations in Davidson County – “What even are they?” being the most prominent question and secondly, where to list or find STR listings, and lastly, should I be referring this client out? The first two questions could have their dedicated post, but I’ll touch on them quickly.

As the winter chill begins to fade and the flowers start to bloom, the real estate market heats up with the arrival of spring. For homeowners looking to sell, now is the opportune time to showcase their properties to eager buyers. However, to make the most of this bustling season, it's essential to prepare your home effectively for the spring market.

I think it’s fair to say that almost everyone would like their home to be worth more in the future than they paid for it. Historically, real estate as an investment is one of the most sound and reliable forms of putting your money to work. I’ve renovated my own homes I live in; I’ve fixed up old homes to put back on the market and sell, and I’ve helped hundreds of people develop a strategy to list their properties for sale and get the highest return. Here are the top three things I believe will get the most bang for their buck when trying to increase your home’s value.

Real estate agents spend most of their time in early meetings with clients talking about the wrong things. I know this because I did it too. We ask the buyer client all about how many bedrooms and bathrooms they want in a house. We want to know how the buyer is going to pay for the upcoming house. We ask for the buyer’s preferred square footage, the buyer’s desired school district, the color of the front door, and the species of grass the buyer imagines in the backyard.

Commercial real estate is a high-stakes game, often compared to juggling chainsaws. Unlike their residential counterparts, CRE agents must be MacGyvers of the property world, wielding duct tape-like resourcefulness to find the right zoning, assets, leases, and investment opportunities. They're constantly scrutinizing market data with magnifying glasses, unearthing financial insights and hidden secrets, all while balancing complex legalities and segment-specific contracts. Deadlines loom, and the rules are far fiercer than in residential real estate. This isn't about one being better than the other; it's simply a different beast altogether.

I don’t know of a Realtor who doesn’t have an opinion about the Sitzer/Burnett case. Some Realtors are fearful about the future of buyer agencies and what our industry may look like over the next few years. To gain insights into my colleagues’ thoughts and feelings, I conducted a survey. While trying to sort through my thoughts about the class action lawsuit, I’ve noticed a common theme among my seasoned colleagues: this isn’t the time to be distracted by news reports; our time is best spent giving our best service to our clients and customers. So how can we provide a better service than we already are giving them? I have a few thoughts.

Everyone met in 2024 with something in common, wishes, goals and dreams. The difference between how one starts the year and how one ends it depends on the path of turning a dream into a vision, writing it down as a goal and developing and executing a plan to achieve it. It doesn’t matter if that’s selling a home, buying your first home, moving up, downsizing, or buying a rental or vacation home. It all starts with a dream, a thought, or a “what if."