Exploring Your Options: How to Sell Your Nashville Home in 2024

Hey Nashville, thinking about selling your home? Luckily, there are more options here in Nashville for homeowners than ever before. After all, most people move because of a life event such as a new job, new addition to the family, death in the family or divorce. One thing to keep in mind is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ way to sell your home. Like most things in life, your decision depends on your priorities and goals.

Option 1: The Traditional Way Of Selling A Home

For most Nashville residents looking to sell their home, they’ll likely contact their local Nashville Realtor. Local Realtors can offer a good experience, however, there tends to be a wide range in the level of service you’ll receive depending on which firm you choose as well as the individual agent in charge of listing your home.

This is because most traditional real estate brokerages operate as a franchise model which means each one is individually owned and operated. For example, if you previously sold your house using Keller Williams in Chicago, it doesn’t mean you will receive the same level of service if you decide to list your home with a Keller Williams franchise in East Nashville.

Advantages of listing with a traditional agent

The benefit of listing your home with a traditional realty company in Nashville like Village, Keller Williams, Remax, or Parks Realty is that you will be assigned a listing agent who will walk you through the process.

Your agent will help determine a list price and should schedule and pay for professional listing photos. Once the photos are taken, your Realtor will put your home on the market (MLS), help you negotiate when you receive an offer, and guide you through the closing process.

Disadvantages of listing with a traditional agent

The main disadvantage of listing with a traditional agent comes down to the fees they charge. While all real estate commissions are negotiable by law, most traditional agents here in Nashville charge a 6% commission. That’s 6% of the sales price of your home! Of this 6% fee, 3% goes to the listing agent and 3% is offered to a Buyer’s Agent to incentivize them to bring their clients to your home. These fees are paid at closing and only if your home sells.

Another disadvantage of using a traditional agent is the varying level of service you receive. Each agent and office does things a little differently when it comes to marketing and selling your home. For example, some offices or agents may offer professional listing photos with drone footage and 3D virtual tours while others may opt for the cheapest photographer they can find.

PRO TIP: Learn how you can save $12,375 or more when seeing your home

Is There An Alternative To The 6% Model?

An alternative to the traditional model that is gaining a lot of popularity is the model we offer at Felix Homes!

At Felix, our main goal is to lower the fees you pay when you sell your home all while providing a better level of service than traditional agents offer. We do this by leveraging the latest technology to make the process more efficient plus we only hire the most experienced agents who know how to close a deal successfully. This is what we mean by “First Class Service at Economy Prices.”

Instead of charging a 6% commission, we simply charge a 1.5% commission as our listing fee. We still recommend that you offer a buyer’s agent between 2% - 3% to incentivize them to bring their clients to your listing. Overall, this means you are paying a total of 3.5% - 4.5% instead of the traditional 6%.

What About The Level Of Service With The 1.5% Model?

Contrary to what most traditional Realtors may tell you, just because you’re paying less in Realtor commissions with Felix Homes doesn’t mean you should expect a sub-par service when you choose Felix to list your home.

At Felix Homes, we’ll provide you with a dedicated Realtor who will be your primary point of contact throughout the process.

When you list your home in Nashville with Felix, your dedicated agent starts out by helping price your home using recent sales data. You can request an instant online value report or schedule a free in-person home valuation.

At Felix Homes, we can’t stress how important it is to take great listing photos which is why we do not spare any expense when it comes to photography. All of our listing photos are taken by professional photographers and are enhanced to make sure your house is looking its best. After all, over 90% of home buyers start their home search online.

Once your photos are taken, we’ll list your home on the MLS and develop a custom digital marketing strategy specific to your listing. Your listing will be featured on Zillow, Realtor.com, and over 70+ other real estate websites.

At Felix, we understand the importance of social media marketing which is why we’ll promote your listing on Facebook and Instagram to reach the estimated 52% of first-time homebuyers. These first-time homebuyers in Nashville are between the ages of 27-35 and spend most of their free time on social media which is why we emphasize this advertising channel in our marketing strategy. Your home will also be featured in our weekly email newsletter which is sent to thousands of interested buyers.

Once we receive an offer, we’ll negotiate the best deal and we’ll be by your side throughout the closing process. This is where you will really see the main difference of working with Felix Homes as opposed to a traditional realty company as your net proceeds will be $12,375 higher on average due to our 1.5% commission business model.

Are There Options That Don’t Involve An Agent?

Another option for families in need of moving quickly is Opendoor, a company that conveniently offers to buy your home directly, albeit at a hefty discount. As a homeowner, you can fill out the information about your home on Opendoor’s website, and assuming they are interested in buying your house, you can start the closing process in as little as seven days. The disadvantage of selling to Opendoor is that it is a very costly option. On average, Opendoor offers to buy your house at a 15%-17% discount to fair market value which is why we only recommend this option for people who need to move in a hurry.

Finally, a third option is selling your home “For Sale By Owner”, which allows you to avoid paying listing agent commission fees altogether, but makes you navigate the home selling process without the guidance of an experienced Realtor. Additionally, homes that are listed FSBO still typically offer a buyer’s agent a 3% commission so they are not at a disadvantage compared to other homes on the market.