FAQ

We recommend having your home in the best condition as possible. That means, the lawn should be mowed, front porch is swept and fresh looking, all clutter should be cleared out, and the needed repairs should be addressed. Take down personal family photos and mementos. You want to ensure that all potential buyers can envision themselves living in the home, which probably means you will need to take down the college posters and box up Nana’s crochet collection. 

That depends! A ton of factors come into play here. If you price your home too high, it could sit indefinitely. The market drives how fast your home will sell, if there is too much inventory or a lack of inventory, the demand and prices will change. Nashville is continuing to grow at a strong rate and your agent discuss your specific situation and timeline with you. 

Unlike Zillow, your agent will do an in-depth market analysis to price your home properly. Your home’s size, condition, and features will be compared to other comps in the area to see what homes like yours are selling for. Comps, or comparable sales, are homes that have sold near your home in the last year and are comparable in size, condition, and features. These comps are the same pool of data that appraisers will see and use when determining value in an appraisal. We will set a list price tied to those closed sales comps. Once we list the house, the offers received will reveal what your home is worth. The market determines the value, a house is worth what someone will pay for it. 

Better question – what won’t we do to sell your home? Just kidding! Your home will be marketed on the regional Multiple Listing Service, RealTracs, which syndicates to over 30 sites including sites like our preferred agent Zillow account, Trulia, Redfin, Realtor.com. We will showcase your property on social media and ensure you are getting excellent exposure as well as private networking Realtor groups on FB and social media. Open houses and Broker tours allow many opportunities to get the word out. Each property is a little different, so each home we list has its own marketing plan. Want to learn more? Give us a call! 

This is one of the most important reasons to list your home with a professional REALTOR. The last thing you want to do is let a bunch of random strangers lookie-loo around your home, wasting your time and putting your safety at risk. We schedule showings only with qualified buyers that have the ability to purchase your home. All buyers will be accompanied by a licensed real estate agent, and all showings are carefully tracked so we know who is in your home and when. 

How would you feel if you fell in love with the home of your dreams, only to find out the bank won’t give you a loan for it? Pretty terrible, right? We want to prevent any unpleasant surprises, so we require that buyers get pre-approved before scheduling showings. Getting pre-approved is actually a pretty simple process that can be done online in most cases. We have a list of great lenders that we have been impressed with working with in the past available to talk with you if you don’t already have someone in mind.

You don’t NEED a REALTOR to buy a home, but you also don’t NEED a trained hairstylist to cut your hair, or an electrician to fix your wiring. Having a professional real estate professional on your side is a great idea, whether you are a first time buyer or have purchased numerous homes in the past. Your agent is your advocate and will look out for your best interests during negotiations, inspections, and even making sure all the agreed details are on the final closing statement. Our agents are plugged into the real estate in Nashville. We have a rich history of contacts dating back to 1999 in the Nashville real estate community and know about both on-and off-market opportunities. Plus! Using an agent to buy a home is free to you! Win-win! 

Beginning August 17, 2024 there were changes to the National Association of Realtors that updated policies around offers of compensation. You can read more about the facts of the settlement here https://www.nar.realtor/the-facts. All licensed REALTORS are required to enter into written agreements with their sellers before listing the home for sale and written agreements with their buyers before touring a home. Offers of compensation will continue to be an option consumers can pursue off-MLS through negotiation and consultation with real estate professionals.

The types of compensation available for Buyer Brokers would continue to take multiple forms, including but not limited to:

• Fixed-fee commission paid directly by consumers
• Concession from the seller
• Portion of the listing broker’s compensation
• Compensation would continue to be negotiable and should always be negotiated between agents and the consumers they represent

Call Sound City Realty to learn more about our fees for Buyer Broker Services. 615-712-7985 and ask to speak to the Principal Broker.

The written Buyer Agreement we will sign must include

The written agreement must include:

1. A specific and conspicuous disclosure of the amount or rate of compensation the Participant will receive or how this amount will be determined, to the extent that the Participant will receive compensation from any source.
2. The amount of compensation in a manner that is objectively ascertainable and not open-ended. For example, a written buyer agreement cannot have a commission that is “buyer broker compensation shall be whatever amount the seller is offering to the buyer” or "between X and Y percent."
3. A term that prohibits the Participant from receiving compensation for brokerage services from any source that exceeds the amount or rate agreed to in the agreement with the buyer; and
4. A conspicuous statement that broker fees and commissions are not set by law and are fully negotiable.

‍

However many necessary! That could be anywhere from 1 to 100. Most buyers decide on a home after just a few showings, and it is recommended to not try to look at too many homes. At some point, they all run together and too many options can be overwhelming. Make a list of needs and wants with your agent and try to find a home that fits those criteria in your price point and location. 

The cost to purchase a home is more than just the purchase price and loan costs (if you are getting a loan). After we come to an agreement on the terms of the property (purchase price, closing date) we enter the “due diligence” phase of the contract where you fact find about the house with inspections and appraisals. Unless you are an investor with years of experience remodeling homes (or are working with us as an investor to learn) you will want to hire a professional home inspector to review the home’s condition prior to purchasing. The inspector will look at the entire home and point out potential issues. Your contract will allow you anywhere between 7 and 10 days typically to complete all your due diligence/inspections. The typical traditional home inspection by itself runs around $500. You can pay for as many additional inspections as you would like such as radon, pest/termite, a survey, and much more. Appraisals are required when getting a loan, this will be paid to a third party appraiser before you buy the home and they typically cost between $400-$600. These out of pocket expenses and there to make sure you are buying a home that is worth what you agreed to pay and the condition you agreed to purchase it for. Lastly, earnest money is trust money put down after a contract is accepted, typically 1-2% of purchase price that is held in escrow until closing and comes off your bottom line. 

Our monthly management fee is a percentage based on all non-refundable fees/rent we collect on your behalf. We charge a leasing fee- which is a percentage of the first month’s rent. The leasing fee is charged to the owner for the work prior to collecting the rent. The leasing fee is earned by marketing, showing/answering inquiries, screening, researching and documenting the fully qualified tenant using our Tenant Screening Score ™. All repair expenses are fully disclosed prior to initiating and disclosed on your monthly escrow distribution statement with receipts placed in our shared cloud file. We do not collect a percentage on refundable fees like tenant security deposits. We do not mark up any maintenance, all maintenance is performed by 1099 vendors who do the same line of work for the general public.

We keep diversity with the range and scope of our vendors and subcontractors. We feel it helps keep our pool of “go to” guys competitive in their pricing and eagerness to call us back first. We have a variety of licensed and insured interior and exterior vendors and subcontractors who we call on in various trades. 

Our company does not mark up any repair invoices. We do not make a profit on top of the cost of the repairs we arrange for your property. When we hire someone to repair your property, we include a copy of that invoice for your cloud based digital file and we pay the repair company on your behalf and deduct that exact amount from your rental income in that month’s statement. As far as larger renovation projects, we are happy to arrange and manage any needed improvements or renovations and will be discussed in a separate agreement. 

As a licensed Broker, we adhere to the TREC laws of fiduciary requirements and escrow. In addition to the law of our state licensure, we understand that to maintain the level of trust you place in us requires transparency. Our Escrow account is in a FDIC insured non interest bearing account and your balance is available to you whenever you would want to review. Your monthly statements will show all income and expenses collected and paid on your behalf. This statement, along with your distribution each month will arrive via direct deposit on a predetermined day in the month (pending your tenant is timely with their rent payment).

This is not a fun topic, and has been a challenging one through the pandemic eviction moratoriums. We are proud to say that we have had 98% on-time rent payments during the pandemic. Although we are not lawyers, we are very familiar with the Uniform Landlord Tenant Act (ULTA) and can help you make decisions if a bump in the landlord road happens. With your authority, we can file evictions in General Sessions court on your behalf and follow up on those decisions and deadlines. To avoid this most unpleasant process as much as possible, we commit to finding tenants with an extremely high score on our proprietary Tenant Stability Profile screening. An empty rental or a tenant that is not paying means you don’t get paid and therefore we don’t either. We have developed a detailed application that investigates not only rental history and employment but overall financial health, background and criminal checks. 

We are a management company that is present. We show up in person to represent you and your high standard. This is not a “set it and forget it” relationship. In the case of long term rentals, we hand over the property to the Tenant with every light bulb lit and every HVAC filter changed to qualified tenants who have a proven track record for being good tenants. The most important part of the relationship begins with finding the qualified tenants with a history of taking care of properties and with enough monthly income to make the monthly payments obtainable. There is a formal walk through annually when we renew the lease agreement. Relationships and strong communication between our tenants yield many 5-star ratings and happy tenants who feel that we are taking care of their needs while they take care of the property.

This is where the rubber meets the road with long term rentals. This process can be tricky or super smooth depending on the expectations we have set on the front end with your tenants. We begin communicating with the tenant about their “exit” process at least 90 days prior to the end of their lease. We continue to communicate with them every step of the way explaining exactly how the property needs to be returned to us; clean, undamaged, and ready to re-rent as quickly as possible. We don’t ask tenants to paint walls before moving out (seriously, not a good idea…that should be left to professionals) and we expect normal wear and tear. The way we can be concrete about move out expenses is with our signed “Security Deposit Agreement” and the photo/video documented walk through prior to the Tenant taking possession. These pre-move in photos/video allow us to be detailed in the move out process, and charge line item costs for each dirty microwave or broken cabinet handle. The costs associated with debris removal, deep cleaning or repairs beyond normal wear and tear should never land on the Owner. We are here to maximize the chances of that not happening to you by communicating clearly with the Tenants. 

We are licensed and insured Real Estate Brokers and Affiliate Brokers in the State of Tennessee. We are licensed to engage in the business of buying, selling or renting property in the State of Tennessee. We have over 20 years of experience in buying, selling, renovating, renting and managing property in Nashville. We are members of The National Association of Realtors (NAR), the Tennessee Association of Realtors (TAR) and the Greater Nashville Realtors (GNR). We are members of NARPM -National Association of Residential Property Managers and subscribe to a code of ethics above and beyond industry standards. FIRM# 263417 Broker license #290497 Insured in Real Estate Services and Property Management. 

Yes! Our extensive experience with renovating homes and property management makes us a great resource when learning about investing in real estate.