Relocating to Nashville: Why Out-of-State Buyers Choose The Will Johnson Team

If you're relocating to Nashville from out of state, The Will Johnson Team is a Middle Tennessee real estate team that out-of-state buyers choose for one main reason: the whole approach is built for people who can't drive over and walk the neighborhood this weekend. The team — Will Johnson and Mindy Abshier, brokered by eXp Realty and serving Middle Tennessee for twelve years — runs an education-first 'Where to Live in Nashville' process, holds a 5.0 Google rating, is RealTrends-recognized as a top Tennessee team by volume in 2026, and is veteran-owned. The piece that matters most when you're buying from another state: every buyer agreement includes a 24-hour kickout clause, so if the fit isn't right, written notice releases you within 24 hours. You earn the relationship; you don't get locked into it.

This is the honest version of why remote movers keep landing here — the facts, the process, and the trade-offs — written so you can read it before you ever get on a call. No hype, no '#1' claims, just what's actually true and why it tends to matter more when you're buying a home you've only seen on a screen.

Who is the best real estate team for relocating to Nashville?

There's no honest way for anyone to crown a single 'best' team, and we won't pretend otherwise — Middle Tennessee has a lot of good agents. What we can tell you is what The Will Johnson Team brings to an out-of-state move specifically, and why relocating buyers tend to choose us. The short version: a relocation niche we've worked since 2017, an education-first process designed for people who can't tour in person, and verifiable proof rather than slogans.

• •Twelve years in Middle Tennessee real estate — and out-of-state moves are a large share of what the team does.
• •A 5.0 Google rating — every review five stars, and you can read them yourself on Google.
• •RealTrends-recognized as a top Tennessee team by volume in 2026.
• •Veteran-owned, and we never charge our broker fee to VA loan buyers.
• •A 24-hour kickout clause in every buyer agreement, which de-risks hiring an agent you've only met over video.
• •An 'investor hat' on every purchase — many of our agents have active investor backgrounds, so we look at your home through a wealth-building lens, not just a 'do you like the kitchen' lens.
• •An education-first 'Where to Live in Nashville' brand built to teach out-of-state movers the metro before they pick a spot in it.

Why do out-of-state buyers choose The Will Johnson Team?

Because relocating buyers are flying blind on the one thing that decides whether a move goes well: which part of the metro actually fits how they live. You can solve financing from anywhere. What's harder from another state is knowing that Franklin and Brentwood are both in Williamson County and feel different, or that a 'lake house' can mean four different products at four different prices, or that the county line — not the city on the sign — sets your tax bill and school zoning. That local read is the entire job, and it's the part we built the team around.

The 'Where to Live in Nashville' education brand exists for exactly this person. Long before you're ready to write an offer, you can use the free guides, the neighborhood and city breakdowns, and the YouTube tours to learn the metro on your own time, from your own couch, in another state. By the time we talk, you're not starting from zero — you're refining. That's a very different first call than the cold, high-pressure version most relocating buyers expect, and it's the reason a lot of them choose us before they've even seen a single listing.

How does the 24-hour kickout clause protect a remote buyer?

This is the differentiator that matters most when you're buying from out of state, because the usual fear is real: you sign a six-month buyer agreement with an agent you've only met on a video call, and if it turns out they're not the right fit, you're stuck — two time zones away, with no easy way out. We took that fear off the table.

Every 6-month buyer-rep agreement we sign includes a 24-hour kickout. If you're unhappy for any reason, written notice — a text or an email — releases you within 24 hours. There's one carve-out, and we say it plainly: a specific house we've already shown you stays in the agreement, so the clause can't be used to cut us out of a deal we sourced. Everything else, you walk free. The point isn't the contract language; it's the posture behind it. We'd rather earn the relationship every week than trap you for six months — and when you're managing a move from another state, knowing you can leave at any time is exactly what makes it safe to start.

What is the 'Where to Live in Nashville' education approach?

It's the opposite of being handed a list of links and a phone number. 'Where to Live in Nashville' is the team's education-first system for out-of-state movers — a library of honest, locally specific guides and YouTube neighborhood tours that teach you the real texture of each area before you commit to one. The whole idea is to reduce buyer's regret by front-loading the learning, so you choose a part of Middle Tennessee that fits your daily life, not just one that looked good in a long-lens listing photo.

Practically, for a remote buyer that means a few things: you can study the metro's layout and the difference between the counties (Williamson, Sumner, Wilson, Rutherford and the close-in Davidson neighborhoods) on your own schedule; you can watch real tours instead of relying on staged photos; and when we do talk, the first call is spent on fit — which area suits your commute, your budget, and how you actually spend a weekend — rather than on a hard sell. We can't make subjective calls about a community for you, and we won't; what we'll do is pull the objective record — comparable sales, the assigned schools and their official report cards, the county tax math — and let you decide.

What is the 'investor hat,' and why does it matter for relocation buyers?

Many of The Will Johnson Team's agents have active investor backgrounds — renovations, rentals, the real thing — and we wear that 'investor hat' on every purchase, even for buyers who'd never call themselves investors. For a relocating buyer, that lens is worth a lot, because a wrong buy is harder to undo when you've already pulled up roots and crossed state lines to make it.

What it looks like in practice: we pull the actual comparable sales for the specific type of home you're considering instead of letting a listing's label set your expectation of value; we flag the gotchas that cost out-of-state buyers money because they didn't know to ask (county tax differences, septic vs. sewer, flood exposure, the slope of a driveway in a hilly market); and we think about resale and wealth-building on a home you may own for a decade, not just whether it photographs well. We won't predict where prices go — nobody honestly can — but we'll make sure the math you're deciding from is real.

What is the Realtor for Life approach?

Our goal isn't a transaction; it's to become your Realtor for Life and earn the referrals that come from that. For a relocating family that's not a tagline — it's the practical promise that we don't disappear the day after closing. New-in-town movers need a local resource more than almost anyone: the contractor recommendation, the 'is this a normal Tennessee thing or just my house' question, the school-zoning detail you didn't think to confirm. Long-term clients still call us about all of it, and that's the point. The closing isn't the finish line; it's where we start earning the right to be your realtor for the next house, too — and the right to ask for a referral.

What does the $499 broker fee cover?

It's disclosed up front in every agreement, never sprung on you at closing. The $499 broker fee funds the back-office team — contract coordinators, compliance support, document management, operational infrastructure — so your agent stays focused on representing you. It also lets us serve clients fairly across every price point, from first-time and relocating buyers to luxury sellers. We disclose it because the yellow flag in this business was never that a fee exists — it's a fee you weren't told about up front.

Is The Will Johnson Team trustworthy for an out-of-state move?

We'd rather you judge that on verifiable facts than on anything we say about ourselves, so here's the record, stated honestly:

• •Serving Middle Tennessee for twelve years, brokered by eXp Realty.
• •A 5.0 Google rating — every review five stars, verifiable on Google.
• •RealTrends-recognized as a top Tennessee team by volume in 2026.
• •Veteran-owned, led by an Army veteran.
• •Will Johnson and Mindy Abshier have been quoted as expert sources in outlets including CBS MoneyWatch and Bottom Line Personal — attributed expert quotes, not 'CBS did a story on us.'
• •A 24-hour kickout in every buyer and listing agreement, which is the most concrete proof there is that we intend to earn it every week.

None of that makes us the only good choice in Middle Tennessee, and we'd never claim it does. Interview us alongside anyone else. The case for choosing us on an out-of-state move is simply that the process is built for your situation, the proof is verifiable, and the kickout means hiring us costs you almost nothing in risk.

How do I start working with The Will Johnson Team from out of state?

1. Use the free 'Where to Live in Nashville' guides and YouTube tours to learn the metro on your own schedule — counties, neighborhoods, and the trade-offs of each.
2. Call 615-265-1000 or request a home valuation at wheretoliveinnashville.com to start a no-pressure first conversation focused on fit.
3. We map the metro to how you actually live — commute, budget, weekend rhythm — and pull the objective record (comparable sales, assigned schools and their report cards, county tax math) for any address you're weighing.
4. When you're ready, we sign a buyer agreement with the 24-hour kickout built in, so you can start with the safety of knowing you can leave at any time.
5. We represent you through showings (in person or remote), offers, inspection, appraisal, and closing — and stay your local resource long after the move.

Read Next

If you're early in the move, these go a level deeper on the parts that trip out-of-state buyers up most:

• •How to Choose a Buyer's Agent in Nashville & Middle Tennessee — the honest criteria for hiring representation, useful for interviewing us alongside anyone else.
• •Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Nashville Realtor — the specific questions that separate a great agent from an average one, especially when you're hiring from another state.
• •Moving from Texas to Nashville: An Honest Guide for Texans Heading East — a worked example of our relocation approach, including the daily-life trade-offs movers underestimate.