When a Client Threatens You: Hard Truths About Selling a House in a Shifting Tennessee Market

Let me tell you how a Tuesday can go in this business. The phone rings, and on the other end is a client I helped buy a house a few years back. He's not calling to say hello. He's calling to tell me I'm a chicken and that he'd like to come down here and beat my behind. His house isn't selling, he's convinced the market is crashing, and in his mind that's my fault.

I've been doing this long enough to know that the threat isn't really about me. It's about fear. As the real estate market tightens and money gets short, tempers run hot. So if you're a seller who's scared, or an agent on the receiving end of somebody's worst day, this post is for you. I want to walk through what's actually happening in the Tennessee housing market right now, why your house may not be selling, and what to do about it.

The market isn't crashing, it's adjusting

A lot of the folks calling us right now bought houses several years ago, when the market was at its height. Now they tell me they overpaid and that everything is crashing. I think "crashing" is a harsh word. What's really happening is that the Tennessee real estate market is adjusting to the current economic times.

Here's the part people forget: real estate is a long-term investment. During the COVID years, people made a lot of money flipping houses and moving through the market quickly. That has not traditionally been the case, and it isn't the norm we should measure everything against. What we have now is a more balanced market than we've had in a very long time. That's not a disaster. For a lot of buyers and sellers, it's actually healthier.

You can hop on YouTube or scroll TikTok, maybe read an article on LinkedIn, and find someone swearing the market is going one way or the other. At any given moment, some of that may be true, and all of that may be true. The reality is that real estate is a shifting market  not so different from the stock market or any other commodity. It moves. It always has.

So what do you do when the market shifts and you need to sell?

The honest, professional advice is often the least satisfying: wait a little while. What goes down inevitably comes back up. Real estate rewards patience more than almost any investment I know.

But life doesn't always give you the luxury of waiting. Sometimes the market or your personal situation is such that you have to sell now , a job move, a divorce, a death, money that's simply run short. When that's the case, you stop wishing the market were different and you start considering your real options. And that means having some difficult conversations.

Why your house isn't selling (it's almost always the price)

Folks love to blame the real estate agent when a house doesn't sell. Sometimes,  I'll be the first to admit that's fair. But more often than not, it isn't the agent. It's the price.

If you've been doing this long enough, you learn one truth that never fails you: price fixes everything.

If a property isn't selling, chances are the price is the problem. Because if the price were low enough for the condition that property is in and the market it's sitting in, it would sell. There is only so much an agent can truly do to move a house. We can stage it. We can put it on the MLS. We can do all the cute little social media dances we want.

And yes — that marketing might earn your listing some attention, and it might bring me business down the road as an agent. I'm not knocking it. But let's be clear about what actually closes the deal. A house sells a house. A property sells itself. For every property out there, there is a buyer waiting , if the price is right.

Find an agent you trust, then trust them

If you're in a spot right now where you need to sell a house in Tennessee, here's my advice, plain and simple. Find a real estate agent you trust, and take their advice. When they tell you what the market is saying about your price, listen. That number isn't an insult. It's information.

And if you don't believe your agent, if you don't trust their read on the market, then don't hire them to begin with. That works both ways. The whole relationship falls apart the moment you've decided your agent is the enemy instead of your guide. The best thing you can do for yourself is choose someone whose judgment you respect before you ever sign a listing agreement.

Difficult situations require difficult conversations

So back to that angry phone call. I didn't get into real estate to be anyone's punching bag, and no agent should tolerate real threats. I understand where a lot of that heat comes from. People are scared about money, and a home is the biggest number most of us will ever deal with.

My job isn't to tell you only what you want to hear. My job is to tell you the truth about your price and your options, even when it's the hard thing to say. Difficult situations require difficult conversations. That's the whole job, really being willing to have the conversation nobody else wants to have, and doing it with respect on both sides of the table.

The Tennessee market will keep shifting, the same way it always has. Prices will settle, and in time they'll climb again. If you can wait, wait. If you can't, price it right, lean on someone you trust, and let the property do what a rightly-priced property always does — sell.

Thinking about selling in Tennessee?

If you're weighing whether to sell now or wait, or you just want a straight answer about what your home is really worth in today's Tennessee real estate market, reach out. I'll give you the honest read — even the parts that are hard to hear. No pressure, no threats required.