According to Zillow's 2024 Consumer Housing Trends Report, 28% of home shoppers made an offer on a home without touring it in person. For Nashville specifically, that number skews higher — Nashville accounted for more than half of Tennessee's total net migration gain in 2025, with the state adding a net 42,389 new residents through domestic migration that year. Most of those buyers did not hop on a plane before writing an offer. A lot of them got burned. A few of them didn't, because they had someone walking them through the right sequence before the contract went in.
This post is the sequence. Not a checklist. Not a confidence booster. The actual order of operations we use at The Costigan Group for out-of-state clients buying in Nashville — the things that must be resolved, in the order they must be resolved, before a sight-unseen offer is the right move.
Skip a step. Pay for it later.
Step One: Confirm the Neighborhood Fits Before You Fall in Love with the House
The single most common mistake in a sight-unseen purchase is falling for a specific property before validating the street it sits on. Photos are shot with a wide-angle lens. Listing descriptions don't mention the commercial warehouse two blocks away. Online mapping tools flatten out grade changes that make a neighborhood feel completely different in person.
Before we send a client on a virtual tour of any specific property, we lock in the neighborhood criteria first. That means commute patterns, not just commute times. It means the drive at 7:45 a.m. on a Tuesday, not the Google Maps estimate. Over the three months ending May 2026, Nashville homes were averaging about 70 days on market and selling for a median price of $475,000 — which means there is enough inventory right now that a relocating buyer does not need to rush into the wrong submarket.
We break Greater Nashville into decision tiers for our relocation clients: Davidson County proper for walkability and urban lifestyle; Brentwood and Franklin in Williamson County for larger lots and suburban scale; and the outer ring — Nolensville, Spring Hill, Mount Juliet — for buyers where price point is the primary driver. According to Greater Nashville Realtors data through mid-June 2026, Brentwood's median sale price sits at $1.6 million, while Franklin zip codes range from $870,000 up and Nolensville sits near $915,000. That gap has major implications for what $800,000 buys in each corridor — and a client who chooses the wrong one doesn't find out until they're living there.
We do not proceed to a specific property walkthrough until the client has confirmed which corridor actually fits their life.
Step Two: Run the Property on Paper Before Anyone Opens a Door
Once a property enters the conversation, we run it on paper before we run it on video. That means pulling the parcel record from the Metro Nashville Assessor, checking for any open permits through Metro Nashville's online permit portal, and running the address against FEMA's flood maps before a single minute of showing time.
Flood zone matters more in Nashville than most out-of-state buyers expect. Nashville's highest-risk flood corridors include the Mill Creek corridor in Antioch and Woodbine, the Harpeth River floodplain in Bellevue, the Cumberland River zone spanning downtown, East Nashville, and Bordeaux, and Stones River through Donelson and Hermitage. Structures located within a Special Flood Hazard Area carry a 26% chance of flooding during the life of a standard 30-year mortgage — and properties outside the SFHA are not guaranteed to be flood-safe either. Nashville properties in Zone AE can carry flood insurance costs of $2,000 to $4,000-plus annually; Zone X properties can often get coverage for $400 to $800 per year. That is a carrying cost difference that materially changes an offer price.
Open permits are equally important. An unpermitted addition or a renovation that pulled a permit and never closed it out creates problems at closing — and creates larger problems if the buyer ever tries to resell. We check it before the offer. Not after.
Step Three: The Virtual Walkthrough with Specific Directives
A generic video tour is not due diligence. It's a sales tool. The virtual walkthrough we conduct for sight-unseen clients is run against a prepared list of specific items the buyer needs verified — things that do not appear in listing photos and that no seller is going to volunteer.
The directive list typically covers: actual ceiling heights versus the listing description, the condition of the HVAC unit (age, brand, visible wear), water pressure at multiple fixtures, attic access and visible insulation, the slope and drainage of the lot relative to neighboring properties, the condition of window seals, and the proximity and character of adjoining structures. We also document noise: traffic, rail lines, flight paths if applicable.
For properties in East Nashville or The Nations — neighborhoods where new construction sits immediately next to aging stock — we specifically document the street-level context that wide-angle photography obscures. A 2,400 square foot spec home priced at $850,000 looks different when the neighboring lot has a 1968 ranch with a chain-link fence and a camper in the driveway than it does in its listing photos alone.
The walkthrough produces a structured report, not just a video link. The buyer reviews it with us on a call before any offer discussion happens.
Step Four: Pre-Offer Inspection Strategy
Tennessee uses a standard contract form — the RF401 — and the inspection structure here differs from what most out-of-state buyers are used to. Tennessee's RF401 contract has specific timeframes, and deadlines run on calendar days ending at 11:59 p.m. local time. That matters when a buyer is managing time zones and trying to coordinate a third-party inspector remotely.
For sight-unseen purchases, we recommend what the industry calls a pass/fail inspection structure. The buyer retains the right to inspect and walk away if something serious is discovered, while signaling they do not plan to submit a long repair list — protecting the buyer while keeping the process calmer for the seller. That framing matters in a market where listing agents are evaluating offer quality holistically. A competitive offer that still protects the buyer beats a weak offer that also protects the buyer.
We schedule the inspector before the offer goes in. Pre-identified. Confirmed available within the inspection window. For sight-unseen offers, the inspector is our eyes on the property first, not a backup plan if something feels wrong later. Inspection periods in Tennessee contracts typically run 7 to 14 days. We use every day of that window to get a thorough report, not just a pass/fail stamp.
Step Five: Title, Taxes, and Transfer — The Layer Most Clients Skip
Most buyers assume title is the title company's problem and check it off the list. For sight-unseen purchases — where the buyer has no sensory relationship with the property and has not personally visited the county courthouse — this step requires more deliberate engagement.
A title search reviews public records to verify legal ownership, confirm the legal property description, and uncover encumbrances including liens, easements, unpaid property taxes, or legal claims that could affect the ability to transfer the deed. For relocating buyers, the specific items worth flagging before closing are: mechanics liens from recent renovation work, HOA-recorded violations or past-due assessments, and easements that may not appear in the listing but that affect how the property can be used or modified.
On the tax side: Davidson County assesses property taxes at approximately $3.254 per $100 of assessed value, and Tennessee assesses residential property at 25% of appraised value, which keeps overall tax bills lower than in many coastal states. For a buyer relocating from California, New York, or Illinois, the property tax math is almost always favorable — but the buyer still needs to understand what their actual bill will be, not just the stated rate.
We also walk every relocating client through the Tennessee realty transfer tax. Tennessee's realty transfer tax runs $0.37 per $100 of the greater of the purchase price or the property's value, with Davidson County property-tax prorations also affecting final closing figures depending on timing.
Step Six: The Offer Is Not the Decision. The Offer Is the Result.
By the time we submit a sight-unseen offer for a relocating client, every item in this sequence has been addressed. The neighborhood is validated. The parcel is clean. The flood zone is known. The inspector is lined up. The title search timeline is confirmed. The carrying costs — insurance, taxes, HOA if applicable — have been modeled against the buyer's actual budget.
The offer is not a leap of faith. It's the output of a process.
This is the proprietary difference in how we approach Nashville relocation real estate. Most agents show you the house, tell you it's great, and ask how quickly you can decide. We run the sequence first, so the decision you make on signing day is informed, not optimistic. According to the latest report from Greater Nashville Realtors, the region had 9,929 total home closings in Q2 2026 — a 6% increase year-over-year. That volume includes a lot of buyers who moved fast. Some of them are happy. Some of them are not.
The difference, almost always, was process.
One contrarian note worth making: the current inventory environment actually makes sight-unseen purchases safer than they were in 2021 and 2022. Greater Nashville is now officially a balanced market with a six-month inventory supply, and active listings jumped 8% year-over-year to 15,617 homes in Q2 2026 — giving buyers the breathing room to inspect, negotiate, and explore options without bidding-war pressure. The window to run a proper verification sequence exists. In 2021, it didn't. Use it.
If you're working through this decision, start with our Nashville neighborhood guide to anchor the geography before the property search begins. And if luxury is in your budget — Belle Meade, Forest Hills, Green Hills, or upper-tier Franklin — the sight-unseen sequence for the Nashville luxury market carries additional layers around off-market availability and pre-listing access that change the timing entirely.
Ready to start the sequence? Reach out directly. We'll run the process with you, step by step, before a dollar of earnest money goes down.
Related reading
- Nashville Relocation Services
- Nashville Neighborhoods: The Complete 2026 Guide to Where to Buy, Invest, and Live
Frequently Asked Questions
Is buying a home sight unseen legal in Tennessee?
Yes, completely legal. Tennessee does not require a buyer to physically visit a property before submitting an offer or closing a purchase. The RF401 contract is fully executable remotely, and closings in Tennessee can be handled by mail or power of attorney for buyers who cannot be present in person. The legal and logistical framework exists; the risk is practical, not statutory.
What happens if the inspection reveals a serious problem after I've made a sight-unseen offer?
A home inspection contingency is a clause in the purchase agreement that allows buyers to have the property professionally inspected within a specified period; if the inspection reveals significant issues that cannot be resolved or renegotiated, the buyer can typically withdraw from the contract and have their earnest money returned. The key is making sure the inspection contingency is properly written into the offer and that you exercise it within the contract's calendar deadlines. Missing that window — even by one day in Tennessee — can cost you your deposit.
How much earnest money should a sight-unseen offer include in Nashville?
Common approaches in Tennessee include a few thousand dollars for lower-priced homes, about 1% as a baseline, and 2 to 5% in competitive situations. For sight-unseen offers, the earnest money signal matters more because the seller is accepting more uncertainty about your commitment. Underbidding on earnest money relative to your offer price can undermine an otherwise strong offer, particularly in move-in-ready properties where sellers have options.
Do I need to fly to Nashville to close on a home I'm buying remotely?
No. Tennessee allows remote closings via mail-away packages or power of attorney. Most title companies handling Nashville closings are experienced with out-of-state buyers and can coordinate the signing process electronically or by overnight delivery. Your agent and the title company will coordinate the logistics. The one item worth confirming in advance is whether your lender requires a wet signature at a specific location — some loan products have their own requirements separate from Tennessee state law.
What's the biggest mistake out-of-state buyers make when buying sight unseen in Nashville?
Confusing a good video tour with due diligence. A listing video shows a property in its best light — literally. It doesn't show the flood zone designation, the open permit on the 2023 bathroom addition, the flight path overhead, or the condition of the HVAC unit that's been running for 14 years. Sight-unseen purchases that go wrong almost always trace back to a buyer who relied on marketing materials instead of running a proper pre-offer verification sequence.
How long does a sight-unseen purchase typically take from search to close in Nashville?
In Tennessee, the buyer's lender typically conducts an appraisal tied to the financing timeline, with total contingency periods often stretching 30 to 45 days. For a relocating buyer starting from scratch, expect 4 to 8 weeks from first serious property evaluation to close, depending on how quickly the neighborhood and property criteria are locked in. The pre-offer verification sequence we use typically takes 3 to 7 days per target property. Starting that process before you have a hard move deadline is strongly recommended.
Does the Nashville market still make sense for a sight-unseen relocation purchase in 2026?
Home prices in the Nashville area continued to climb during the first half of 2026, and experts expect costs to stay on an upward trajectory. At the same time, active listings jumped 8% year-over-year to 15,617 homes in Q2 2026 , which means buyers have more time and more options than they did at the peak. The combination of broader inventory and continued price appreciation makes the verification process more important, not less — you're not under pressure to decide in 24 hours anymore, so there's no excuse for skipping the sequence.
About The Costigan Group
Jack Costigan is the founder of The Costigan Group at Compass in Nashville, where his team has closed more than $100 million in real estate across Greater Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Specializing in luxury advisory, investment, and short-term rental real estate, Jack is known for a data-driven approach that helps buyers, sellers, and investors understand the numbers, the neighborhood, and the long-term value before making a decision. Featured in Apple News as one of Nashville's most sought-after short-term rental advisors, Jack pairs deep local expertise with modern marketing and a strategy-first approach to real estate. Learn more at thecostigangroup.com.
