Rachel Mays, REALTOR®

Nashville & Puerto Rico Real Estate Strategist

I grew up inside the real estate business — my father was a contractor, my mother was a REALTOR®. That combination gave me an early education in how buildings are built and how they are bought and sold. Over the past decade-plus, I have closed more than $52M in real estate transactions as a solo agent in Tennessee across six counties, working with buyers, sellers, and investors who want more than a transaction. They want a clear-eyed strategy and someone who will tell them the truth about a deal before they are committed to it. Puerto Rico operations are conducted in partnership with established local expertise. Dual licensure in Tennessee and Puerto Rico, with details to follow.

Background That Goes Beyond the License

I hold a Master of Urban and Regional Planning, which means I think about property through a lens of zoning, land use, neighborhood trajectory, and long-term value. After graduate school, I worked as a City Planner on the New Orleans Planning Commission alongside other planning commissions, and I understand how development decisions affect property values before those changes show up in the comps. That background shapes how I evaluate every deal, from a first home purchase to a short-term rental investment to a luxury estate acquisition.

Before real estate, I served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Chad, Africa, which required navigating complex systems with limited information under real constraints. It turns out that this is a useful skill set in a competitive housing market, a contentious negotiation, and a regulatory environment that changes without warning.

My professional story also includes navigating significant adversity within the industry itself, given a legal and regulatory pursuit that tested everything I had and clarified exactly why integrity in this business is not optional. That experience informs how I practice, how I protect my clients, and what defines my why for building Atlas Bedrock.

Specializations

My work spans five areas, each distinct and each connected by the same analytical framework:

Short-Term Rental Investment Strategy, with deep expertise in Nashville's NOOSTR permitting and zoning framework, STR underwriting, and performance evaluation before you commit to a deal.
Mid-Term Rental Strategy, emerging as the stronger play in many Nashville zip codes where STR regulatory pressure and acquisition premiums have compressed returns. I work with investors pivoting existing assets and new investors entering at a smarter price point.
Pre-Listing Optimization through Design-to-List™, my proprietary process for sellers who want to enter the market positioned for maximum returns, not just hoping for it.
Luxury Estate Representation for clients at the luxury tier across Greater Nashville and Puerto Rico, where preparation and precision matter more than at any other price point.
Relocation Advisory, as an eXp Certified Relocation Specialist, I work with individuals and families navigating corporate relocation, voluntary market transitions, and cross-market moves, including Nashville-to-Puerto Rico and inbound moves from high-tax states.