Rachel Mays, Broker

Nashville Real Estate Strategist

I'm Rachel Mays, a Tennessee-licensed real estate broker in Nashville, affiliated with eXp Realty, LLC.

Born and bred in Tennessee, I bleed orange and have sweated through this market's downturns and upswings alike. Real estate was the family business long before it was mine, and my mother is a REALTOR® to this day. Since 2016, I've closed more than $60M across 200+ transactions in six Tennessee 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.

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.

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, my 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, 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 moves out of Nashville and inbound moves from high-tax states.