We've now both bought and sold a house in Knoxville with Realtor Billie Cole. Our situation was unusual from the start. We live a day's drive away from Knoxville, but our kid was starting a PhD program at UTK and was going to need some support because the university's graduate stipend was not fully livable in the COVID economy. We talked about what to do and decided it made financial sense to ensure the kid had access to housing that was affordable and would remain so. For us, that meant purchasing a small house at the height of the housing craziness during the pandemic. Billie and our kid would find a house on the MLS listing in the morning, and by the afternoon, before they could even see it, it would have multiple offers.
Billie had the expertise to guide us through that insanity, including a failed purchase that we backed out of after the home inspection came back littered with words like "fire hazard" and "foundation issues," which that home owner declined to mitigate. Billie eventually found the kid a cute, little house that needed a bit of work, and we bought it in the spring of 2021. The kid put in some sweat equity upgrading the flooring and painting it, making it a lovely home. Billie was a joy to work with then and treated our kid like her kid.
Fast forward four years, and the kid finished the PhD and took a postdoc out of state. The job came up fast and Billie was once again the hero of this story. The house listed, sold, and closed in a month. We were appreciative of Billie's expertise of the market for getting us a fair price in such a timely manner. She was also absolutely invaluable for being our eyes and ears in Knoxville. For example, she helped arrange some tree work the buyers wanted done before closing, which would have been really hard for us to manage since we're still a day's drive away.
She answered our questions promptly, was quick with follow up with the buyers, and kept us in the loop at every step. I cannot recommend Billie more highly. Both our buying and selling processes went as smoothly as possible, and as stressful as buying/selling a day's drive away from where you're doing it, we trusted that Billie had the professional knowledge and expertise to steer us correctly at every turn. She did not disappoint.
If you're looking for a real estate professional who knows the market and goes above and beyond, you should look no further than Billie Cole.