Kindred Roots Realty Group
Hendersonville · Gallatin · Sumner County · Greater Nashville

Routes get you here. Roots are the reason you stay.

I'm Carissa Trent — a Middle Tennessee REALTOR® who moved her own four kids here from the Chicago area. Whether you're relocating sight-unseen, buying your first place in Sumner County, or finally listing the house you've outgrown, you get someone who has done the hard version of this move personally.

Start a conversationI'm moving from out of state
6Years in Middle Tennessee real estate
4Kids she relocated here herself
6Middle TN counties she works across
What I do

Three kinds of moves. One standard of work.

Relocating to Middle TN

You're choosing a town, a school zone and a commute from a thousand miles away. I do the legwork on the ground so the decision is made on facts instead of listing photos.

The relocation guide →

Buying here

First house, next house, or an investment. Six years of it, most of that on the investment side — which means I read a property for what it will cost you, not just what it looks like.

How buying works →

Selling here

Priced right from day one, prepped properly, marketed like it matters. No fishing for a number the market was never going to pay.

How selling works →

Moving from out of state

Most of my clients have never set foot in Tennessee.

That's not a problem to work around — it's the job. A relocating family is making a handful of decisions that can't be undone cheaply: which town, which school zone, which side of the lake, how much commute is survivable in February. Get those right and everything after is easy.

I came the same way. So the questions I ask you are the ones I wish someone had asked me.

Read the relocation guide
  • Tennessee has no state income tax on earned income

    For a household coming from Illinois or California, that is usually the first line of the math — and it is the one that doesn't change.

  • School zones decide more than the address does

    Which side of a road you buy on changes where your kids go. I hand over the zone maps and the district boundary data so you can judge for yourself.

  • Fifteen miles is not fifteen minutes

    The roads here wind and roll in a way flat-state maps don't warn you about. I'll tell you what a commute actually costs before you sign.

  • Built for buyers who aren't here yet

    Same-day video walk-throughs, honest ones — including the parts a listing photo crops out.

Why relocation
The movers came a day too late. So I drove down from the Chicago area by myself — four kids, a dog and a cat in the car. I know exactly what the week before a move feels like, and I know which of those decisions you'll still be living with in three years.

Carissa Trent · REALTOR® · Kindred Roots Realty Group

More about Carissa
Straight answers

Questions people actually ask me

Hendersonville or Gallatin or Franklin — how do I even choose?
They are genuinely different products, not just different price tags. Franklin buys you prestige and a commute; Hendersonville buys you the lake and more square footage per dollar; Gallatin buys you the newest construction at the lowest entry price. I'll walk you through what the same budget actually gets in each, with current closed-sale numbers rather than impressions.
Can you help if I can't come see houses in person?
Yes — most of my relocation clients buy after one trip or none. That works when the video walk-throughs are honest, the neighborhood context is documented, and the inspection period is treated as sacred. I never waive an inspection period, for anyone, for any reason.
What do property taxes really look like in Tennessee?
Low, and often startlingly low compared with the Midwest and Northeast — but the rate varies by county and city, and the assessed value isn't what you paid. I'll pull the actual tax record on any house you're serious about so you're comparing a real number to your current bill, not a rule of thumb.
How far ahead should we start?
Earlier than you think, and not for the reason you think. The house search is the short part. Sorting out school timing, whether you're selling first, what a lender will actually approve after a relocation or a job change — that's the part that adds weeks. A conversation six months out costs you nothing.
What areas do you serve?
Hendersonville and Gallatin are home base. I work across Sumner, Davidson, Wilson, Rutherford, Robertson and Williamson counties, and I analyze investment deals across the same footprint. If you land somewhere I'm not the right fit for, I'll tell you and connect you with someone who is.

Tell me about your move.

Three weeks out or still arguing about it at the kitchen table — either is a fine place to start. You'll hear back from me, not from a drip campaign.

You'll hear back from Carissa personally, usually the same day. No drip campaign.