When Matt Kirkegaard, founder of Movement Property Group, drove into Nashville to pursue his musical dreams in 2007, he had no community in the music city — and no idea how to find one.
Today, the well-known luxury property firm founder considers the entire city his community and has his own favorite ‘third places,’ or relaxing places that are not your home or office, scattered throughout the city.
Movement Property Group has always done things differently. Kirkegaard is a ‘big picture’ businessman, and he knows that people move to his city for far more than just a gorgeous home. That’s why he and his team are focused on introducing clients to the best ‘third places’ the city has to offer and showing them that, if they move to Nashville, it will be easy to find corners of the city where they feel at home — as well as people that share their interests.
You might be asking yourself, ‘What do these third places have to do with selling houses?’ Well, a lot, according to Kirkegaard. He’s long been an advocate for his city and an unofficial ambassador for Nashville.
He believes that, by sharing these special places that make Nashville what it is, he sells far more homes and his buyers are much more enthusiastic about moving to the city.
“Many agents are focused on themselves during the sales transaction,” said Kirkegaard. “But you need to put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. They think about how they will spend their Sunday afternoons, their Saturday nights, and where to get the best sourdough in the city. By telling them about these places — or even taking them there — they begin to see their life in this new place. And, voila, they buy that house to start living the dream life you introduced to them.”
Explaining ‘Third Places’
Third places are a concept near and dear to the founder’s heart. He loves independent coffee shops, live music bars, and exploring his city.
These are places where people go when they have free time and want to relax. They are about doing something you love among people that like the same thing. They are about places where you feel comfortable, and where the staff and patrons eventually know you by name.
By definition, they can be any space that isn’t your home or place of work. Most likely, they are local businesses like bookstores, yoga studios, or eateries.
“A city is only as strong and lively as its small businesses. When a client asks me about the best Nashville neighborhood to raise kids in or where you get the best cup of coffee, I can talk for hours about my city,” said Kirkegaard.
Selling ‘Third Places’
To Kirkegaard, selling his city makes more sense than selling a house as if it exists in a vacuum. All Movement Property Group agents are taught to become ambassadors for their city’s third places and to visit them whenever they have time.
This integrated approach has become a hallmark of the Movement buying process. Past clients rave about how the team’s love of Nashville is comprehensive and contagious. And they have a high rate of referring the property group to other friends looking to buy luxury property in Nashville.
For those that can’t get to Nashville’s third places themselves before they buy, Kirkegaard has a solution. He has been presenting a local TV show called “Selling Nashville” that shares some of his favorite third places in the city.
Though the show was originally a simple showcase for unusual luxury homes, it changed over time into something his clients wanted more — an insider’s guide to the city and its hidden gem locations.
“It organically evolved in a way that I found was more beneficial for my clients, as an introduction to neighborhoods and local hotspots that they wouldn’t otherwise know about,” he said.
In Selling Nashville’s latest episode, viewers tag along with Kirkegaard to a local winery called Love & Exile, one of the founder’s favorite third places in the city. As he chats with the bartender, you get a local perspective on life in Nashville and feel excited about the bustling southern city. And that’s exactly what Kirkegaard intends with the show.
To learn more about music city’s third places and luxury homes, be sure to contact Kirkegaard and the Movement team.
About Matt Kirkegaard and Movement Property Group
Movement Property Group (Keller Williams), created by musician and real estate agent Matt Kirkegaard, specializes in luxury and affordable housing throughout most of Tennessee, including East and West Nashville, where the company is headquartered. Kirkegaard is accompanied by Ruben Juarez and Aaron Ammon at Movement Property Group. Kirkegaard and Co. strive to make the homebuying and homeselling processes as efficient and effortless as possible. For more information and to see Movement Property Group’s impressive real estate inventory, please visit https://movementpropertygroup.com
