Free agency, that annual NFL offseason obsession, has made its way into the real estate world with tremendous turnover in December and January and no commissioner regulating the deals. In real estate circles, the agents are actually free – no salary, no signing bonus, no caps.

The real estate community is in upheavel as brokers and their agents are engaged in an unprecedented game of musical chairs. Those seeking real estate advice should consult their agents via their mobile devices, as office phones are likely being answered by new voices.

In the NFL, a change of scenery bodes well for both players and teams, and the same can be true in real estate. Hopefully it works out for the new agents and their new homes alike.

Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realtors got things started when it acquired Christianson, Patterson, Courtney and Associates, with most of the agents staying put.

Fridrich and Clark lost an agent to Zeitlin’s Green Hills office but gained one from another Zeitlin office, an almost trade.

Then, of all things, Matt Ligon was named the principal broker of Pilkerton’s new Franklin office and took some people along with him from his previous firm.

Compass then snagged superstar producers Michelle Maldonado and Wendy “Any Given” Monday to work with newly named broker Angela Wright.

As the real estate world turned, Former Tennessee Association of Realtors president and Greater Nashville Realtor of the Year Brian Copeland, his brother Brad and Brad’s wife Molly opened Doorbell Realty and added Belinda Smith to the team, among others.

Christie Wilson’s Wilson Group stands to absorb some of the area’s finest agents, as a number of top producers who have committed to her firm.

A few weeks ago, the esteemed Zach Goodyear and his longtime Sewanee friend and real estate partner of some 16 years, Scott Evans, started a new firm with David Dorris, a $100 million producer, and another Sewanee fellow, Hunter Connelly. This powerhouse is reminiscent of the 1899 Sewanee football team the New York Times recently featured. That team, which finished 12-0, won five games – Texas A&M, Texas, Tulane, LSU and Ole Miss – during a six-day, 2,000-mile road trip.

Goodyear, Evans, Dorris, Connelly and the group took a few agents from their previous firms with them to their new firm Central Real Estate Partners, perhaps so named because Goodyear lives on Central Avenue.

Goodyear and company then acquired Mark Deutschmann’s Village, to be exact.

This was the shocker of all times, a firm in its infancy buying a 20-year-old company with several hundred solidly entrenched agents.

For those who have owned real estate firms, it was seen as a good move on the part of Deutschmann.

In the early 1990s, Gail Chickey, a highly successful Realtor at Fridrich and Clark Realty, asked her company at a sales meeting: “Has anybody here ever heard of Mark Deutschmann?” Only one person recognized the name. “Get ready. You’re going to,” she said.

She had seen him at the event known as Summer Lights, she explained. He was a street juggler and attracted large crowds wherever he juggled, at times using fire or knives.

At the completion of his show, he distributed business cards among his newfound fans. He then explained that he was new to town, that he was a real estate agent and would appreciate being considered if they ever bought or sold a home.

He has been juggling buyers, sellers, brokers, developments and environmental advocacy ever since, and, yes, everyone in that room had soon heard of Mark Deutschmann. The city is a better place, thanks to him. And, I am certain no one has heard the last of him.

Sale of the Week

The house at 22 Lynwood Lane sold last week for $1.6 million, and the Lynwood in Lynwood Lane has only one n, unlike the Lynnwood in Lynnwood Boulevard, at least on some of the street signs. Belle Meade has a Boulevard, a Lane and a Terrace all preceded by some form of Lynnwood.

Bill Bainbridge, no stranger to Belle Meade and its quirks and nuances, listed and sold the house for $319 per square foot. With 5,008 square feet, five bedrooms, four full baths and two half baths, the house sold and closed in a couple of months.

Bainbridge is with his eponymous firm and is a skilled writer having written more than 100 real estate columns in his day.

The closing of his listing on Lynwood Lane was clouded by the death of his father, Billy Bainbridge, who was legendary in the real estate community and, during a period spanning some 40 years, was a leader in the construction and development of affordable housing in the Nashville area. The city could use another Billy Bainbridge.

Richard Courtney is a real estate broker with Fridrich and Clark Realty, LLC, and can be reached at [email protected].