Annie Stokes is a Nashville Realtor who brings honest advice, a designer’s eye, and a deep love for this city, helping buyers, sellers, and investors make smart moves since 2017.
Homes I’ve Loved
These are homes I’ve lived in and loved. Each one changed slowly, one project at a time, while life happened in the background: kids growing up, weeknight dinners, school projects spread across the kitchen table. Rooms were painted, and sometimes repainted a few weeks later. Spaces were redesigned as our needs changed, always within the budget we had. When it was time to move on, each home was left better than when I found it, and the new owners could feel that.
Along the way, these homes taught me how thoughtful design and smart decisions can leave a lasting impression. There’s a feeling you get when you walk into the right room, and that feeling is what I’m always trying to capture. To me, a home should tell a story. I want to walk through your house and know who you are before we’ve ever met.
Valley Road - Cherokee Park
Growing up in Nashville, I always loved Cherokee Park. Homes there rarely come up for sale, and when they do, they go quickly. When I heard this one was coming soon, I drove straight over and called the agent, who let me in while it was still being staged. It felt out of reach, and I knew it would be a stretch. But it was my dream house in my dream neighborhood, and we found a way to make it work.
I thought this house would fix everything. It didn’t, but it gave me something better. It expanded the way I saw myself, stretched my design abilities further than I ever expected, and brought me a close circle of friends, especially during the long days at home during Covid. I never got to finish everything I had planned, because life had other ideas. But I’m proud of what this home became, and forever grateful for what it taught me.
Howard Avenue - Inglewood
I was 24, with a brand-new baby, when we bought this house. It was new construction on the “cool” side of town, and I pictured Pilates, coffee, and dinners out with friends. Real life looked different. Within a few years I had three little ones, I was finishing my college degree, and as a military spouse I was often parenting on my own.
It was a house with hard moments, but it was also full of joy: first steps, first words, and a community of friends I made through the neighborhood and the group fitness classes I taught at the YMCA. It’s where I decided to get my real estate license, without knowing where it would take me.
Design-wise, this home took many shapes before it landed here. I was trying things on and learning what I loved, and what I didn’t. You can still see pieces of me in it, even though my style has grown a lot since.
Still Spring Ridge - Bellevue
This was the first home that was truly mine, and I’m still proud of that.
After my divorce, I moved to Bellevue, a little farther from town but closer to my family and the support system I needed more than ever. It was never meant to be forever. For a little over two years, I was busy being a single mom to three busy kids, so I didn’t get to put as much of a stamp on it as I would have liked. Still, there were a few projects here I was proud of.
It’s also where my husband and I started dating, and the house we came home to after getting married and becoming a family of eight. It was a season of constant transition, all of it good, though not all of it easy.