Southland Realtors

What Southland Realtors does

Southland Realtors is a privately-held, family-owned residential real estate brokerage headquartered at 244 N. Peters Rd, Knoxville, Tennessee, serving buyers and sellers across East Tennessee. The firm traces its lineage to Smithbilt Homes, founded by Rufus Smith Jr. in 1956 as a bricklaying and home construction business in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. After Rufus Smith Jr.'s death in 1992, his children Traci, Rocky, and Tom continued operations; under Rocky's leadership the real estate operations were separated from the construction arm and rebranded as Southland, while construction activities continued under the Smithbilt name. Southland employs approximately 37 licensed real estate agents organized into a core brokerage and a dedicated New Construction Division that now spans 15 East Tennessee counties.

The company's service offering is structured as a vertically integrated family of affiliated companies covering the full real estate transaction lifecycle: Southland Commercial Group (commercial leasing and sales), Southland Land Brokers (land sales), Southland Properties (property management), Southland Title (title and closing services), Southland Home Loans (mortgage lending via a 1003 app platform), Southland Landscapes, Southland Engineering Consultants, and Southland Designs. Core digital products include a free home valuation tool, a "Let Us Search For You" concierge home search service, an interactive county-level new construction search tool, and a password-protected agent portal. The underlying technology stack is described as a standard real estate listing and transaction management platform with ShowingTime integration for showing appointment scheduling; there is no disclosed proprietary technology or AI capability.

Southland generates revenue through traditional residential real estate commissions on closed transactions, with cross-sell economics across its affiliated service companies. Go-to-market is sales-led and agent-driven, combining direct agent outreach, a content blog (Southland Bulletin, established 2019), organic social media presence on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook, and map-based SEO property search. The firm is privately held by the Smith family, has no external funding, no public filings, and operates primarily across Knox, Anderson, Blount, Sevier, Jefferson, Loudon, Campbell, Claiborne, Morgan, Union, Grainger, Roane, Cocke, McMinn, Monroe, and Scott counties in East Tennessee.

Name

Southland Realtors

Legal name

Southland Realtors

Website

https://southlandrealtors.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1956

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Southland Realtors is a privately-held, family-owned residential real estate brokerage in Knoxville, Tennessee, serving East Tennessee with approximately 37 agents and a network of affiliated companies covering title, mortgage, commercial, land, property management, and design services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Residential Real Estate Brokerage

NAICS

Offices of Real Estate Agents and Brokers (53121), Real Estate Property Managers (53131)

SIC

Real Estate Agents & Managers (For Others) (6531), Loan Brokers (6163)

akta.pro primary industry

Traditional Residential Brokerage (Existing Homes) (BPAJAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

New Construction & Builder Sales (BPAJAAAB), Rural Residential & Acreage Homesites Brokerage (BPAJADAE), Residential Real Estate Brokerage (Buy/Sell) (FSAEAJAA)

Keywords

• Residential real estate brokerage
• Home buying services
• Property management
• Real estate consulting
• New construction sales

Headquarters

HQ city

Knoxville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Real Estate Commission: Traditional real estate commission-based revenue model. Agents earn commissions on completed transactions for both buying and selling residential properties. The company operates as a family of companies offering comprehensive real estate services including title, mortgage, property management, and landscaping, with revenue generated through real estate transaction commissions.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Southland Realtors is a full-service residential real estate brokerage serving Knoxville and East Tennessee, providing home buying, selling, and leasing representation. The firm operates as a family of affiliated companies spanning the full real estate lifecycle, including commercial brokerage, land sales, property management, title and closing services, mortgage lending, landscaping, design, and engineering consulting. A dedicated New Construction Division supports buyers purchasing newly built homes from partnering builders.

Product overview

Southland Realtors operates as a comprehensive 'one stop shop' real estate company offering residential brokerage services through its core Southland Realtors brand, complemented by an extensive family of affiliated companies covering every aspect of real estate: Southland Commercial Group (commercial leasing/sales), Southland Land Brokers (land sales), Southland Properties (property management), Southland Title (title/closing services), Southland Home Loans (mortgage lending), Southland Landscapes (landscaping), Southland Designs (design services), and Southland Engineering Consultants. The company provides new construction expertise through its dedicated New Construction Division, offering interactive search tools and builder partnership programs. Key digital products include a home valuation tool, buyer search concierge service, and agent portal.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Residential Real Estate Brokerage Full-service residential brokerage serving Knoxville and all of East Tennessee, with 37 licensed agents representing buyers and sellers of existing homes through the entire transaction from initial consultation to closing.
• New Construction Division

Quantifiable outcome

• Homes typically sell in 21 days in current market conditions
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Southland Land BrokerscoreOthersAffiliate company specializing in land sales and brokerage services. Part of the Southland family of companies offering comprehensive real estate services.
• Southland Commercial GroupcoreOthersCommercial real estate division handling commercial properties, businesses, hotels, motels, gas stations, retail, and multi-family transactions.
• Southland Home LoanscoreOthersIn-house mortgage lending services providing pre-approval and financing solutions for home buyers. Accessible through the company's 1003 app platform.
• Southland TitlecoreOthersTitle and closing services company handling the entire closing process for transactions facilitated by Southland Realtors agents.
• Southland Properties ManagementcoreOthersProperty management services for residential properties. Handles tenant placement, rent collection, and property maintenance.
• Southland LandscapesminorOthersLandscaping services available to home sellers during the listing process, including complimentary lawn mowing.
• Southland Engineering ConsultantsminorOthersEngineering and design consulting services for construction and development projects.
• Southland DesignsminorOthersInterior design and home design services for new construction and renovation projects.
• Smithbilt HomescoreOthersHome construction company founded in 1956 by Rufus Smith Jr. Parent company that established the Southland real estate brand. Three generations of family involvement in building affordable homes in East Tennessee.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• HomeSmart: National residential brokerage franchise growing share in secondary markets with agent-friendly economics. Comparable residential brokerage model and competes in overlapping agent-recruitment pools.
• Century 21: Global residential real estate franchise with Tennessee-area affiliates. Comparable as a competing brokerage offering similar transaction-commission services to East Tennessee buyers and sellers.
• RE/MAX: Globally recognized residential real estate franchise with agents in the Knoxville market. Comparable transaction-commission model serving residential buyers and sellers in the same regional market.
• Keller Williams Realty: Largest U.S. residential brokerage franchise with significant agent presence in Knoxville and East Tennessee. Competes for the same buyer/seller pool as Southland but operates at vastly greater scale with established training, lead-generation, and technology platforms.
• Coldwell Banker: National residential brokerage franchise with established Knoxville-area affiliates. Comparable as a competing traditional brokerage model serving East Tennessee home buyers and sellers, but with substantially larger brand and technology resources.
• Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices: National residential brokerage network with regional affiliates in Tennessee. Comparable commission-based model serving similar buyer/seller segments, with stronger national brand recognition.

Emerging players

• Compass: Tech-enabled national residential brokerage with proprietary platform and end-to-end transaction tools. Comparable buyer/seller segments in major Tennessee metros, with a stronger technology and marketing stack than Southland.
• eXp Realty: Cloud-based, tech-forward residential brokerage rapidly expanding agent count across secondary U.S. markets. Competes for agent recruitment and consumer mindshare via higher commission splits and digital tools, increasingly relevant in the Knoxville market.

Direct peers

• Crye-Leike Real Estate: Tennessee-headquartered residential brokerage with strong regional presence across the Mid-South. Comparable as a regional residential brokerage operating adjacent to Southland's East Tennessee footprint with similar commission-based model and family-of-services structure.
• Realty Executives Associates: Regional residential brokerage active in the Knoxville/East Tennessee market. Directly comparable as a competing local independent brokerage competing for the same buyer/seller pool.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/southland-realtors

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Southland Realtors