For the four-week period beginning March 16 – the week before Mayor John Cooper’s Safer at Home order – residential sales in Davidson County increased each week. These sales topped out at 320 properties that went pending during the first full week after Gov. Bill Lee told Tennesseans to stay home.

The numbers dropped slightly last week to 253, only a couple less than the 255 of the prior week and more than the 215 pending sales the week before Mayor Cooper’s order.

Although total sales are down, the price range has expanded. There were 65 sales last week – all of these numbers are pending sales – between $150,000 and $250,000. As seen in earlier weeks, the majority of the sales fell in the $250,000-$400,000 range, with 104.

As prices rise, sales fall. There were 59 sales in the $401,000-$650,000 range. Following the trend for the past five weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, 228 of the 253 sales were $650,000 or less.

There were 10 pending sales in the $650,001 and $850,000 range, and two between $850,001 and $1 million.

The upper-end market, properties priced at $1 million or more, awakened for the first time since the financial havoc that devasted stock markets in the early going. There were six properties placed under contract that were $1 million-plus, and they were spread over the city.

A 505 Condominium was placed on the market and sold quickly after it was listed for $1.1 million, the exact price the owner paid for the condo last year, thereby answering the question of whether the owners could recoup their investment. Condominiums have held their value even in a pandemic-driven market.

There were two condo sales of $1.2 million or more in the Richland-West End development that, until recently, was home to Welch College, formerly Free Will Baptist Bible College. Additionally, a home in Oak Hill broke the $1 million mark, and a Hillwood house went under contract that had been listed for $1.5 million.

A new listing on Stanford Avenue has set the record for the five weeks of listlessness in the upper end, selling off-market for its listing price of $2.2 million or close to it. For the weeks between March 16-30, only one property of $1 million or more went into the pending category.

Real estate brokerage was classified as an essential business under both the Mayor Cooper’s and Gov. Lee’s orders, so all of this activity falls within the guidelines of the respective mandates.

Even with activity flourishing – March sales hit a record for that month – buyers are getting restless and eager to get houses onto the market and sold.

Based on some Facebook posts, some in the real estate business are seemingly so impatient that they might suffer non-COVID medical maladies if the workforce is not granted permission to return soon, fearing the market might go the way of the Hammond B-3 organ. The Hammond B-3 organ, once the most innovative musical instrument in high demand with its tone wheels, electromagnetic pickups and amps, is now reduced to a mere digital shadow of its former self.

Most firms have adopted the same guidelines for showing their listings, including mandating buyers wear booties, gloves and masks. There are no children allowed at showings, and showings must be scheduled so that two prospects are not in the homes at the same time.

As for marketing, more homes are being photographed with virtual presentations in mind, meaning more video. The Facebook Realtor pages are being utilized to a greater degree, and there is more communication among brokers than in the past. There is a new normal, at least until the vaccine.

Sale of the Week

If a modern-day Jed Clampett struck oil today it probably wouldn’t be profitable to pump it out of the ground or refine it, oil prices being what they are. Perhaps nephew Jethro could have founded an online dating service to give the family the millions of dollars they would need for television fame.

4017 Utah Avenue

Would they still move to California? Not likely. They could find a neighborhood befitting their newfound fortune much closer to their rural Bug Tussle, Tennessee, than Beverly Hills. They could, for example, load up the truck and move to Sylvan Park.

Last week, 4017 Utah Avenue sold for $1.049 million. It has 3,473 square feet, four bedrooms, four full bathrooms and two half-baths. Granny would be thrilled with her gourmet kitchen and Italian oven. While it lacks, the cement pond, there is room for a pool and cabana.

Jeanine Sandford represented the buyer, and Scott Richardson of heralded Bradford Real Estate was the listing agent.

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