3804 Elkins Ave

The COVID-19 droplets flying through the Nashville air are having a diminishing effect on the residential real estate market.

Sales are climbing, with 378 properties going under contract between July 4-11, with 17 of those listed for over $1 million. Last week, that number climbed to 436 pending and 18 topping $1 million.

The 814 pending sales the last two weeks blasts the 452 for the same period in June, as do the 35 pending sales of $1 million-plus versus the 20 pending sales of $1 million-plus.

July is normally much quieter than June, but not in 2020. If the 17 upper-end sales a week number holds, it would break Nashville records for the category.

Those who are promoting downtown high-rises have seen a significant increase in traffic, as have brokers in resort areas like Highlands, North Carolina, as U.S. residents seem to have readjusted their lives and decided to spend more time in their second homes.

The Clifftop development in Monteagle had one of its most productive sales weeks ever with Middle Tennesseans buying second homes in the area.

Similarly, those whose permanent residences are in resort communities are looking at Nashville for their second homes, and those sales are skyrocketing.

If inventory ever catches demand, more records will fall.

Realtor Eric Johnson dies

Once again, the Nashville residential real estate market was dealt a devastating blow as news spread of the death of Eric “EJ” Johnson, one of Nashville’s most successful real estate brokers.

Johnson died after a brief, courageous battle with cancer. Eric teamed with his wife Julie and opened Your Move Real Estate on the corner of Charlotte and 46th in 2007.

After being named the Rookie of the Year by the Greater Nashville Realtors, Eric never stopped moving forward, selling more than $60 million in real estate during his star-studded career.

Greater Nashville Realtor past-president Christie Wilson, once Realtor of the Year for the state and the local Realtors, remembered Eric as “kind, professional and a person who always works to make the transaction successful for all parties.

“Eric and Julie were consummate professionals and were an awesome team, one that I loved to work with on transactions.”

A fixture in the real estate world, Eric will be missed by his colleagues.

Sale of the Week

June 6, 2002, was a historic day for the community known as Sylvan Park.

At the time, the Sylvan Park Restaurant occupied the spot now boasting Edley’s Bar-B-Que. Red Rooster had given way to Goldie’s Deli then Local Taco in the space now occupied by Pancho and Lefty’s Cantina.

Of course, the anchors of the neighborhood, Park Café and McCabe’s Pub, were there, but there was no roundabout, and home prices were the lowest in the area.

On that momentous day in 2002, 4601 Park Avenue sold for $425,000, the first sale in the neighborhood of more than $400,000. In the 13 months before the Park Avenue sale, only one home in Sylvan Park had sold for more than $275,000.

At $123 per square foot, the $425,000 left the real estate community in total disbelief. In the current market, a teardown on a decent lot would go for $425,000.

In today’s COVID-laden real estate environment, a home selling for $500,000 is still considered a bargain, and the house at 3804 Elkins Drive proves that point.

Veteran real estate wizard Robert Diehl listed the house for $499,000 and sold it for $505,000, with Realtor Patricia Bumpus Vance reeling in the prize for her clients.

Diehl hails from Village, and Bumpus from Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Woodmont Realty.

Village is the firm formerly known as Village Real Estate Services, a group that shortened its name. Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Woodmont Realty was formed as Woodmont Realty Group at smoke-filled Joe’s Village Inn, and recently its ownership bought a bunch of vowels and consonants, as well. It has become the biggest name in Nashville real estate when you go by number of letters in its name.

Bringing a price of $308 per square foot, the Elkins Drive property has 1,638 square feet with three bedrooms and two full bathrooms. Listing agent Diehl described the home as “an enchanting cottage with bamboo floors, granite countertops, tile backsplash and stainless-steel appliances.”

The HVAC and water heater were in stalled in 2015, and the light fixtures are “stylish,” Diehl says.

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