With the number of COVID cases growing and the White House slapping the city on the wrist for its behavior, it would seem logical that residential real estate activity would slow. Yet it continues to move forward.

Signs for open houses can once again be seen in yards across the area each Sunday, adorning the landscape trying to survive in the heat.

Attendance is off in the open houses, but people continue to shop. Most are masked, while others are defiant in their refusal. Some say they simply forgot to pack a mask, not knowing they would happen upon an open house that might be of interest.

A couple of the primary election races have become heated and, from neighborhood to neighborhood, the yard signs usually portend how voting will go in those respective districts in the primaries and general election. Counting yard signs is an inexpensive, unscientific way of seeing how the elections will go.

As a rule, presidential election years tend to be good for real estate, as there seems to be a magic button that sitting presidents running for reelection can push that make the economy – especially real estate – soar around the time of the election. The button is likely less of a weapon this year with COVID-19 framing the debate.

Still, residential real estate in the Greater Nashville area is set to continue to break records in spite of COVID-19.

Another landmark date for spiking real estate sales is the day schools open in the fall, at least that has been the case for decades.

It seems strange that families would spend the summer in their homes, get the children settled into schools and then decide to move, but that is the way the market has trended. This year, with the uncertainty about school openings, there has been erratic behavior in the real estate market concerning Nashville residents moving into different Nashville residences.

The strength the real estate market is experiencing is due to the influx of businesses relocating to town, moves that were set in motion in the pre-COVID days. Usually, the companies relocating to town do so in a staggered fashion with various departments moving one at a time. It would be impractical, if not impossible, to halt the relocation in mid-move, leaving a portion of the company at the old headquarters and the others in their new digs in Nashville.

Sale of the Week

Mayfair Road is a side street off West End Avenue and leads into a neighborhood known as Cherokee Park. Cherokee Road is the main thoroughfare in the area.

Naming the street and the development after the Native American tribe was as far as the developer went with the Native American theme. Included in Cherokee Park are streets such as Lauderdale, Valley, Mockingbird and Aberdeen, all bordering the Historic Richland-West End neighborhood to the east.

Somewhere along the way, those dwelling in Cherokee Park decided that if Richland is historic, Cherokee Park could be, as well. So when Caroline Rosenberg listed her home at 114 Mayfair Road, she opted in to the Historic Cherokee Park classification, describing her house as “an updated ranch in the heart of Historic Cherokee Park.”

A doctor from Texas recently asked a group of Nashvillians the difference between a ranch and a farm. The best answer any in attendance could offer was that ranches are farms in Texas. Ranch-style houses, however, can be anywhere, and Nashville is loaded with them. This one being historic.

Rosenberg is with The Josh Anderson Group Real Estate Services, LLC, the offspring of entrepreneur Josh Anderson, who has built a dynasty with the marketing, recruiting and training a solid team of high-achieving real estate agents.

Rosenberg is no exception and sold her 2,003-square-foot home for $725,500, or $362 per square foot last week.

Grace Clayton, who could be a standup comic were she not such a successful stand up real estate agent, represented the buyer, a role in which she is very comfortable. Grace is with Engel and Voelkers Nashville, an international firm that affiliated with the company formerly known as Neal Clayton Realtors, founded by the venerable Neal Clayton, who serves as uncle to the affable Grace.

The house at 114 Mayfair has three bedrooms, two full bathrooms and one-half bathroom. It was once the home of the British music author Andrew Vaughn, who recently relocated to Memphis and is entering the real estate practice there. Seems a peculiar move, but maybe the Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis vibe lured him.

When Vaughn lived there 1999-2001, the house was bought for $205,000 after selling in 1995 for $139,900 and 1997 for $172,000. Selling in 2003 for $235,000, the property jumped to $270,000 in 2005 when some renovation was done. Two years later, the house sold for $450,000, then $463,000 in 2015 and last week brought the $725,500 price tag.

To recap: After the original owner bought in 1949, the house sold in 1958, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2015 and 2020.

With each sale, there was appreciation in the value going from $139,000 to $172,000 to $205,000 to $235,000, then $270,000, and the big jump following the addition to $450,000, a slight move to $463,000 when Rosenberg bought the house in 2015, then all the way to the $725,500 mark.

We will check in 2022 and see if history repeats itself in Historic Cherokee Park.

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