Things have changed. Realtors have begun to incorporate the “price improvement” verbiage into their vocabularies and their postings, and many of the nearly 2,000 new Realtors in the area are venturing into uncharted waters with a sales technique known as “open houses.”

The open house phenomenon traditionally manifests itself Sunday afternoons, 2-4 p.m., producing varying degrees of success.

During the first open houses, the attendance is high as most of the visitors are labeled by homeowners as nosy neighbors or “looky loos.” By the time there is another open house, many of the neighbors have satisfied their curiosity, while one or two have decided they have befriended the Realtor and should keep the on-site agent company for the entire two hours every week until the house sells.

However, millions of houses have sold as a result of the process. In some cases, it is unknown why the properties did not appear on the buyers’ searches. No one knows why Zillow or Trulia did not see fit to match the houses with the buyers.

In many cases the buyers’ Realtors had ruled out properties for their buyers only to have the buyers love the properties.

It only takes one buyer and, as many buyers with suitcases full of rejected offers have learned, there can only be one buyer. Open houses can bring the buyers to their homes.

Sale of the Week

Keller Williams Realtor Tim Kyne is no stranger to new construction, representing hundreds of new homes over the years. Last week, Kyne closed on his listing at 4012B Wallace Lane, a home located a first-grader’s hike from Julia Green Elementary School.

4012B Wallace Lane

Even though the property is saddled with a “B” in its property address, Kyne is quick to note that the designation was through a mandate from the U.S. Postal Service rather than as a result of a lot being converted to an HPR (Horizontal Property Regime), a designation often associated with construction labeled “Tall Skinny.”

Not that there is anything wrong with tall skinnies.

This parcel is a single lot in the area commonly known as Green Hills, but when the subdivision was recorded with Metro it was filed under the name “The Lands of Henry W. Compton,” and that remains the official, legal description of the soil beneath Kyne’s listing.

Henry Compton’s name can be found in various land acquisitions throughout the city’s history and seems to be deserving of more recognition.

One William Neal received a 640-acre grant in the late 1700s along what is now Granny White Pike south of Tyne Boulevard, according to the website for the City of Forest Hills. Nash then sold a 160-acre tract to Henry Compton in the early 1800s.

During the Civil War’s Battle of Nashville, Confederate General John Bell Hood built a small fort known as a redoubt on property owned by Henry Compton Jr. This land was on the northwest corner of Hillsboro Pike and Harding Place.

Originally known as Compton’s Hill, the name was changed to Shy’s Hill when Colonel Shy was killed there. Additionally, the Compton family also owned land from St. Bartholomew’s Church on Granny White to Wallace Lane, hence the name for the land near Julia Green Elementary School.

There is little doubt that Henry Compton would have marveled at the home at 4012, whether it be A or B, or unlettered. Consisting of 7,498 square feet, the property sold for $4,602,950 or $627 per square foot.

With six bedrooms, six full bathrooms and three half bathrooms, the newly constructed manse rests on 1 acre of Mr. Compton’s former property. Kyne noted the kitchen features a 60-inch Wolf oven and opens into a beam-lined great room that would have made the Revolutionary War veterans and Civil War combatants alike feel right at home.

Terra L. Bell of Kelly Properties represented the buyer on a contract that was executed June 26, a couple of weeks after Federal Reserve met and announced the interest rate increase. The blockbuster moves by the Fed empowered buyers to be free to negotiate prices once again, and Terra and her clients were able to whittle the price from $4,699,000 to the final sales price of $4,602,950.

Even with the reduction, the property sold for more than $4.6 million in 16 days on the market, and the buyer received a new 7,498-square-foot house on a one-acre lot located in the middle of The Lands of Henry W. Compton.

Who could ask for anything more?

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