703 Bowling

The year 2022 will long be remembered as a time of contradiction, confusion and complete chaos in the Nashville real estate market.

Having experienced a two-year frenzy of buyers fighting mano y mano for housing in bidding wars unlike this area has ever witnessed, the Federal Reserve decided to put a stop to all of that by raising the interest rates by 250 basis points. The rate hikes occurred in March, June, July and September.

Those moves ended all of this foolishness. Or did it?

Last week, Steve Fridrich sold the house at 703 Bowling – the multigenerational home of the Frist family, including Hospital Corporation of America founder Thomas F. Frist, Sr. and his son, former Sen. Willam H Frist, M.D. – for $18 million.

Bowling connects West End to Woodmont with a four-way stop at Woodlawn between the two points. In short, it is neither in Belle Meade nor is it on a sprawling pasture or in a forest.

The house is beautifully set upon 4.33 manicured acres designed by Nashville master landscape architect Ben Page, whom Fridrich noted brought the family’s sense of fun to the property with “the addition of a three-hole golf course, a pool, a pool house and a spa seamlessly next to the curated rose garden, koi pond.”

In his opening remarks on the Multiple Listing Service, Fridrich described the property as follows:

“Three generational 1920s Neo-Classical style home elevated to this intown estate by architect Daniel Lee and acclaimed designer Barry Dixon.

“Working closely together, the axial lines were extended, and rooms were opened to create easy circulation while preserving the handsome original staircase in the entry.”

For those unfamiliar with the term “axial line,” it is defined as “the line between two adjacent dermatomes that are not represented by immediately adjacent spinal levels.”

That could be why the house brought the big bucks.

Those observing the massive renovation years ago noticed that most of the home was demolished with the grand staircase standing alone as the crumbled remains of the house were sent to their final resting place.

Steve Fridrich has represented various members of the Frist family in many of their real estate dealings through the years and, as a matter of fact, has the property owned by Thomas Frist at 1304 Chickering Road listed for $50 million.

To no one’s surprise, Fridrich also delivered the buyer to 703 Bowling, as his connections run deep in the community. Not that it matters, but the house was listed for $20 million and sold for $1,395 per square foot.

In years past, buyers always pointed to recent sales and their respective prices per square foot in order to determine the value of listed properties. Following that logic, a 3,000-square-foot home on Bowling would be worth $4.185 million. But don’t suggest that to the Metro tax assessor.

The Bowling house includes 12,901 square feet with a 924-square-foot pool house. Included in the house are six bedrooms, eight full bathrooms and three half bathrooms.

Fridrich noted that the taller windows in the Daniel Lee design allowed the residence to be flooded with natural light and that most of the bedrooms have their own fireplace, keeping the feeling of the abode cozy and warm.

Interestingly, the taxes on the house at present are $92,601.59 with Metro appraising the property at $11,265,400, sending down the toilet another method buyers once used as a means of determining the values of houses.

Once again, using the 703 Bowling house as a comparable sale and using the tax appraisal as a basis, houses should sell for $6.734 million more than the Metro evaluation. That is ludicrous, of course, but only slightly more than assuming and proposing that the Metro appraisal has any value since no one from there has set foot inside the home.

So, what now? Transactionally, sales are off in the Nashville area by 13%, yet that is misleading. This time last year, 757 houses had closed for $1 million-plus in Davidson County. This year, 917 houses have sold in Davidson County for $1 million-plus.

That 160 more $1 million-plus houses in 2022, an increase of 21%.

There have been 18 sales of $5 million or more this year compared to 15 last year for the same period. There are another 16 on the market, or slightly less than a one-year supply.

With inventory expanding, the rise in upper-end sales conflicts with overall sales figures and basic economic tenets. There are 359 upper-end houses on the market, and the market is devouring about 87 of those houses per month, meaning there is a four-month supply. A six-month supply is considered balanced.

By real estate standards, it remains a seller’s market, although not as much as it was last year.

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