So, what’s to come in 2023? Now those who write and speak about such things think the economy will falter in the early months and recover very slowly in the months that follow.

Having lived through what could be considered numerous recessions, real estate has always contributed to the fall of the empire. This time around, real estate should escape blame, along with the lenders who support the real estate market.

The past recessions were fueled by lenders loaning to buyers who should not have qualified for the loans. There were “no-doc” loans in which the borrower needed to do little to prove creditworthiness. Care to guess who was approved for those loans? Answer: People who were not credit-worthy.

There were loans with down-payment assistance that required almost no cash from the buyers with the seller paying all of the closing costs.

Care to guess who received these loans? Answer: People with no money.

These loans required no financial education or training to receive the loans. Organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Affordable Housing Resources both have educational programs, and their foreclosure rates hover slightly more than 1%.

Most people with no cash, bad employment history and a low credit score should not be able to buy houses, but they were. After a while, the lender was given the opportunity to take the house back, and they did.

In fact, they took back about 7.5 million homes during the Great Recession.

This time around, lenders were more diligent and required each buyer to endure a tedious process in order to be approved for the funds needed to close the loan.

Sale of the Week

While overall sales are declining, last week was another banner week for upper-end sales, this one for $8 million at 5020 Franklin Pike. The sale price is somewhat misleading since the buyer also paid for $1 million in custom finishes, listing agent Rebecca DiNapoli says.

5020 Franklin Pike

DiNapoli has fared quite well in upper-, upper-end sales over the past few years with many of those transactions coming through the Bricker Design Group, which designed this home on Franklin Pike. DiNapoli describes the house as having “2 ½ full kitchens.”

And the architects were fortunate to have received approval for the plans when they did. Shortly after construction began, the Oak Hill passed regulations forbidding multiple kitchens in a home. This was done in an effort to control the invasion of the Airbnb, DiNapoli says.

In the case of 5020 Franklin Road, the kitchens were scattered about in non-scullery fashion. One kitchen was the primary kitchen placed where a traditional kitchen would normally appear with access to places where the inhabitants would eat, such as the dining room or breakfast room.

Another kitchen is by the pool, while the half kitchen is in the basement and includes everything except a stove. In this price range, the term “lower level” is the preferred to basement.

The house sold for either $668 per square foot or $743 per square foot depending on which price is used.

Last week, a buyer asked Steve Fridrich how the price per square could vary so much in Belle Meade and why is there such disparity among comparable sales. Fridrich reminded him of a house he had just seen with no pool, no outside living area, lower ceiling height, smaller lot, a kitchen with no updates and a small, two-car garage.

When comparing price per square foot, none of those amenities have value.

While the scullery has elevated itself into the mandatory category in houses selling for more than $5 million, the “half kitchen” is a new term that will work its way into the real estate vernacular, Oak Hill excluded.

The house has it all and, even in a market with sparse upper-end inventory, Stephen Neal guided his buyers to their dream house. Additionally, Neal structured the real estate deal in a way that would benefit his buyers.

Neal is frequently found showing higher-end listings to clients, but also has been able to show homes in all price ranges from Donelson to Belle Meade to West Meade to this $8 million gem on Frankling Road, or Franklin Pike to those new to town.

When Franklin Road Academy, or FRA, changes its name to Franklin Pike Academy, or FPA, I will follow suit.

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