4002 Wallace Road

As John Lennon might have said: “I read the news last week, oh boy. The U.S. Fed had slightly raised the rates. And while the news was rather sad, I just had to laugh. I saw the charts and graphs.”

For the ninth time in the last year, the Federal Reserve raised the interest rate in another attempt to curb inflation. The Fed might need to check the arsenal for another weapon in fighting this stubborn enemy.

Last week, there were 379 houses that went under contract in Davidson County, as the mortgage industry had already factored in the Fed’s next move. For the same week last year, there were 296 residential properties that went under contract.

The continued rate increases have not slowed Nashville-area sales, and multiple-offer scenarios pervade the market.

Buyers are more confused now than when the market was hot. They expect a cooler market, and it’s just not there. Those who monitored interest rates during the COVID years find the current rates to be inconceivable, while others remember being excited to see a 30-year fixed rate at less than 7%.

Many lenders who were 4.6% last year are now quoting 6.5%. In non-jumbo loans, many buyers are opting for 1/1 buydown in which the rates could be 4.5% the first year, 5.5% the second year and then 6.5% for the duration of the loan.

Many think the 4.46% fixed rate of last year won’t return for several years.

Sale of the Week

Realtor Gary Ashton has bult an empire in the Greater Nashville area, spending hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years marketing his team with his tag line “Don’t Sell without the Intel.” Ashton originally came to Nashville from England to pursue a career in music after having successful bands in Leeds.

Ashton’s band had opened for popular several major acts such as Tears for Fears, Chis De Burgh and the incomparable, insatiable Joe Cocker.

He began his real estate career after moving to Nashville in 2001, his pivotal point coming when he joined RE/MAX Elite. In 2007, Ashton was a “Top 3” Realtor in the sales and earnings for his group of over 400 agents.

Ashton has the No. 1 RE/MAX team in the world and recently achieved that award for the second consecutive year. His slogan in a fixture of billboards and radio, with only Mark Spain competing for comparable airtime. Spain is sporting a new hairdo in his recent boards.

Last week, the Ashton team closed 4002 Wallace Lane for $3.72 million following an original listing price of $3.95 million in August.

In the “private remarks” section of Realtracs, a section seen only by his fellow realtors, Ashton shared some intel, noting the same builder sold a comparable home a few doors down for $4.6 million in August 2022, and another builder sold a few doors down for $4 million in May 2022.”

Both of those sales were before the Fed’s fall and winter attacks on interest rates.

With that work of the Federal Reserve in play, Ashton was forced to reduce the house by $160,000 in September and another $100,000 in October before in went under contract. For reasons that are unknown and irrelevant, the sale fell through, and the home reentered the market in February.

With the market having spoken to Ashton that the number $3.69 million was a marketable price, he stuck with it, and upon reentry to the market a bidding war ensued with three offers. Sadly, for the other two agents, one of the bidders was represented by Richard Bryan, known as the hardest-working agent in the business.

Bryan has a few trophies of his own and has led the Greater Nashville Realtors in both the category for most listings and most closed sales on numerous occasions throughout the years. His clients paid $30,000 more than list price, and the house closed for $3.72 million, once again proving the adage that if a house is worth what someone will pay, and every house has a sweet spot as far as pricing.

If a house is underpriced, the market will raise the waters, and the right price will float to the top. The property was co-listed by Jonny Lee of the Ashton team, and the first comments in the remarks state “Contact co-list agent with questions.” Jonny had the intel on this one.

The owner, a keen negotiator himself, had bought the house for $2.5 million in 2020, so he made over $1 million on this transaction.

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