It was reported in this column on August 11 that $1 million-plus homes in Davidson County were lagging behind the previous year and sales of $2 million-plus were few and far between. What a difference a month makes.

Since August 11, there have been 24 sales of $1 million or more compared to 21 for the same period last year. Also, there has been a $4.5 million sale, while the top sale in the same six weeks in 2014 was a mere $2.1 million.

And there were four sales for $2 million-plus in this period this year compared to three for last year.

A check of homes sales between $900,000 and $999,000 reveals that there were four sales last year and four this year, plus nine in the $800,000s compared to 12 last year.

However, the $700,000 category had the largest jump with 24 since August 11 compared to 12 last year. As was mentioned six weeks ago, everything under $700,000 is afire and remains so.

One explanation for the acceleration is that there are more houses coming on the market, and the scorched-earth inventory is again bearing some fruit. If sellers had confidence they could find suitable housing, there would be more sales. There is enough demand to drive significantly more sales, yet the supply has been depleted in the past months.

The main impediment to growth is affordability for families. In the condominium market, there are some units selling for workforce-type prices, but they are less than 700 square feet with only one bedroom and one bath.

Sale of the Week

Last Week, 1107 Shelby Street in the Lockeland Springs section of East Nashville sold for $499,000, the last in a series of six sales dating to 2000. In a realty roller coaster ride, the house sold for $61,500 in 2000, then for $105,000 in 2002 and $149,900 in 2005 as the area was developed.

The Great Recession took its toll on that owner, and the house was foreclosed in January, 2010 with HUD taking possession for $150,491, a number that most likely represented the amount owed on the house. From appearances, the loan was close to 100 percent of the original sales price, although there could have been some unpaid interest added.

The house did not sell again, even as a foreclosure, until September of 2010 when it was purchased for $135,000. At that time, the listing agent’s remarks stated $4,510 was needed for required FHA/THDA repairs, meaning that FHA would not fund a loan for the house in its current condition.

And since FHA was about the only place funding loans in 2010, someone needed some cash to get in this one, which is why it sat on the market.

As foreign as it seems some five years later, most of the houses being purchased in 2010 were by first-time homebuyers taking advantage of the federal government’s first-time buyer’s program, which was a tax credit of $8,000 for any first-time home buyer. Without that program, the recovery would have been stalled in Nashville and certainly nationwide. That program accounted for a large percentage of the area’s sales at that time.

With all of that behind us, homeowners are able to renovate, add square footage and capitalize on their investments, as the owner of 1107 Shelby did when he expanded the home from 1,197 square feet to its current 2,308 square feet.

He then sold the house for $217 per square foot after acquiring the property for $112 per square foot. At $112 per square foot, there were significant flaws and, as listing agent Kortney Wilson of Village Real Estate Services wrote, this was a “historic renovation paired with a contemporary addition giving the buyer the best of both worlds.”

The perennial favorite, Dianne Rucker of RE/MAX Choice properties, represented the buyer and was able to negotiate a $10,000 price reduction along with $5,000 in seller paid closing costs for her client.

In her Realtor remarks, Wilson noted the property is located in the “GPZ for Lockeland.” Those among you who do not follow public schools may wonder what a GPZ is. It is a “Geographic Priority Zone,” and those, according to MNPS, are “designated areas surrounding a school in which residents have priority in enrollment.”

For this property, the GPZ is for the Lockeland Elementary Design Center.

Even with the GPZ zoning, the students housed in 1107 Shelby might not make the cut to be admitted to the Lockeland Elementary Design Center, but they are eligible. Many a parent has bought property in a GPZ only to be denied the school. The GPZ gives residents priority but no guarantees.

Richard Courtney is a real estate broker with Christianson, Patterson, Courtney, and Associates and can be reached at [email protected].