The real estate community has been waiting for this one to go from pending status to full closure. Everyone can breathe easier now. It has closed, but for less than the list price.
Veteran real estate broker Cathie Cato Renken of French King Fine Properties listed the home for a price that many considered out of the realm of reality at $14.9 million. The home can be found at 717 Westview in Belle Meade and begs a drive-by in order to witness the marvel.
The house is newly constructed by Novo Design Build, a highly regarded firm. If any builder could sell a house on a 1.85-acre lot for almost $15 million, it would be them.
The sale closed April 14 at $14.25 million, some $65,000 less than list price and at a mere $1,458 per square foot.
Price per square foot became a phenomenon years back when calculators began to sell for less than $10 apiece. Open houses were flooded with calculators attendees had accidentally left behind. Many often brought their own tape measures in order to measure the homes.
They were so disappointed to learn that the square footage of a home is not determined by the sum of the interior measurements of all of the rooms. For the record, square footage is determined by measuring the perimeter of the house.
What’s on the outside is not as important as the interior, as the seasoned Renken explained: “Immerse yourself in the timeless elegance of this French-inspired Villa, meticulously crafted with reclaimed materials from Europe.”
The house measures 9,775 square feet with six bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two half bathrooms. “The reclaimed materials,” Renken says, “were centuries old roof tiles and hand selected beams, flooring, fireplace mantels and lighting exuding rich patina.”
And the house has a name: “Provence.” Neither the Cartwright’s “Ponderosa” nor The Ewing’s “Southfork” can hold a candle to this house. There is an insurance company somewhere hoping nothing and no one will hold a candle to this house.
There is a three-car garage and a circular driveway. As one might imagine, the home has an in-ground pool, screened porch, gas grill and a covered porch, none of which are included in price per square foot.
The new owners were represented by Caroline Parks with Parks.
Who really owns your images?
There is a trend afoot wherein artificial intelligence is being used to scour websites past, present and future in attempts to find photographs of buildings, the Nashville skyline and other images that attorneys contend violate someone’s copyright.
In one case, the Realtor took a photo of the flowers adorning the Covenant School entrance after the horrific shooting, and news wire service claimed ownership. A person who hasn’t used one of his websites in years was subpoenaed by a West Coast law firm for a post on a website from more than 10 years ago.
Photographs are the property of the photographer.
There is the case in which the owner of a house did not like the photos the Realtor’s photographer had shot and provided some old photography she had paid a professional to shoot. When the real estate broker posted the photos that the owner supplied, the real estate firm and the broker were sued for copyright infringement and the court held in favor of the photographer. It always will. Laws are laws.
Real estate settlement news
As the great Yogi Berra once said, “It ain’t over till its over,” and that is the case with the $418 million settlement with the National Association of Realtors and the Department of Justice, which does not like a Realtor regulation called “clear cooperation.” I hate to tell the Department of Justice, but most Realtors do not like it either and wish it would go away.
As a matter of fact, the changes the settlement is forcing on Realtors are fine by me. Let’s do it and move on to better things. Most Realtors do not understand it. The fact is it really changes nothing.
Richard Courtney is a licensed real estate broker with Fridrich & Clark Realty, LLC and can be reached at [email protected].