1715 Sweetbriar Avenue
The house at 1715 Sweetbriar Avenue recently sold basically off-market for $2.795 million for its 6,297 square feet, which includes five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and two fractional bathrooms.
A sale such as this is now commonplace as the money that has poured into the Belmont area has driven prices into the heavens.
In the early days of the redevelopment of Hillsboro Village – spurred by a young Mark Deutschmann and his embryonic company Village Real Estate Services – the properties on the west side of 21st Avenue South were considered much more valuable and desirable than those on the Belmont side of the road.
Many labeled Hillsboro Road/21st Avenue a “Line of DeMarkation” as the unintentional boundary divided the neighborhood had been established by Mr. Deutschmann, the reigning king of the Village.
As Village Real Estate Services expanded – or exploded, to be more accurate – the west side exhausted its inventory and buyers crossed the Great Divide.
The “Belmont” side had street names that were associated with forestry such as Beechwood, Hazelwood, Rosewood, Wildwood, Cedar, Elmwood, Primrose and the aforementioned Sweetbriar. Other real estate firms began to take note of the success in the “woods,” and soon signs from practically every real estate company in Nashville began to sprout among the foliage.
Village begat Parks, and soon devoured Pilkerton. Then Parks was swallowed – for the most part – by Compass, with some 237 agents deflecting to Onward, which is a child of Parks, Bob Parks and wife Marie Parks.
Marcie Nash of Pilkerton was the listing agent on with this home with its lofty sales price. Pilkerton has remained Pilkerton, at least for the time being.
Nash is the daughter of one of the most productive Realtors in Nashville’s history, one Nancy Ray. Wise and stern, Nancy Ray, in her day, could hold whip any agent in Nashville. It would not be a stretch to say that she may have found a tinge of enjoyment from the battles and their subsequent spoils.
Were there a Realtor’s Hall of Fame, she would have been enshrined years ago.
Marcie is her mother’s daughter, but with a sprinkle of compassion and a spoonful of fun. Many agents do not realize it when Marcie is annihilating them, and yet both sides always reach an equitable resolution.
Both were schooled by the legendary Shirley Zeitlin, the quintessential leader in affairs of real estate and the community for decades. She personified the successful woman in business, and both Ray and Nash no doubt gained immense knowledge while under her tutelage.
With the knowledge gleaned, experience gained and the line of DeMarkation long gone, Zach Carter found Marcie and the property before it was officially listed and brought his buyers to this gem built by Stone Oak Builders five years ago. Stone Oak has a reputation for quality construction and design. Their floorplans are timeless and their materials and craftsman unsurpassed.
The primary bedroom, often called the owner’s suite, has the best bathroom and closet in the house and the largest place for bedding is on the first floor. No owner should attempt stairs. The act is so un-owner like.
Nash noted in her posthumous remarks – the sale of the house was dead and buried when published – that “bedrooms 1-4 have ensuite bathrooms, and the fifth bedroom is in the basement with a bathroom across the hall from it.”
It would be a shame for anyone to be required to walk outside their bedroom to visit a bathroom in this market. Thank God for indoor plumbing, as outhouses would throw today’s homebuyers into a tizzy.
The house features a tankless water heater with a recirculating pump, Nash states. The recirculating pumps are necessary as the heating of the water wastes an amount of water equal to a small pond. While the energy is saved, the water is wasted. If a recirculating pump is added, the water is saved but the energy savings is compromised. But, like the ensuite bathrooms, tankless is a buzzword now and must be the source of hot water.
One positive thing to come out of tankless water heaters is that the term “hot-water heater” is passe, as the water would have had no need to be heated were it hot already. Yet now the term might hold some accuracy. The recirculating pump is, in fact, a hot-water heater.
Richard Courtney is a licensed real estate broker with Fridrich & Clark Realty and can be reached at [email protected].