Shelter in new place: Home sales rise despite precautions

From The Nashville Ledger | April 10, 2020

As the Corona virus continues to spread across Davidson County, the number of pending home sales continues to rise.

For the week ending Monday, April 6, the week of Gov. Bill Lee’s executive order mandating that Tennesseans stay at home, 255 properties were placed under contract. That number compares to the 231 properties that went under contract the week following Mayor Cooper’s Safer at Home order.

To give these number some context, there were 215 units that went under contract the week before either of the two branches of government told its respective citizens to stay home. Either the residential real estate market actually is as essential as the pharmacies, grocery stores and other businesses identified as “essential services,” or real estate brokers and their clients are acting irresponsibly, or a combination of both.

More than 1,200 people died in the United States on Saturday from complications of COVID-19.

National leaders such as the surgeon general have predicted this week will be the worst and have begged everyone to stay home. It will be interesting to see how many homes are sold this week.

The sales numbers have been increasing each week for several weeks. Of note, March is always a strong month in Nashville, always better than February.

Of the 255 contracts last week, 190 were for less than $400,000, and 53 were in the $401,000-$750,000 range. Only one was for more than $1 million.

Those numbers are consistent with the week before when 166 houses sold for less than $400,000, and 54 sold in the $401,000-$750,000 range. There were 231 sales that week.

It will take several months for the sales to cycle through to see if the pandemic affected the values of properties, but, hopefully, by the time all of these pending sales begin to close, things will return to whatever normal is at that point and there will be no effect on the market.

GNR award winners

The Greater Nashville Realtors had scheduled a March 14 gala celebrating the accomplishments of its members. Leadership of the group boldly and wisely canceled the popular event in the wake of the pandemic and held a virtual awards ceremony that was streamed live with only the award winners and the presenters present in person.

Julie Casassa of Zeitlin Sotheby’s International Realty won Realtor of the Year, the most prestigious honor the association bestows on a member, given to the Realtor member who made the most significant contribution to clients, the real estate profession and the community.

Casassa certainly embodies those traits and has exhibited all during a spectacular 30-year career in real estate. She is a graduate of the Greater Nashville Realtors Leadership Academy and has served for years on the board of directors for the Realtors. Casassa is a most worthy recipient of this award.

A major contributor to the Realtors Political Action Committee (RPAC), along with her chairing of the association’s legislative committee, helped land her the position of RPC trustee. Additionally, Casassa’s leadership qualities have been exhibited as chairperson of the Grievance Committee, one of the most important and difficult committees within the organization.

Several other members garnered awards at the ceremony, including:

? Rookie of the Year: Grant Burnett of Parks.

? Top Listing Agent: Tom Repass of Fridrich and Clark Realty

? Top Individual Selling Award: Nina Lampley of Compass

? Rising Star Award: Jim Youngblood of DeSelms Real Estate

? Good Neighbor Award: John Brittle

? Megan Menke won the Affiliate of the Year, the top honor for affiliate members

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