Nashville Real Estate

Nashville top lists – 8th Best Real Estate Market and more!

Holly White — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 15:39:55 +0000

Great news!! According to our latest GNAR newsletter! Nashville just keeps getting better and has made "the list". Make that several lists!

• 2nd most cost-attractive business location – KPMG, March 2012

Nashville’s ranking was driven by low costs for industrial and office leasing, and cost advantages in transportation and salaries. Have a business and need to expand?? This is the place to do it!)

• 8th best real estate market in U.S. – February 2012

How about some love in this arena?!! 8th in the U.S., That's the whole United States of America. All of it.

• 10th most frugal city in country – Coupons.com, February 2012

Come on, you know you love to save.

• 1st in “Destination on the Rise” – Tripadvisor.com, December 2011

Did you hear about the new partnership with Dollywood and Gaylord Opryland to bring a new year round water and snow theme park to Nashville??

It's coming! Spring of 2014. Bring your swimsuit. Then bring your snow tube!

• 4th “creative vitality” city in the U.S. – December 2011

Anyone visited the 12th South District, Music Row or East Nashville lately? It's smokin' hot!

• 4th in Job Creation in U.S. – Gallup, April 2012

See above in how cost attractive we are to business! It's no wonder we're creating jobs left and right!

• 5th fastest growing job marketing in U.S. – BLC, 2012

Again, wow, see above. The jobs just keep on coming!

So there you have it. The writing's on the wall. Nashville rocks (no pun intended…okay maybe a little one) at pretty much everything. What are you waiting for?! Visit Nashville once and you'll want to call it home. I'll help you. Call me. Holly 615-307-0771.

The home didn’t appraise for the sales price, now what?

admin — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:21:03 +0000

So you have listed your home for sale or you put a home under contract to buy but the appraisal came back short of the sales price. What do you do now? Well there are several different scenarios that could go down and I’ll explain them here as they relate to TN real estate.

But first a word on appraisers. back in the day a mortgage broker or loan officer could and did order the appraisal from a lenders approved list of appraisers. They might choose a particular appraiser over another because of their area of expertise within the geographical area. Middle Tennessee is a large area and an appraiser that generally works the Brentwood area for example may not be as articulate in the 12 South area in Nashville. As such, the loan officer would more than likely order the appraisal from an appraiser they knew had a good working knowledge of the area where the home under contract (subject property) was located. Now then, fast forward to today where because of the recent changes to the HVCC (Home Valuation Code of Conduct) through Fannie Mae, mortgage brokers and loan officers can no longer order the appraisal directly. The order comes from the lender who may be out of California or New Hampshire or some other far away state, NOT Nashville TN, and is picking from a hat, so to speak, the appraiser to do the job. If an “approved” appraiser who may not be familiar AT ALL with the area is chosen out of that proverbial hat, you can see where an appraisal may not get the most accurate assessment. What happens next? Well for starters:

1. In Tennessee according to the Tennessee Association of Realtors Purchase and Sale Agreement, if the appraised value does not meet or exceed the sales price the buyer can at their discretion simply terminate the contract and get their earnest money back. …….But what if you (as the buyer) REALLY want the house? Then,

2. The buyer’s agent and seller’s agent do a comparative market analysis and provide to the loan officer additional comparables in support of the sales price in hopes that the lender will review them and ask for a review by the appraiser to adjust the appraised value. AND/OR the buyer, depending on the lender they use, may have an option to pay the difference between the appraised value and the agreed upon purchase price and continue on with the contract. Believe it or not, this happens more frequently than you might think because of what I like to call “botched” appraisals. Meaning we got a bad appraisal (see the first paragraph) and the lender was not willing to re-valuate.

3. The buyer and seller go back to the drawing board and re-negotiate the terms of the contract so that the sales price meets the appraised value. For example, let’s say the seller included $5,000 of the buyer’s closing costs in the purchase and sale agreement, but the appraised value was $5000 less than the sales price. The buyer and seller could agree that the seller would not pay any of the buyer’s closing costs and lower the sales price to the appraised value and it becomes a wash. There are many other ways a buyer and seller could re-negotiate, but that’s a start. If all else fails as the buyer, revert back to # 1. and termite the contract, get your earnest money back and get back out there and find another home to buy!

Historic Renovated Bungalow in Lockeland Springs – East Nashville TN

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:58:38 +0000

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 1236112 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

Immaculate Renovated Condo for sale in Bellevue TN

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 00:48:25 +0000

We're sorry, but we couldn't find MLS # 1232222 in our database. This property may be a new listing or possibly taken off the market. Please check back again.

FHA at it’s best

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 16:22:15 +0000

I received an email from a mortgage broker and friend today and felt compelled to pass it on. It’s a forward . Please do not drink anything while you are reading this as it may very well be spit out or come through your nose from laughter.

Sometimes, no matter what we do as real estate professionals, being the best just isn’t good enough. Especially when it comes to bureaucracy…. (This is one big quote, and I wish I knew the attorney, I would personally call him and thank him for his service.)

Part of rebuilding New Orleans caused residents often to be challenged with
the task of tracing home titles back potentially hundreds of years. With a
community rich with history stretching back over two centuries, houses have
been passed along through generations of family, sometimes making it quite
difficult to establish ownership. Here’s a great letter an attorney wrote to
the FHA on behalf of a client:

You have to love this lawyer………

A New Orleans lawyer sought an FHA loan for a client. He was told the loan
would be granted if he could prove satisfactory title to a parcel of
property being offered as collateral. The title to the property dated back
to 1803, which took the lawyer three months to track down. After sending the
information to the FHA, he received the following reply.

(Actual reply from FHA):

“Upon review of your letter adjoining your client’s loan application, we
note that the request is supported by an Abstract of Title. While we
compliment the able manner in which you have prepared and presented the
application, we must point out that you have only cleared title to the
proposed collateral property back to 1803. Before final approval can be
accorded, it will be necessary to clear the title back to its origin.”

Annoyed, the lawyer responded as follows:

(Actual response):

“Your letter regarding title in Case No.189156 has been received. I note
that you wish to have title extended further than the 206 years covered by
the present application. I was unaware that any educated person in this
country, particularly those working in the property area, would not know
that Louisiana was purchased by the United States from France in 1803, the
year of origin identified in our application. For the edification of
uninformed FHA bureaucrats, the title to the land prior to U.S. ownership
was obtained from France , which had acquired it by Right of Conquest from
Spain . The land came into the possession of Spain by Right of Discovery
made in the year 1492 by a sea captain named Christopher Columbus, who had
been granted the privilege of seeking a new route to India by the Spanish
monarch, Queen Isabella. The good Queen Isabella, being a pious woman and
almost as careful about titles as the FHA, took the precaution of securing
the blessing of the Pope before she sold her jewels to finance Columbus ‘s
expedition. Now the Pope, as I’m sure you may know, is the emissary of Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, and God, it is commonly accepted, created this
world. Therefore, I believe it is safe to presume that God also made that
part of the world called Louisiana . God, therefore, would be the owner of
origin and His origins date back to before the beginning of time, the world
as we know it, and the FHA. I hope you find God’s original claim to be
satisfactory. Now, may we have our loan?”

The loan was immediately approved.

(These are the same geniuses charged with the Government mortgage bailout.)

Lockeland Springs – Historic East Nashville TN

admin — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 00:18:57 +0000

Comprised of about 1500 homes, Lockeland Springs is a turn of the century street car suburb of Nashville turned into one of the hottest areas to live in in East Nashville and all of Nashville. Lockeland Springs was named after Jane “Locke” Weakley, the wife of Col. Robert Weakley who built the very first mansion in the area in the early 19th Century. Many estates followed Lockland like Edgewood, Springside and Lynnlawn and the subdivision of those estates started in the 1870′s. With the completion of the Woodland Street bridge in 1886, and in 1890 the link to downtown from East Nashville, electric street cars made it possible for the less than wealthy to be able to live in the area and still travel to downtown easily.

Architecturally, Lockeland Springs includes Eastlake, Queen Anne, Classic Revival and Bungalow style homes. In the tornado of 1998, over 300 homes were damaged or destroyed but since then has rebounded and is flourishing. The Five Points area of Lockeland Springs is a popular hot spot full of food, music, coffee, art, wine, organics, ice cream, and hot dogs, yes, hot dogs.

A Celebration of Home is annual tour of Lockeland Springs homes and business’s showing off what a beautiful community this really is. This year, the tour is December 11th from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. & the 12th from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Tickets are 10:00 in advance at just about every retail establishment in the area or you buy them online atwww.lockelandsprings.org.

Humbled by flooding – Tennessee really is the “Volunteer” state

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 17:42:23 +0000

There is a popular phrase going around town right now: “We are Nashville” and if you have witnessed any of the devastation from the recent floods in Middle Tennessee and the outpouring of help given by the locals in Nashville you’d understand that phrase immediately. The last I heard we were up to over $1.6 Billion dollars in damages and yet not much has been said about in the national media. Sad. But we’ve come to realize that it’s probably because you haven’t seen the looting and violence that would typically go on with such a horrific event. Contrarily, you’ve seen help, and lots of it. We’ve all kicked in and gotten in the trenches and helped those who were helpless. Even the Tennessee Titans came out to help. Check out this Video:

This is why I’m in love with Nashville. I’m proud to call it home. I’m proud to be Realtor here. I’m proud of our community. And this is why “We Are Nashville”.

Even fresh clean water is vital and we have it!

If you’d like to help, please visit www.HON.org (Hands On Nashville) or www.NashvilleRedCross.org and find out the best way for you to donate your time, talent or treasure.

Behind the can is Jarrod Lord of Anheuser-Busch helping us give water.

The Paddocks of Mt Juliet – Walmart NOW OPEN!!

admin — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:48:44 +0000

Everyone living in Mt. Juliet have certainly seen the buzz surrounding The Paddocks of Mt. Juliet and experienced first hand the wonderful new store opening of Lowe’s a couple of months ago. Well, I am happy to report that Wal-Mart has just opened their doors today! This much anticipated store opening will certainly have all the holiday shoppers clinging to their carts for what will no doubt be the highest producing store in the city. I personally am happy to see Wal-Mart’s doors open so that the friendly price competition can begin between Kroger (in our beloved Providence) and WalMart. Not long from now, we’ll also see the doors to the brand new Publix at Providence open as well and it’ll be gloves off!

Some particulars about the Mount Juliet Walmart go as follows:

It’s location is: 300 Pleasant Grove Road, Mt. Juliet, TN 37122
It takes up 176,330 square feet of real estate
It employee’s over 350 people
It’s store manager, Bruce Abbott, started with Walmart in 1989
It will be open 24 hours a day 7 days a week
The store phone number is 615-758-1121
There are still (as of today) some full time positions open and you can apply in store or via www.walmart.com

Mt Juliet continues to grow, and as it does, I’ll be bringing the news. Until then, enjoy Walmart!!

Nashville’s Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure 2009 in Brentwood TN

Holly White — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:16:01 +0000

Just finished a 5k race this morning that’s very near and dear to my heart. I started running the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure in Nashville several years ago when one of my best friends, Hannah, at 27 years old found out she had breast cancer. She is a survivor after having gone through a double mastectomy and lots of chemo and radiation thankfully. And since then, Breast cancer has found its way to another very dear friend at age 29, Sarah, who I am happy to say is also a survivor but a high school friend of mine wasn’t so fortunate. Breast cancer made it’s way through Jennifer’s body and we lost her just a few months ago at age 36. I guess the reason I am saying all of this is so that young women are aware of the potential threat of breast cancer in their own lives. It seems to be finding it’s way to young women in higher numbers these days, so if you’re a woman reading this at any age, please make sure you are doing monthly self examinations and don’t skip out on your annual visit to the doc.

Please support breast cancer awareness non-profit research and treatment organizations. Your contributions really do make a difference.

Even competing Realtors can run together! Me & my bff Jen Mason of Crye-Leike Realtors

Running for the kids at the Country Music Marathon

Holly White — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 15:28:05 +0000

I have never really been a “real” runner. I mean I ran in high school (the 400 or 1/4 mile, a long sprint) and spring forward 20 years, I have been running for the Susan G. Komen Foundation for breast cancer awareness and the search for a cure (a 5K run which is about 3 miles and everything I can do to get to the finish line every year) but I never REALLY thought I would run long distance…. until Darbi. My teammate and partner in crime (not really, just a figure of speech, work with me here people) Darbi Bolton convinced me in December to join Team Rio (the team that Marty Roe and Jimmy Olander of Diamond Rio formed) and run for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee. When I said yes I really had no idea what I was up against. 13.1 miles. What in the world was I thinking??? The first cold Saturday morning we ran early in January was an “easy” 2 miler. Gahhhhhhh! I barely made it. The next week was 2.5 miles. Gasp! Choke! Gasp! I need a respirator! …But somehow I made it. The next week was 3 miles, again, not sure how, but I did it. This went on for months and was going great until a brisk cool morning in early March for a 6 mile run in the gorgeous but all hills Percy Warner Park that starts at the dead end of Belle Meade Boulevard (unbelievable scenery, trust me, just go there and take a walk sometime). I was about 4 miles into it when I felt something weird in my knee. Keep in mind my knees aren’t the best and always bothered me when I ran anyway but this felt a little different. I made it to the end and was sore but walking. We were to do a 5 mile run the next day and my buddy Darbi and I decided to keep it flat and ran the Maryland Farms area in Brentwood. She had been experiencing some discomfort in her hip and was really feeling the knee and by the time we finished, both of us were down. I had chipped some cartilage in my knee from the arthritis and developed a bursa and she had a stres fracture in her hip. To come that far only to find out that we possibly wouldn’t be able to complete the race was crushing. She was in physical therapy and I was on rest. I rested for two weeks and ice was my best friend when I started feeling like Super Woman so I threw on a knee brace and off I went on a grueling 8 miler in the pouring rain in 38 degree weather. Not the best choice in hindsight. I finished but it set me back another 3 weeks and a trip to the Sports Med Ortho for a check-up resulted in a nasty and painful cortisone shot. Those extra 3 weeks I was off was mentally torturous. Everyone was passing me up, would I be able to catch up? The first trial was the dreaded hill training of Percy Warner. It was 7.5 miles of pure determination… and I did it!!! And guess what? The next week I was back with the team…. at Percy Warner AGAIN! This time it was 12.47 miles of exhilaration! I breezed through it! I could have gone another few miles with no problems! This was two weeks ago. The next week, Darbi got the okay from her doc t get back on the trail, and boy did she! With over a month and a half completely off running she bounced back with our 6 miler at the Stone Hollow Dam in Hermitage. Another great run that meanders along the river and she did it with force!

Well, it’s now ONE WHOLE DAYuntil the race. That’s right, the race is tomorrow morning and it’s consumed my nearly every thought (That’s right, Holly White has hardly thought about real estate AT ALL today!). I could barely sleep last night and have had to stop writing this twelve times so that I could bounce around because the thought of that finish line is making my heart want to come right out of my chest.

And the best news is both Darbi and I met our goals for fund-raising for Big Brothers Big Sisters so every step will be for them tomorrow…okay that’s a lie, some of them will be for me too.

What a beautiful mess we're in!!

UPDATE:

I should have updated this sooner, but well, I digressed for a month (selling real estate is busy business!).

Running backwards for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Middle Tennessee at the Country Music Marathon in Nashville. The sign behind me was from Belmont Church and it said "run with perserverence the race marked out for you", "You Can Do It!", and boy did I need that inspiration right about then!

I FINISHED!! That’s right I made it to the finish line and it was one of the biggest personal challenges on my life. I got tripped about 1 minute after this photo was taken (about 9 miles into it) and twisted my ankle and then the pain in the knees kicked in. Those little boogers blew up like balloons! Those last 4 miles were the toughest I have ever run.

I was going to keep on running and do another couple half’s this year but I think I am going to preserve my knees for the kids again next year. I don’t want to chance not being able to do it. Swimming is sounding like a pretty good alternate sport right now…

PS - Darbi finished too! We made it in nearly identical times! From left to right: Darbi Bolton, Holly White and Erica Johnson (another Big Brothers Big Sisters Team runner)