Greetings, and welcome to a special Economic Apocalypse Edition of “Headline Homes.”

This column turned one year old in January and, like a toddler in the first months of day care, has begun to show all the symptoms of contagion that have swept through its peer group of Nashville residential real estate sales.

You knew we were going to come home with this bug eventually. Now it has arrived.

A report from the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors this week showed the numbers of home sales in January down 41 percent, and the median price for a single-family home plunging 8.3 percent, from their levels a year ago.

The top of the market has been slow to reflect the pain over the past year, but consider the difference between the debut “Headline Homes” in January 2008 and last month’s top 10 sales: The total value of sales fell from $17 million to $11.6 million, a decline of 32 percent.

Largest single-family home transactions recorded in Davidson and neighboring counties in January 2009, ranked by dollar value:

1. 6501 Brandon Park Way, Franklin, 37064

Buyers: Robert M. and Kathy Sue LaFever

Sale price: $1.995 million

Builder/seller: Cutting Edge Construction Inc.

Seller’s agent: Bill E. Henson Jr. (Silverpointe Properties)

Buyer’s agent: Margaret Hostettler (Hostettler Realty Company)

Mike LaFever is president of Belle Meade Exterminating Co. His family’s new 9,700-square-foot home is in a gated community off Peytonsville Road.

2. 4812 Post Rd., 37205

Buyer: SunTrust Bank

Sale price: $1.66 million

Seller: Julian L. Bibb, trustee in foreclosure against John T. and Katherine Tracy Rankin

Agents: None of record

This Hill Place mansion was on the market for $3.75 million last year. The Rankins divorced shortly before real estate developer John Rankin declared bankruptcy in November. He had been involved in a huge waterfront project in Ashland City.

Proceeding in his Chapter 7 liquidation case “pro se” (without an attorney), Rankin listed assets of $1.25 million and debts of $73.2 million. After the court permitted SunTrust to foreclose on his house, he sought to have his case dismissed. Representatives of the bankruptcy trustee, opposing that motion, claimed in court filings that he had been “recalcitrant” in dealing with them and that his case did not pass the “smell-test.”

Rankin chalked up his mistakes in handling the case to “pro se fumbling.” Shortly before the court denied his motion to dismiss last month, he sent notice that he “no longer has a home address.”

3. 4535 Carlton Dr., 37215

Buyer: SunTrust Mortgage Inc.

Sale price: $1.19 million

Seller: Nationwide Trustee Services Inc., trustee in foreclosure against Pamela W. and Kipp M. Rowan Jr.

Agents: None of record

The tax-appraisal value of this home, built in 2006 on a quiet side-street in Forest Hills, is $1.69 million.

4. 4516 Shy’s Hill Rd., 37215

Buyer: Anthony E. Ewing

Sale price: $1.1 million

Builder/seller: Camp Properties LLC

Seller’s agent: John Grafton Brittle Jr. (Village Real Estate Services)

Buyer’s agent: Giachery Lizarraga (Keller Williams Realty)

This new home, with four bedrooms and four and a half bathrooms, sits on a 1.1-acre lot near Burton Hills. The buyer is the son of Ed Ewing, the Texas investor who topped last month’s “Headline Homes” list with his $3.9 million purchase of a house on Belle Meade Blvd.

5. 9640 Portofino Dr., Brentwood, 37027

Buyers: Steven M. and Michelle Allison

Sale price: $1 million

Seller: Prudential Relocation Inc.

Seller’s agent: Jennie Clements (Prudential Woodmont Realty)

Buyers’ agent: Eric Grasman (Fridrich & Clark Realty)

This house in the Tuscany Hills development offers some 7,200 square feet of living space.

Steve Allison is chief marketing officer for TNA Entertainment, the folks who bring you Total Nonstop Action Wrestling on cable TV.

6. 4415 Iroquois Ave., 37205

Buyer: John B. Mowell Living Trust

Sale price: $1 million

Seller: Kenneth R. & Katherine J. Savage

Seller’s agent: Suzanne T. Lewter (Fridrich & Clark Realty)

Buyers’ agent: Betty Wentworth (Zeitlin & Co. Realtors)

This Belle Meade home was built in 1928. It was on the market for 93 days at a listing price of $1.1 million before it sold.

Mowell is a prominent investor in Tallahassee, Fla.

7. 638 Post Oak Cir., Brentwood, 37027

Buyer: James E. & Amy R. Cotton

Sale price: $925,000

Seller: Roger S. & Nancy A. Waynick

Seller’s agent: Andy Beasley (Brentview Realty Co.)

Buyers’ agent: Laura Scott (Pilkerton Realtors)

8. 72 Governors Way, Brentwood, 37027

Buyer: Stephen Eric and Amanda Lynn Scallions

Sale price: $922,000

Seller: Steve and Mary Emily Tinney

Seller’s agent: Suzette Johnson (Keller Williams Realty)

Buyers’ agent: Jay Nelson (Re/Max Elite)

9. 114 Heady Dr., 37205

Buyer: Melissa D. Howser

Sale price: $922,000

Builder/seller: HMJ Developers LLC

Agents: None of record

Hugh C. Howser Jr., an attorney with Miller & Martin PLLC, is the husband of the buyer and signed the deed as a member of HMJ Developers.

10 (tie). 1773 Hillmont Dr., 37215

Buyer: Catherine G. Garrett

Sale price: $900,000

Seller: Alan D. Adams Inc.

Agents: None of record

10 (tie). 4361 Arno Rd., Franklin, 37064

Buyer: Cathy D. & Doug Hughes

Sale price: $900,000

Seller: Aurora Loan Services LLC

Seller’s agent: Mark A. Corradetti (A & E Real Estate)

Buyers’ agent: Michael O’Donnell (Royal Properties Realty Co. Inc.)

The numbers tell the story on this sale. An 11,900-square-foot, five-bedroom palace on 21 acres of Williamson County countryside. Ten-foot ceilings throughout. A seven-car garage. A foreclosure sale price of $1.46 million last September, when Aurora took title to the property after its loan on the home went bad. Seventy-seven days on the market at $925,000, before Aurora endured one more haircut to $900,000.