On the list this time: A Frist, a top health care venture capitalist and one of the country’s top AIDS researchers [From our print edition in this week’s City Paper]

Published October 17, 2011 by J.R. Lind

Headline Homes isn’t always a leading indicator, but let’s pretend for a moment it is. This month’s list of Nashville’s swankiest abodes features two new constructions and another that might as well be — they’re just two years old and their previous owners didn’t live there long.

Are builders pricing their high-end projects to get a quick cash influx so they can move on to more modest, recession-approved developments? Or are things turning around? Or is this just a blip? It’s hard to tell, really.

One of the new constructions featured here has been on and off the market for a while, while another was a Parade of Homes entrant that moved quickly. If it’s the start of a trend of the return of new home buys, it’s the still the shallow end of the wave.

Also on this month’s list: a Frist daughter, the ongoing saga of the House That Taylor Bought For Her Parents Before She Bought That Other House For Her Parents, and a tony condo purchase. As always, what follows is a list of Nashville’s 10 most expensive single-family home purchases in September.

1. 4019 Flagstone Court, Franklin 37069
Sale price: $2.6 million
Buyer: Wesley E. Campbell
Sellers: James E.K. & Phyllis Hildreth
Sellers’ agents: Laura Baugh and Sharon Reynolds, Worth Properties
Buyer’s agent: Laura Baugh

Dr. James Hildreth is one of the nation’s top AIDS researchers and spent six years at Meharry Medical College. He was named the dean of the University of California at Davis’ College of Biological Sciences this summer and took over officially there Aug. 1.

He leaves behind an 8.5-acre private estate with 13 porches, a wine cellar, theater and basketball court. Buyer Campbell last appeared in Headline Homes in October 2010, selling a faux-chateau on Vaughn Crest Drive for $2 million.

2. 116 Belle Meade Blvd., Belle Meade 37205
Sale price: $1.7 million
Buyers: David G. and Mary Catherine McClellan
Sellers: Suzanne and Glenn Buckspan
Sellers’ agent: Richard B. French, French Christianson Patterson
Buyers’ agent: Steve G. Fridrich, Fridrich & Clark Realty

Heritage Group managing director David McClellan, who is helping run a young innovation-focused investment fund backed by many of Middle Tennessee’s hospital companies, is the new owner of this Belle Meade home, built in 1929. Glenn Buckspan is a doctor, a frequent Reader’s Choice in the Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville listing.

3. 6143 Robin Hill Road, Nashville 37205
Sale price: $1.5 million
Buyers: Paul C. Peterson and Kimberly R. Ramko
Sellers: Tara E. and Gary Cavazos
Sellers’ agent: Rhonda Brandon, Worth Properties
Buyers’ agent: Patricia Heckman, The Lipman Group Sotheby’s International

This massive, 8,300 square-foot, replica French manor was priced to sell. And why not? After being built in 2009, it spent some time on the market last year, was pulled and re-listed some $300,000 below appraisal. This time, it spent just 24 days on the market before Peterson and Ramko bought it.

4 (tie). 508 Huckleberry Road, Nashville 37205
Sale price: $1.35 million
Buyers: Geoffrey D. and Becky A. Hill
Seller: D and M Development LLC
Seller’s agent: Hal Rosson, Freeman Webb Co.
Buyers’ agent: Beth Molteni, Worth Properties LLC

The Hills are the first owners of this Hillwood Estates home, pictured above. Listed originally in June 2010 for $1.795 million, it sold Sept. 2, but wasn’t officially completed until Sept. 20.

4 (tie). 4345 Chickering Lane, Nashville 37215
Sale price: $1.35 million
Buyer: Dorothy Frist Boensch Irrevocable Trust
Seller: Theresa Payne
Seller’s agents: Neal Clayton and Grace O’Neal Clayton, BrokerSouth Real Estate Partners
Buyer’s agent: Christy Reed Blackwell, French Christianson Patterson

The trust that bought this home represents Dorothy Frist Boensch, the eldest daughter of the HCA co-founder Thomas Frist Sr. and thus sister of former Sen. Bill Frist, Thomas Frist Jr. and Bob Frist.

The seller is the wife of the late George G. Payne III, a Fridrich & Clark real estate agent. The home, built in 1966, includes four fireplaces and is lauded for its “warm, inviting and comfortable” atmosphere.

6. 301 Bowling Ave., Nashville 37205
Sale price: $1.26 million
Buyer: Beth D. Franklin
Seller: The Bowling Trust
Seller’s agent: Amy Smith, French Christianson Patterson
Buyer’s agent: Lawrence M. Lipman, The Lipman Group Sotheby’s International

Bowling Avenue’s worst-kept secret — that this was the home Taylor Swift bought for her parents June before then buying a huge estate a few months later — gets a new chapter.

Franklin is a fixture in Nashville logistics circles — she sold Star Transportation to Covenant Transportation out of Chattanooga a few years ago— and is the founder and CEO of Multi-Task Solutions LLC. She also served as treasurer of Mike McWherter’s gubernatorial campaign.

7. 3305 Running Springs Court, Franklin 37064
Sale price: $1.22 million
Buyer: Unknown
Sellers: Mark J. and Irene Perry
Sellers’ agent: Verlyn Stewart, Vision Realty Partners
Buyers’ agent: Nick S. Bradley, Showcase Properties of Tennessee

The street address is truly descriptive here. Not only is this 6,000-square-footer on Running Springs, the property includes running springs. That, in addition to the custom rosewood floors — no word on if the contractor made sure that rosewood was imported with all the proper paperwork, given Gibson Guitar’s frequent troubles with the exotic ebony varietal — kept the sales price close to the ask. Even with more than four months on the market, the home sold for only $68,000 less than its listed price.

8 (tie). 9265 Carrisbrooke Lane, Brentwood 37027
Sale price: $1.1 million
Buyer: Amy Olszewski Living Trust
Seller: Legend Homes
Seller’s and buyer’s agent: Susan Gregory and Lisa Culp Taylor, Bob Parks Realty

Here’s a home so new it doesn’t even have a tax ID number yet. Nonetheless, a dig into the deeds revealed the buyer and the seller of this custom build. Mrs. Olzewski’s husband, Rick, is an executive vice president at Louisiana-Pacific. The couple picked up this home — featured in a recent Parade of Homes in Williamson County — just before it went complete Sept. 30.

8 (tie). Unit 1406, The Terrazzo, Nashville 37203
Sale price: $1.1 million
Buyers: James F. and Barbara B. Turner
Seller: CJUF Terrazzo LLC
Seller’s agent: Michelle Maldonado, The Lipman Group Sotheby’s International
Buyers’ agent: J. Fred Turner, Keller Williams

Well, well, well. The high-end condo market isn’t quite cold yet. After months without a condo transaction, Headline Homes’ top 10 is again graced by one. Attorney Turner — he and wife Barbara are noted philanthropists — paid the going rate for this Terrazzo corner penthouse.

10. 761 Sinclair Circle, Brentwood 37027
Sale price: $1.05 million
Buyer: Michael Calabrese
Seller: SHC Trust
Seller’s agent: Molly Edmondson and Steve Fridrich, Fridrich & Clark
Buyer’s agent: Andy Beasley, Brentview Realty

Calabrese, principal at the eponymous Brentwood business-services firm, picked up this nine-year-old home — which has a five-bay garage, one bay for each bedroom — for just a shade over $1 million.

On the list: A Grammy winner, an 1810 Maury home, the OHL and iPayment CEOs, and more…

Published September 19, 2011 by J.R. Lind

There are lots of highlights on this month’s list of the best and brightest in home sales. A Grammy-winning pop songstress moves to Forest Hills. There’s a new home for a man partly responsible for what is perhaps country music’s most persistent earworm. And a record is shattered, as a 200-year-old plantation home — with connections to war heroes and English peers — near Columbia moves to a new family for the first time since the 1830s.

On the other hand, for the first time in awhile, a foreclosure makes the list — and the bank sure seems willing to move it quickly. Either way, enjoy this compelling version of Headline Homes, our monthly look back at the top-priced home sales in Nashville and surrounding counties, ranked by dollar value:

1. 6242 Hillsboro Road, Nashville 37215
Buyer: The Grand Beach Trust, Joel William Vuylsteke, trustee
Sale price: $5.2 million
Sellers: Jefferson and Lori Orr
Sellers’ and buyers’ agents: Unknown

Trustee Vuylsteke is the financial manager of Grammy Award-winning Nashville transplant Sheryl Crow, who already owns a 154-acre farm in College Grove that has been on the market for a few years.

This one bends the Headline Homes rules a little bit. The total purchase price of $5.2 million is the combination of two buys, each of roughly 25 acres, for $3.6 million and $1.62 million. The more expensive tract includes the six-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot home.

In addition, the sales were split over two months, having been finalized in late July and early August. Technically, both would have qualified for a ranking on their own (although, as a rule, Headline Homes doesn’t include land-only transfers), but in the interest of clarity, it’s best they are combined and placed atop the August list.

2. 401 Belle Meade Blvd., Belle Meade 37205
Buyers: Jefferson and Lori Orr
Sale price: $3.25 million
Sellers: Carl and Jessica Grimstad
Sellers’ and buyers’ agent: Steve G. Fridrich, Fridrich & Clark Realty

The Orrs — he is a founding partner at Smith Cashion & Orr, the state’s largest construction-law firm — took their cash from the sale above and bought this, a renovated 1920s classic in Belle Meade. The clay tile roof and European gardens evoke the Mediterranean, as surely does the saltwater pool.

Carl Grimstad is the CEO — and since the spring buyout of his former partner Greg Daily, sole owner — of payment processor iPayment, which is relocating its headquarters to New York.

3. 129 Steeplechase Lane, Nashville 37221
Buyer: Joe Carlos Scaife
Sale price: $2 million
Sellers: Paul and Christine Stone
Sellers’ agent: Laura Baugh, Worth Properties
Buyer’s agent: Ida Carrigan, RE/MAX Elite

Scaife is a country music producer, most notably producing almost every Billy Ray Cyrus record. Those “Achy Breaky Heart” residuals have paid off in the form of the Tuscan-style home on five acres pictured above. Paul Stone is the chief financial officer for Brentwood-based call center management company Sitel.

4. 340 White Swans Crossing, Brentwood, 37027
Buyers: Randall and Mardi Curran
Sale price: $1.95 million
Seller: Sycamore Construction
Seller’s agent: Laura Baugh, Worth Properties
Buyers’ agent: Mimi Kitchel DeCamp, French Christianson Patterson

Mr. Curran is a veteran executive and the new CEO of Brentwood-based third-party logistics firm OHL, née Ozburn Hessey. The Currans will be the first owners of this 8,542-square-foot, 14-room home which includes four fireplaces.

5. 12 Tradition Lane, Brentwood 37027
Buyer: Andrews Family Properties LLC
Sale price: $1.899 million
Seller: Volpar Inc.
Seller’s agent: Chris Fuller, Bob Parks Realty
Buyer’s agent: June Andree, Coley-Andree Real Estate

Here’s another never-lived-in home, this time in the Governor’s Club. The 9,500-square-footer overlooks the 13th hole and includes a 1,500-bottle wine cellar.

6. 6144 Jocelyn Hollow Road, Nashville 37205
Buyers: Thomas A. and Jennifer Williams
Sale price: $1.7 million
Seller: Land Title Trust, R.S. Smith Trustee
Seller’s agent: Rita S. Puryear, Fridrich & Clark Realty
Buyers’ agent: Amy Smith, French Christianson Patterson

Thomas Williams is a cardiologist at Centennial Medical Center. He and his wife Jennifer are the new owners of this West Meade home. Unfortunately, they’ll have to bring in their own chandelier and sconces, as the previous owners will be taking those with them.

7. 5169 Colleton Way, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Rodney and Susan Riley
Sale price: $1.55 million
Seller: GreenBank
Seller’s agent: Anna D. Brown, Brownstone Properties
Buyers’ agent: Pam Wyatt, Varallo & Wyatt

Behold an increasingly rare foreclosure sale, this time in Princeton Hills. Riley is the president and CEO of Word Entertainment, Warner Music Group’s Christian music division. He snatched up a great deal: The bank put the home on the market for just nine days —listing it at $1.75 million — before taking the Rileys’ offer. It’s appraised at $1.88 million.

8. 2366 Williamsport Pike, Columbia 38401
Buyers: David and Debra Hill
Sale price: $1.5 million
Seller: Harlan Corp.
Seller’s agent: Cooper Magli, Magli Realty Co.
Buyers agent: John R. Hill, Maury County Realty

This buy would be noteworthy enough only because houses in Maury County almost never make our lists. But without a doubt, this also is the oldest home to ever appear on Headline Homes.

Skipwith Hall was built in 1810 for the daughter of Nathaniel Greene. Greene was George Washington’s most dependable officer, raising from the rank of private to major general during the Revolution and commanding the Continental Army in the south. His daughter, Cornelia, married Sir Peyton Skipwith, the seventh Skipwith baronet of Prestwould.

In the 1830s, Maj. Gen. Ben Harlan bought the home and built a plantation that would become famous for horse and mule breeding, predicting Maury County’s reputation as the Mule Capital of the World. The Harlan family sold to the Hills, who will be restoring the home.

9. 765 Darden Place, Nashville 37205
Buyers: Victor and Stacey Vallejo
Sale price: $1.38 million
Sellers: John and Kelly Frazier
Sellers’ agent: Margaret H. Taylor, Fridrich & Clark
Buyers’ agent: Nancy Otte, RE/MAX Elite

Victor Vallejo is a doctor at Southern Hills Medical Center, so this home — at 7,000 square feet in the Hillwood area — is well located. While only four years old, it fits the classic in-the-country feel of homes in the area with massive windows opening onto a 1.5-acre lot.

10. 387 Jones Parkway, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Thomas and Devon Cunningham
Sale price: $1.3 million
Seller: Mike Ford Custom Builders
Seller’s agent: Mary A. Kocina, Fridrich & Clark
Buyers’ agent: Drew Hendry, SilverPointe Properties

After more than two years on the market — 786 days to be exact — this home finally has its first owner. It’s a standard Annandale luxury estate with stone and brick throughout and room in the yard for a pool. Despite its long time on the market, its $1.3 million final price is less than 20 percent off the original ask.

On the list: The founder of one of the state’s top banks, the CEOs of Cogent and Edo, and others

Published August 15, 2011 by J.R. Lind

The theme in this month’s look-back at the luxury home market: sticker price. Several houses in the Top 10 sold for close to what was asked for them — a most unusual development as the downturn has evolved into general malaise.

Unlike in recent months, this edition of the list is devoid of celebrities — unless one counts health care executives — although one sale does appear to have a connection to one of the shiniest stars in the sky.

That’s not to say the list doesn’t have its share of interesting items. For the first time ever, an agent pushed the cleanliness of a garage floor, for instance. Another made sure to make it clear a home was bovine-adjacent. And the biggest home here wasn’t even the priciest.

As always, what follows is the Top 10 home sales in Nashville and surrounding areas for the month of July, ranked by dollar value:

1. 6024 Hillsboro Pike, Nashville 37215
Sale price: $2.7 million
Buyer: Peace Properties LLC
Sellers: Justin C. and Wylie P. Franks
Buyer’s agent: Michael Sohr, Keller Williams Realty
Sellers’ agents: Steve G. Fridrich and Jonathan Harris, Fridrich & Clark Realty

Homebuilder Justin Franks, president of Franklin’s Encore Construction, moves his Hillsboro Pike home in what’s become a most unusual way. On the market for less than a month, it sold for only $50,000 less than it was originally listed.

And why not? With nearly 7,200 square feet, five bedrooms, five baths and an infinity pool, the price was right.

Peace Properties is a bit of a mystery. The LLC hasn’t filed organization papers in Tennessee and there are a number of firms around the country carrying that name — notably a fairly new investment firm in Arizona and a property manager specializing in Appalachian retreats. The tax bill is still going to Hillsboro Pike, though, so it’s unclear which of those groups — if any — bought the home.

2 (tie). 4415 Warner, Belle Meade 37205
Sale price: $2.5 million
Buyers: Stephen and Marci Houff
Sellers: J. Bradford and Laura Currie
Buyers’ agent: Barbara Keith Payne, Pilkerton Realtors
Sellers’ agent: Beth Molteni, Worth Properties

Stephen Houff, founder of Canton, Ohio-based Hospitalists Management Group and recently named CEO of the merged Cogent HMG, celebrates his new C-level spot with this Belle Meade buy. The bespoke 8,600-square-footer that was “custom built … with obvious custom finishes” and has “custom wood stained floors” had been on the market for nearly eight months.

Mr. Currie is a principal at Three Seas Investment Group.

2 (tie). 943 Tyne Blvd., Oak Hill 37220
Sale price: $2.5 million
Buyers: Jason R. and Emily M. Hubbard
Seller: RKP LLC
Buyers’ agent: Marty Calfee, Crye-Leike Inc.
Seller’s agents: Jim Terrell and Susie Plant, Pilkerton Realtors

Jason Hubbard is a neurosurgeon at Saint Thomas and his new home certainly deserves its “Grand Estate” descriptor: it sits on nearly four acres in Oak Hill and comprises (brace yourselves) nearly 16,000 square feet. Its listing promises a two-story foyer with marble and cherry inlayed floors.

RKP is an arm of Brentwood’s KP Properties, associated with Pilkerton Agent Tyler Pennington — not the one on Extreme Home Makeover.

4. 2504 Tyne Blvd., Nashville 37215
Sale price: $1.563 million
Buyers: David and Lynn T. Bassin
Sellers: Edward W. and Allison K. Braswell
Buyers’ agent: Susan M. James, Viva Properties
Sellers’ agents: Elaine Reed, Worth Properties and Karen Y. Dobbs, Fridrich & Clark Realty

Another Tyne Boulevard address, this one includes directions indicating it is located “Across from the cows!” It’s unclear whether that was a selling point or not for the Bassins. Mr. Bassin is the newly minted CFO at medical cost management company MedSolutions, having left the same position at inVentiv Health, a product developer for the pharmaceutical and life sciences industries.

Ed Braswell is the CEO of Edo Interactive, which integrates promotional offers with debit, credit and prepaid cards. The downtown-based company recently landed $20 million in venture capital.

5. 5105 Cornell Court, Brentwood 37027
Sale price: $1.56 million
Buyer: Robert Fair III
Sellers: Charles and Beverly J. McQueeney
Buyer’s agent: Judy Williams, Crye-Leike Inc.
Sellers’ agent: Kitt Pupel, List for Less Realty

Our top Williamson County home this month sold for only $10,000 less than it was listed. Maybe it’s because included in its 7,500 square feet is a theater with a kitchen.

The McQueeneys are officers with Lion Industries, a Vancouver, Wash.,-based paper and pulp firm.

6. 6116 Hillsboro Pike, Forest Hills 37215
Sale price: $1.5 million
Buyers: James J. and Kristy L. Ayers
Seller: Otto Kent Simpkins
Seller’s agent: Nancy D. Brock, Worth Properties
Buyers’ agent: W. Mike Jones, Jones Properties

Ayers is the chairman and founder of Lexington-based First Bank and a member of Vanderbilt’s board of directors. He caught a deal, snagging this one for nearly $400,000 off the list. Surely it helped that Simpkins apparently told his broker “SELL NOW!!!!!!!!!!” Yes, that’s 10 exclamation points.

Simpkins is the CEO of Florida-based Cardiac Services Inc. and previously held the top spot at Community Health Alliance in Nashville.

7. 1721 Beechwood Ave., Nashville 37212
Sale price: $1.48 million
Buyers: J. Bradford and Laura Currie
Sellers: Donald and Ann Cox
Buyers’ agent: Beth Molteni, Worth Properties
Sellers’ agent: Keith Merrill, Worth Properties

Currie took the investors’ mantra seriously. He sold high (up at No. 2 this month) and bought low at this home in the Belmont/Hillsboro area.

8. 244 Governors Way, Brentwood 37027
Sale price: $1.375 million
Buyers: Christopher Alan and Kristen Margaret Percy
Seller: The Bla-Lock Co. LLC
Buyers’ agent: Donnel Milam, Coldwell Banker Barnes
Seller’s agent: Jack S. Miller, Bob Parks Realty

Homebuilder Bla-Lock was finally able to get somebody into this Governor’s Club home. The property bounced around from owner to owner for nearly a decade before Bla-Lock picked it up in 2007, building this house in the next year.

Officially, this one counted as zero-days-on-the-market sale and Bla-Lock managed to fetch nearly what it asked, moving it to the Percys for $25,000 less than the original price.

9. 62 Duxbury Court, Nashville 37215
Sale price: $1.3 million
Buyers: Jonathan Blake and Catherine Ruykhaver
Sellers: J. Phillip Estes and Lloyd F. Smith
Buyers’ agent: Tim King, French Christianson Patterson
Sellers’ agents: Jimmy Pilkerton and Dana Griscom, Pilkerton Realtors

Mark 62 Duxbury as the first property in Headline Homes history in which the agent decided to use the cleanliness of the garage floors as a prime selling point.

“I challenge you to find a cleaner garage,” the listing says. “One could perform surgery on the garage floor. Absolutely spotless.”

With that detail, it’s hard to believe this home was on the market for nearly a year before Ruykhaver, an analyst for Morgan Keegan, bought it.

10. 202 Craighead Ave., Nashville 37205
Sale price: $1.259 million
Buyers: Thomas T. and Kathryn H. Pennington
Sellers: William P. and Melissa M. Wallace
Buyers’ agent: Richard B. French, French Christianson Patterson
Sellers’ agent: Bill Bainbridge, Keller Williams Realty

Mr. Wallace — professionally known as Paul — is a former Healthways executive recently left his job as a partner at Boston’s SV Life Sciences to take a post at Heritage Group LLC, the investment fund formed with the backing of a number of hospital companies.

The Penningtons last appeared in Headline Homes as the sellers of a home on Bowling which, albeit briefly, was the house best known as the one Taylor Swift bought her parents. That home is back on the market less than a year after Swift bought it, with the listing saying the owners found a new crib.

Well, OK, but where? Remember 2201 Harding, the Dudley family’s Northumberland estate that sold to a mystery buyer in June? We had heard speculation that the new owner was another teen heartthrob, but now the whispers are Swift is the new buyer.

Everything matches up from a paperwork standpoint: J. Michael Morgan was the trustee for the house on Bowling and for the house on Harding. In addition, the agents are the same all the way around.

Did Swift’s folks move out of Northumberland to take up residence on their daughter’s new sprawling estate, which indeed includes a pool house larger than 95 percent of most people’s main homes?

Makes sense.

Featured: One of the faces of ESPN, an ex-Titan’s ex and the property that once housed the Dudleys

Published July 18, 2011 by J.R. Lind

This month’s edition of Headline Homes is among the most compelling in a while. There’s a celebrity seeking an escape from the pressures of the town that made him famous. There’s a mystery buyer moving into the estate of one of Old Nashville’s most prominent families. There are post-divorce sales involving a former Titan and another involving a prominent Belle Meade family.

And — after months without one — a post-foreclosure sale makes the list.

The prices of our top buys are inching ever higher. Two homes moved for more than $3 million, a rarity, and the days of a six-figure purchase making an appearance are in the past. And Belle Meade looks to have reasserted itself after months of letting the nouveau riche of Laurelbrooke and other such gated communities take the cake. Four homes in what is still Nashville’s exclusive enclave are in the Top 10 this month.

Here is our look at the Top 10 home sales by purchase price in Nashville and surrounding counties during June:

1. 413 West Hillwood Drive, Belle Meade 37205
Buyers: David B. and Roxana Griffin
Seller: Amy Schulman Eskind
Sale price: $3.75 million
Buyers’ agent: Jeanie Barrier, Pilkerton Realtors
Seller’s agent: Richard B. French, French Christianson Patterson

Our top sale this month is the Mediterranean-style palazzo, built by Eskind and her ex-husband, William, in 2003. Mrs. Eskind got title to the home in a 2009 divorce. The 11,500-square-footer includes cypress paneling and marble throughout and a lawn described as “a playing field.” Originally listed at $4.5 million, the home spent 555 days on the market.

2. 2509 Iron Gate Court, Franklin 37069
Buyer: Brian Chorpenning, trustee for Irongate Trust
Sellers: Brian and Carol Carr
Sale price: $3.23 million
Buyer’s agent: Laura Baugh, Worth Properties
Sellers’ agent: Nancy Torrans, Zeitlin & Co.

A nice effort, trying to keep the snoops away with the standard, innocuously named trust. But if you are really interested in keeping your purchase a secret, don’t use a lawyer with whom you are closely associated.

The top two returns on a Google search for Chorpenning are stories related to his “close friend” and client Kirk Herbstreit, the co-host of ESPN’s wildly popular College Football Gameday. Herbstreit made a relatively public move to this area from Columbus, Ohio, this spring in an effort to leave behind the “relentless criticism” of a minority Ohio State Buckeyes fans. Moving to the Nashville area, Herbstreit becomes just one star in a constellation of celebrity. And in this case, he’s hiding in plain sight.

3. 3259 Boyd Mill Pike, Franklin 37064
Buyers: Frankie V. and Dawn M. Robbins
Sellers: Mark and Kathryn M. Hartley
Sale price: $2.6 million
Buyers’ agent: Not listed
Sellers’ agent: W. Mike Jones, Jones Properties

Small by Headline Homes standards, this 7,000-square-footer has charm to make up for its paucity of space. By the tax records, it was built in 1996, but the listing indicates the home incorporates a 19th-century log home original to Shady Lanes Farm. Also, it’s on 50 acres, so if the Robbinses need a little room to stretch out, the great outdoors awaits.

In one of those quirks that come up occasionally in the legal descriptions of property, the subdivision for this home is officially “50 Acre Paradise.” Fair enough.

4. 2201 Harding Place, Nashville 37215
Buyer: J. Michael Moore, trustee for Harding Place Trust
Sellers: George and Lauren Lewis
Sale price: $2.5 million
Buyer’s agent: Amy Smith, French Christianson Patterson
Sellers’ agent: Lisa Fernandez-Wilson, Fridrich & Clark

Before Northumberland was a swanky subdivision, it was just this house.

Built in 1934, it served as the home base of the well-heeled Dudleys, most recently Jane, the widow of scion Guilford, once the president of his family’s Life & Casualty Insurance and ambassador to Denmark.

The property also includes a pool house — of more than 2,000 square feet with two bedrooms and two baths — and regular gardens as well as formal ones.

The Dudleys, if nothing else, loved redundancy. There’s a normal gated entrance for visitors and a separate gated entrance for landscapers, caterers and tour buses.

Tour buses, you say? The trustee here, J. Michael Moore, frequently acts as the front man for celebrity real estate buys in Nashville. Taylor Swift retained him for her Adelicia penthouse and for the home she bought her parents on Bowling Avenue last year.

At one time, we heard rumors about whose real estate holdings got bigger with Northumberland. They weren’t solid enough to report here, but we’ll stay on it. Never say never.

5. 1204 Chickering Road, Belle Meade 37205
Buyers: Matthew and Frances Miller
Sellers: Richard and Deirdre Critchlow
Sale price: $2.05 million
Sellers’ and buyers’ agent: Steve Fridrich, Fridrich & Clark

A rare quick sale (and the home pictured above). This Belle Meade home with six bedrooms and seven baths spent just 98 days on the market and sold for $200,000 less than the original ask.

6. 421 Sunnyside Drive, Belle Meade 37205
Buyers: Craig and Kathryn Andreen
Sellers: Christopher and Kimberly White
Sale price: $1.85 million
Sellers’ agent: Betty Finucane, Fridrich & Clark
Buyers’ agent: Jennie Garth Needham, Fridrich & Clark

Craig Andreen unsuccessfully ran for Metro Council in 2007 and is a managing director at Merrill Lynch. And while the 98 days the No. 5 entry spent on the market qualifies as short in today’s market, this sale takes the cake. Officially, it was listed for zero days, as the Whites pre-sold the home to the Andreens before it ever hit the wider market, a sort of real estate restricted free agent.

7 (tie). 1709 Talbot Trail, Franklin 37069
Buyer: Patricia Storms
Sellers: William and Mary Knestrick
Sale price: $1.8 million
Sellers’ agent: Beth Molteni, Worth Properties
Buyer’s agent: Heather Benjamin, Reliant Realty

This home is rather presumptuously described as one of the area’s “premier homes,” a lofty claim when it sits inside Laurelbrooke, the subdivision without which Headline Homes would struggle to exist. Mr. Knestrick is the president of his eponymous development firm.

7 (tie). 6003 Murray Lane, Brentwood 37027
Buyer: K. Thomas Sidwell, trustee for The Sid Trust
Sellers: Cadence Bank
Sale price: $1.8 million
Seller’s agent: Alison Davis, Keller Williams
Buyer’s agent: Not listed

It’s been a while since an REO made our list. Cadence, which was recently acquired by a Texas-based private-equity group, took this house in a foreclosure made when the builder defaulted.

Sidwell is a Franklin attorney and its unclear whether he bought this for himself or for a client. The name of the trust — The Sid Trust — seems to indicate the former.

9. 25 Governors Way, Brentwood 37027
Buyer: Jason Scott Crist
Seller: Lindsey Park Vanden Bosch
Sale price: $1.5 million
Seller’s agent: Courtney Cooper Jenrath, Fridrich & Clark
Buyer’s agent: Sam Jovanov, French Christianson Patterson

Vanden Bosch is the ex-wife of ex-Titan Kyle Vanden Bosch, who is now part of the talented defensive front of the Detroit Lions. The Vanden Bosches bought the house in 2006 for $1.945 million and Mrs. Vanden Bosch got the property in the divorce. She sold it less than two weeks after the paperwork went final.

Dr. Crist is a Williamson County chiropractor.

10. 1003 Gateway Lane, Nashville 37220
Buyer: James R. and Erin Yu
Sellers: Ryan and Elizabeth Hackett
Sale price: $1.35 million
Sellers’ agent: Molly Edmonson, Fridrich & Clark
Buyers’ agent: Lucy S. Smith, Fridrich & Clark

Another mid-century home, this 1948 home echoes an era when Oak Hill was the sticks. It sits on nearly two acres, has a spacious front porch and hardwood throughout. Yu is a respected Nashville orthopedic surgeon.

Published June 13, 2011 by J.R. Lind

Everybody is going south for the summer.

A strange cluster of sales in the area south of Belle Meade — or in northern Williamson County, if you prefer — dominate the top half of sales in this month’s Headline Homes. The most notable name on the list for sports fans is the Titans’ sometimes-back-up/sometimes-starting-quarterback. For music fans, Kelly Clarkson decided to flee Belle Meade. And for fans of old money, a couple of Nashville’s more prominent families show up on the list a few times.

Seems like the upper crest of the local housing market is recovering a bit: May marked another month with purchases exclusively in Davidson and Williamson counties and with all buys hitting seven figures.

What follows is, as always, the 10 largest single-family home transactions recorded in Davidson and neighboring counties in May, ranked by dollar value:

1. 125 Steeplechase, Nashville 37221
Sale price: $2.725 million
Buyer: Christi Speer
Sellers: Marlon and Gina Cunningham
Sellers’ agent: Jack S. Miller, Bob Parks Realty
Buyer’s agent: Matthew Warren, Fridrich & Clark Realty

The previous owners certainly took care of this five-year old, 12,000-square-foot home that exists in that strange morass of jurisdictional confusion south of the Warner Parks — the address is in Nashville, but the property is actually in Williamson County. The listing notes the Cunninghams — he’s the principal of an eponymous development firm “have never worn shoes” inside the home and had no pets.

Maybe that’s why this month’s top seller spent less than two months on the market and sold relatively close to the original ask. It had come to market for $2.997 million.

2. 1090 Stockett Drive, Franklin 37069
Sale price: $2.1 million
Buyers: Kerry and Brooke Collins
Sellers: Kevin and Jodi Corsini
Sellers’ agent: Beth Molteni, Worth Properties
Buyers’ agent: Lee Ann Barrett, Prudential Woodmont Realty

No paycheck? No problem.

Kerry Collins, the grey-bearded veteran gunslinging quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, is — like the rest of his professional football-playing brethren — locked out. And Collins himself isn’t under contract no matter how the labor dispute is sliced.

No worries for him, though. He and his wife bought this two-year-old home (pictuerd above) in Williamson County’s newish Stockett Creek development. And yes, Titans fans not sold on rookie Jake Locker or sophomore signal-caller Rusty Smith: the 9,600-square-foot home features an exercise room.

There’s some speculation that Collins might retire, but the Pennsylvania native obviously loves Middle Tennessee. After all, he is — like everybody else you know — an aspiring songwriter.

3. 524 Excalibur Court, Franklin 37067
Sale price: $1.85 million
Buyer: Jennifer S. Dunlap, Trustee for the JMS Revocable Trust
Sellers: Rork and Marguerite Thomas
Sellers’ agent: Laura Baugh, Worth Properties
Buyer’s agent: Carolyn Erwin, RealtyTrust Residential

Ah, speculation.

Who is the “JMS” in JMS Revocable Trust? Perhaps the most obvious guess is John Michael Seigenthaler. The former NBC newsman is again working for the Nashville-based family PR firm, but, we’re told, is happily ensconced in Connecticut and is not the buyer of our No. 3 home.

Whomever it is, he or she picked up this 8,700-square-foot home, which has a pool complete with a waterfall, for nearly $300,000 off the sticker price.

Rork Thomas is a Williamson County developer who built this house in the swanky Avalon subdivision, but also a number of other high-end developments, including the aforementioned Stockett Creek.

4. 428 Royal Oaks Drive, Nashville 37025
Sale price: $1.75 million
Buyers: William C. IV and Kristen R. Weaver
Sellers: Karey and Joan Witty
Sellers’ agent: Dana Hasselbring, Bob Parks Realty
Buyers’ agent: Melanie Baker, Zeitlin & Company Realtors

The Weavers have the rare distinction of not only appearing in Headline Homes twice — a rare enough badge of honor — but twice in the same month. They bought here, they’ll sell down at No. 6.

Mr. Weaver is the scion of one of Nashville’s most prominent families, the Weavers of National Life and Accident Insurance fame. Karey Witty is the CFO of Healthspring and took a bit of a bath on the Green Hills home pictured below, having paid nearly $1.9 million for it back in 2009.

5. 5485 Pinewood Road, Franklin 37064
Sale price: $1.4 million
Buyer: Unknown
Seller: Judith Partain
Seller’s agent: Patti Freeman, Hodges and Fooshee Realty
Buyer’s agent: Lawrence Lipman, The Lipman Group Sotheby’s International Realty

We don’t know who bought this property and Partain’s involvement with the land is cloudy, but the home is on 10 acres near the Natchez Trace and it sold for $1.4 million after being listed more than three months ago for nearly $1.6 million. Even the listing admits it’s “impossible to describe.”

6. 3607 Hampton Ave., Nashville 37215
Sale price: $1.325 million
Buyers: Robert and Annette Yakushi
Sellers: William C. and Kristen R. Weaver
Sellers’ agent: Melanie Baker, Zeitlin & Company Realtors
Buyers’ agent: Connie Allen, Fridrich & Clark Realty

The Weavers are back, selling their home just off Woodmont Boulevard – and taking a $75,000 loss on it.

The listing namedrops luxury furnishings and accessories like some kind of wacky, high-bred NASCAR driver: Viking this, Marchetti that, gas lanterns by Bevelo. Mr. Yakushi is a Nissan North America executive.

7. 5234 Lysander Lane, Brentwood 37027
Sale price: $1.3 million
Buyers: Ronald and Marta Roberts
Sellers: Scott and Stacey Allen
Sellers’ agent: Molly Edmonson, Fridrich & Clark Realty
Buyers’ agent: Debbie Parker, Homes by Parker

Another golf course view, another waterfall, another hot tub. Another Brentwood custom-build. Ronald Roberts is the president and COO of Nashville PR firm Dye Van Mol & Lawrence.

8. 716 Westview Ave., Nashville 37205
Sale price: $1.2 million
Buyers: Michael and Kristina Savona
Seller: Mary Ann McCready, trustee for 716 Westview Trust
Seller’s agent: Mary Beth Thomas, Fridrich & Clark Realty
Buyers’ agent: Kim Brannon, Zeitlin & Company Realtors

Michael Savona, a doctor, is the new owner of this interesting, mid-1930s, all-stone Belle Meade cottage. Perhaps its eccentricities made it a tough sale: it was on the market — for nearly a quarter-million dollars more than it sold — for more than six months.

The trust — a number of celebrity gossip blogs say it was controlled by original American Idol champion Kelly Clarkson — is taking the hot tub, though, according to the listing.

9. 118 Bonaventure Place, Nashville 37205
Sale price: $1.185 million
Buyers: Seth and Lauren Karp
Sellers: Neely Coble III and Leslie D. Coble and Carro Gardner
Sellers’ agent: Amy Smith, French Christianson Patterson
Buyers’ agent: Ronnie B. Plunkett, Fridrich & Clark Realty

Seth Karp is the new director of Vanderbilt’s Transplant Center. The Cobles and Gardner are the children of Neely Coble Jr. and is being sold to settle an estate, according to the listing. Presumably, this would be the estate of Coble Jr.’s late wife, Clair, who died in 2010.

10. 8 Vellano Court, Brentwood 37027
Sale price: $1.175 million
Buyers: Kenneth and Meleia Heidrich
Sellers: Thomas and Pamela Ragland
Sellers’ agent: Peggy B. Myers, Bob Parks
Buyers’ agent: Betsy Sharley, Keller Williams Murfreesboro

It’s been awhile since a Governor’s Club home showed up on our monthly list, perhaps because sales are rare in what is regarded as one of Middle Tennessee’s most exclusive suburbs, which is home to country stars and professional athletes. The Heidrichs are neither, but they’ll get the coveted address nonetheless.

Involved in deals that closed last month: An émigré California pastor, a Titans coach and an Old Hickory property [From our print edition featured in Monday's City Paper]

Published May 9, 2011 by J.R. Lind

Looking for another sign the housing market is returning to normal? It seems like Headline Homes is finally settling down.

Rare now are foreclosure sales, which for months had been a staple on our lists. And rarely does a home priced under seven figures make our top 10 these days. Also, homes outside Davidson and Williamson counties are becoming more and more uncommon.

April was a great example. The most unusual locale on the list is Old Hickory, which rarely rubs shoulders with Brentwood and Belle Meade. But only the Big Two counties were represented despite the lakeside foray and all the price figures included that extra zero.

There are, however, some interesting personalities on the list, including an émigré pastor, a beauty pageant operator, the Titans new defensive coordinator and a couple that many were shocked to discover are not related to Taylor Swift.

What follows are, as always, the 10 largest single-family home transactions recorded in Davidson and neighboring counties in April, ranked by dollar value:

1. 1030 Overton Lea Road, Oak Hill 37220
Buyers: Rodgar and Reba R. McCalmon, trustees of a family trust
Sale price: $2.6 million
Sellers: Michael and Mary Taylor
Sellers’ agent: Lydia Armistead, Freeman Webb
Buyers’ agent: Richard B. French, French Christianson Patterson

The McCalmons are coming into Oak Hill from Solano County, Calif., east of San Francisco. There, Mr. McCalmon was the founding pastor of Living Grace Fellowship, a non-denominational church. According to the church’s website, “Pastor Rodgar and his wife Reba were called away from Living Grace Fellowship and on to other ministries in Franklin, Tennessee.”

Their new home was originally listed at $3.1 million and was on the market for 77 days. It features three private acres, a nanny suite, a pool suite (with kitchen) and a theater (also with kitchen).

2. 107 Treemont Lane, Franklin 37069
Buyer: McKellar Real Estate Investments Ltd.
Sale price: $2.5 million
Seller: Tonna Heath
Seller’s and buyer’s agent: Tonna Heath, Tonna Heath & Co.

McKellar Real Estate Investments was represented in the deal by Glenview Trust Company. The former owns other high-end property in California and Montana; the latter is a Louisville-based boutique trust firm.

Heath is the proprietor of her own Brentwood real estate company. Her former house is in the exclusive, 14-home Treemont Estates development and its 8,200 square feet sit on a sloping three-acre lot, described as “totally-beyond private.”

3. 9816 Sam Donald Road, Brentwood 37135
Buyers: Donald Leon and Kerma L. McCain
Sale price: $2 million
Sellers: Tony and Teresa Moorby
Sellers’ agent: Susan Collins, Prudential Woodmont Realty
Buyers’ agent: Kelly Rowe, Coda Realty

Described as a “Georgian estate,” the 11-year-old, 10,000-square-foot home sits on 15 acres just outside of Brentwood and includes a pool and a koi pond outside to go with its cherry-paneled interior.

Tony Moorby is the president of Acacia Automotive, an auto auction firm. The McCains are retirees.

4. 612 Lakemeade Point, Old Hickory 37138
Buyers: Richard and Cara Ryckman
Sale price: $1.975 million
Sellers: Lawrence and Ana Maria Harriman
Sellers’ agent: Ana Maria Harriman, Coldwell Banker Barnes
Buyers’ agent: Dawne Davis, Bob Parks

The rare Old Hickory appearance on our list includes an infinity pool and a waterfall overlooking a bluff on Old Hickory Lake. Cara Ryckman operates Crown Jewels Pageants, which as its name implies, operates beauty pageants.

5. 3225 Boyd Mill Pike, Franklin 37064
Buyers: The T&S McCorkle Family Trust
Sale price: $1.4 million
Sellers: Daniel Rollin Augustus and Martha M. Daniel, trustees of a family trust
Sellers’ agents: Susan G. Brown and Jimmy Pilkerton, Pilkerton Realty
Buyer’s agent: Mary Brown, Century 21 Dawson & Associates

From family trust to family trust goes this 6,655-square-foot home listed and sold on the same day for the original $1.4 million asking price.

6. 1403 Willowbrooke Circle, Franklin 37069
Buyers: Jerry and Sherry Gray
Sale price: $1.39 million
Sellers: Daniel Adam and Sheila S. Stern
Sellers’ agent: Allison Klausner, Pilkerton Realtors
Buyers’ agent: Chris Clausi, The E Realty Shop

Jerry Gray is the Titans new defensive coordinator after serving as defensive backs coach in Seattle. The former Oiler — and former Titans — coach comes back to the Nashville area for this home in the popular Laurelbrooke luxury development. The six-year-old mansion has more than 9,000 square feet.

Mr. Stern is a principal at Heritage Builders.

7. 3808 Whitland Ave., Nashville 37205
Buyers: Michael and Gwyneth Neuss
Sale price: $1.24 million
Seller: WTKC LCC
Sellers’ agent: John Lott, Main Street Real Estate
Buyer’s agent: Melanie Baker, Zeitlin & Co.

This is not the house Taylor Swift bought for her parents.

Tabloid talkers reported last month that the country ingenue had purchased a Whitland home for her mom and dad. That sale, though, was around the corner on Bowling and executed last September via a trust.

Instead, the new owners of the 1930s-era, recently renovated home (pictured above) is the family of Michael Neuss, who will start as the first chief medical officer of Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center in July.

8. 4017 Dorcas Drive, Nashville 37205
Buyers: Kevin and Julie Annice Campbell
Sale price: $1.17 million
Seller: HR Properties
Seller’s and buyers’ agent: Fiona Parish King, Worth Properties

Avondale Partners analyst Kevin Campbell, who covers Corrections Corp. of America among others, bought this house before it is even built. Once it’s finished, the home will comprise nearly 5,000 square feet in the Evergreen Heights development near Estes Road.

9. 5205 Colfax Court, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Robert Kent and Linnea Dumler Marshall
Sale price: $1.150 million
Seller: Terri Frost
Seller’s and buyers’ agent: Andy Beasley, Brentview Realty

After more than 200 days on the market, the seller — who appeared as a buyer in Northumberland back in October — came down a smidge on the price. It was originally listed at nearly $1.4 million.

10. 420 Whistler Cove, Franklin 37067
Buyer: Mark Seitz
Sale price: $1.05 million
Sellers: Dennis and Amy Stark
Sellers’ agent: Derek Gerstenschlager, Reliant Realty
Buyer’s agent: Linda Doyle

Seitz is the president and CEO of National Distribution & Contracting, the umbrella organization for almost 300 independent medical, surgical and dental supply distributors that is headquartered near the airport. His new home is 6,000 square feet and sits high on a hill on the east side of Franklin and is notable for its four master suites.

Among the buyers: The ‘Dores new head coach and senior CHS and Tractor Supply execs

Published April 11, 2011 by J.R. Lind

A couple of sales this month have connections to the courtroom. Our top home — sold to a trust with unknown beneficiaries — was the property of a man who claimed he was defrauded in a Morgan Keegan subprime scheme. Another on the list was the subject of numerous lawsuits, with the sellers as plaintiffs in some and defendants in others.

Among the buyers this month are Vandy’s new football coach and senior executives at Tractor Supply and Community Health Systems. Unlike the past few months, though, there are few sales from the counties surrounding Nashville proper. Nearly all of the sales were in Metro, with the spare few from Williamson and a buy in Sumner in that county’s luxurious-but-troubled Fairvue development.

What follows is, as always, the 10 largest single-family home transactions recorded in Davidson and neighboring counties in March, ranked by dollar value:

1. 2010 Fransworth, Nashville 37205
Buyer: Tiburon Trust
Sale price: $2.14 million
Sellers: Edward and Kim Karrels
Sellers’ agent: Janet Barnette, The Lipman Group/Sotheby’s International
Buyers’ agents: Trudy Byrd and Rita S. Puryear, Fridrich & Clark Realty

This Mediterranean palazzo comes complete with a saltwater pool and has “magnificent” views of Hillwood Country Club. Originally offered for $2.54 million, it spent more than a year on the market — lining its listing up with charges filed by two federal regulators against Morgan Keegan for security funds tied to subprime mortgages.

One of the victims of the alleged scheme was Edward Karrels — who co-owns Old Natchez Country Club and claimed “substantial” losses. The new owners are unknown, hiding behind a lock-tight trust. A Tiburon, for those readers who are not Spanish-speaking ichthyologists, is a shark.

2. 5250 Hayes Place, Brentwood 37027
Buyers: Michael and Paula Portacci
Sale price: $2.12 million
Sellers: Robert and Jane Hughes
Sellers’ agent: Susie Plant, Pilkerton Realtors
Buyers’ agent: Debbie Hewitt, Lifestyles Realty

Michael Portacci is a senior vice president with Community Health Systems, which runs more than 130 hospitals throughout the United States. For a price 10 percent under the original list, the Portaccis picked up the largest lot on the fringe of the Brentwood Country Club. The home itself is a six-year-old, nearly 7,500-square-footer, with all the fun stuff and a storm shelter.

3. 505 Westview Place, Belle Meade 37205
Buyer: Unnamed trust
Sale price: $1.9 million
Sellers: Ed and Jennifer Jernigan
Sellers’ agent: Steve Fridrich, Fridrich & Clark
Buyers’ agent: Richard Courtney, Fridrich & Clark

More has been written about this 15-year-old, 9,164-square-foot house in court dockets than on the society pages or real estate transfers. The Jernigans have been in and out of trouble with the Internal Revenue Service for four years. They also sued a previous potential buyer for breach of contract — walking away with a $200,000 settlement — before SunTrust started the foreclosure process earlier this year.

Ed Jernigan is the former owner of commodities information and consulting firm Globecot, which was acquired in 2008 by publicly traded INTL FCStone Inc. Needless to say, he and his wife may be pleased to get out of the house — even if, as the listing claims, they sold it for $1.6 million less than they put into it.

4. 1828 Tyne Blvd., Nashville 37215
Buyer: Anthony Crudele
Sale price: $1.719 million
Seller: Sharlene Bohannon
Seller’s agent: Judy and Richard Williams, Crye-Leike
Buyer’s agent: Mary Sue Dietrich, Worth Properties

This 8,400-square-foot home (pictured at left) is notable in that it’s the first listing we’ve seen advertised thus: “Just minutes from the new Nordstroms.”

It’s unclear whether the prospect of being a hop, skip and jump from Green Hills’ future high-end department store jewel was the tipping point for Crudele, who is the chief financial officer of Brentwood-based specialty retailer Tractor Supply.

Sharlene Bohannon is the widow of Raymond Bohannon, who with his brother Jeffrey operated a number of adult bookstores in Middle Tennessee.

5 (tie). 1065 Sir Francis Court, Gallatin 37066
Buyers: Richard and Paula Clemens
Sale price: $1.2 million
Sellers: Thomas and Karen Myers
Sellers’ agent: Susan Maddux, Lakeshore Properties
Buyers’ agent: Cathy P. Wood, Crye-Leike

The Clemenses took this 7,100-square-foot home in the troubled Fairvue Plantation development in Gallatin after the Myerses listed it nearly a year ago for $1.647 million.

5 (tie). 709 Belle Meade Blvd., Belle Meade 37205
Buyers: John David and Alberta Hight Fitzgerald
Sale price: $1.2 million
Sellers: Eric and Claudia Stengel
Sellers’ agent: Anna McGugin, Fridrich & Clark
Buyers’ agent: Tricia Ericson, French Christianson Patterson

Entrekin & White health care law specialist John David Fitzgerald and his wife bought this 1928 Belle Meade classic from Eric Stengel, an architect, who had added a home office.

The home, neighboring the country club, spent more than seven months on the market listed at nearly $1.4 million. The price dropped after the New Year, selling soon thereafter.

5 (tie). 1 Castle Rising, Nashville 37215
Buyers: Joseph and Tori Wimberley
Sale price: $1.2 million
Seller: Helen Martin Rodgers
Seller’s agent: Evelyn Rodgers, Fridrich & Clark
Buyers’ agent: Melanie Baker, Zeitlin & Co.

Mr. Wimberly is the president of the Nashville office of engineering firm I.C. Thomasson. He and his wife moved quickly on the home in the gated Northumberland subdivision, which was on the market less than a week. One of the more interesting features to go along with the inlaid floors and etched glass doors is a marble mantle imported from France.

8. 3309 Skyline Drive, Nashville 37215
Buyers: James and Funmilayo Franklin
Sale price: $1.162 million
Sellers: John and Sally Shepherd Nesbitt
Sellers’ agent: Steve Fridrich, Fridrich & Clark
Buyers’ agent: Tom Patterson and Kathryn P. Donelson

Barring any traffic on Hillsboro Pike (pause for knowing giggles), new Vanderbilt Commodores football coach James Franklin’s commute will come in under 15 minutes.

The new whistleblower on West End gets a level backyard — good for drawing up plays that, hope against hope, might result in touchdowns — and a house “perfect for entertaining,” a good get for a man who’ll be schmoozing with the boosters.

9. 4409 Tyne Blvd., Nashville 37205
Buyer: Angela J. Murphy
Sale price: $1.115 million
Seller: Harry Kistler
Seller’s and buyer’s agent: Amy Smith, French Christianson Patterson

Advertised as “very South Beach” and ambitiously described as having one of the most beautiful pools in all of Belle Meade, this 4,400-square-foot home on more than two acres sold after just a month on the market.

10. 204 Ennismore Lane, Brentwood 37027
Buyer: Jason Gunter
Sale price: $1.07 million
Seller: Ford Custom Homes
Seller’s agent: Mary Kocina, Fridrich & Clark
Buyer’s agent: Amy B. Wyatt, Worth Properties

Gunter is the senior VP of finance at dialysis venture DSI Renal and is the first owner of this Annandale home. A rarity these days: Originally listed at $959,000, Gunter actually paid a premium for it even though the home spent nearly a year on the market.

This month’s No. 7 home was sold by the receiver handling the assets of accused fraudster Aaron Vallett.

This Clarendon Avenue home was last month’s No. 5 deal.