Realtor details impact of gentrification in North Nashville

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Jerrold Smith has been at the real estate game for now 36 years. He knows the ups and downs and he’s seen it all, North Nashville included.

“I got my original license in 1988, if you could believe it or not. This was vacant land a couple of years ago. This is a house that we sold. And what happened, if you’ll remember, the crunch in 2021-2022, when interest rates were real low, everybody was buying houses,” recalled Smith.

The feeding frenzy in North Nashville was overwhelming.

“It wasn’t uncommon to get 20, 30 or 40 offers on a house.”

The effort to meet demand is falling far short, driving North Nashville home prices through the roof. Areas like Looby Heights are very much indicative of the overall North Nashville market.

“We were selling those houses. It was less than $100,000, I’d have to go back and check it’s been so long ago, but I think, you know, maybe like $70,000 or something like that. Now you can get $200,000 to $300,000 on Looby Heights. And what’s amazing about it is that you’re only talking 900 to 1000 square feet,” explained Smith.

It means many long time residents are moving out and Smith sees both sides of the gentrification equation.

“You’ve got people that stay, they are in for the long haul. You’ve got residents that are moving out, and that’s a two-edged sword, because as they move, they’re going to get more, so much more for the house. You’ll make a lot of money, but then you’re going to have the problem, obviously, of trying to find something, because it’s going to cost you a lot of money, you know, to get into the next house,” said Smith.

In many cases, it means out of Davidson County. Smith knew for North Nashville, it was only a matter of time before things exploded.

“You know, you saw it first in South Nashville when everything went up, then it went over to East Nashville, and now it’s over North and like right now, there’s the opportunity, there’s the opportunity to do a lot of rehabbing,” said Smith.

Smith doesn’t see that slowing down anytime soon even with current lending rates.

“We’ve got the saying in our office. What you need to do is marry the house and just date the rate. So that’s a temporary thing. Just date the rate,” explained Smith.

The hope is that the pain of losing long time residents is offset by financial gains received by cashing out in a red hot, North Nashville market.

“I think a rising tide makes all the boats rise. And truth to the matter, you know, the market, the market speaks for itself. So, you know, we just kind of let the market do what it does,” said Smith.

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