DeWayne Davis' Blog

Once again, the City of Suwanee has demonstrated its commitment to preserving beautiful greenspace within the community and providing outdoor, natural amenities to enhance the lifestyle of the residents in surrounding neighborhoods.  The new Sims Lake Park at the intersection of Suwanee Dam Road and Tench Road is a perfect example of this commitment, with 62 gorgeous acres including a large stream-feed lake with a stone step access area to the water's edge, playground area for children, grassy meadows with picnic tables, a picnic pavilion, restrooms and 1.2 miles of paved trails circling the lake through the wooded rolling hills. The gates to the park opened this weekend for the first guest while an official "grand opening" will be hosted by the City of Suwanee on Saturday, November 8th from 2:00 to 5:00.

The residents of Settles Bridge and subdivisions have the added benefit of being right next door to this beautiful park with sidewalk access from their neighborhood entrance areas.  All of the residential neighborhoods along Suwanee Dam Road northwest of Peachtree Industrial will benefit from their close proximity to this new park and many neighborhoods are within easy walking or bicycling distance.  Residents can enjoy the opportunity to picnic in the park or just watch their children play in the playground and along the trails.  This is just one more reason to consider Suwanee when looking for a great place to "play hard, live well and smile more."

Original post at SuwaneeDwellings.com

Everyone knows that the most important factor in real estate is "Location, Location, Location."  Even the most novice person on the streets has heard this well-known saying for years and years.  As simple as it sounds, the reason this saying is so widely known and applied when discussing real estate is because the statement is TRUE and always has been.

Well, it has always been applicable until 2008, when suddenly it appears that all real estate can be discussed on a nationwide basis and lumped together as a single unified commodity.  The truth is, and I understand that I'm preaching to the choir for the most part, there is no national housing market.  The "national housing market" being discussed and lamented for the past several months is actually made up of thousands of very "real" individual neighborhood markets in your communities and mine, where the true market values should be and normally are determined by, you guessed it......Location, Location, Location.

Now, I am not ignorant enough to think that our economy does not have serious problems or that the real estate industry is not suffering from mistakes made during the boom years of easy loans and soaring demand.  I know that the high number of foreclosures, short-sales and bank-owned properties have a tremendous impact on neighborhood markets, and has drawn attention at a national level. However, I do believe that the overwhelming fear and lack of confidence has been increased by misrepresenting the problem with a constant barrage of news on declining "national housing" prices.  The truth is most of us will suffer to some degree during these challanging times and many will suffer more than others, but it also true that some bold individuals will flourish because they make wise choices and take courageous risks based on the actual conditions in their specific location, not based on national averages.

Part of our role as real estate professionals is to help communicate to the public and educate the public that real estate is local, has always been local and will always be local. The news about the market in another part of the country does not universally apply in our communities.  It is our role to find out what the market is doing in our specific community.  This may require us to focus even more intensely on even smaller segments of our communities....even down to neighborhood levels.

We need to be able to accurately advise our clients, buyers and sellers, on their realistic options.  In today's market, those options may not always be in our immediate best interest, as agents, for all neighborhoods, but in the long term we will all benefit from a market that operates on the best local information and facts. The challenges and opportunities are all unique to the location.

We still buy and sell real estate based on Location, Location, Location.  In fact, one of the first questions agents ask of their buyers is, "Where are you interested in living?"

Original post at ActiveRain.com

Last night the Hudgens Center for the Arts hosted its annual "Champagne and Classic Cars" fundraising event.  The classic cars on display throughout the evening included 1930 Packard Boat Tail Speedster, 1941 Packard Formal Sedan, 1942 Packard 180 Rollson Town Car, 1948 Packard Convertible, 1955 Studebaker Speedster, 1958 Studebaker Golden Hawk, 1964 Studebaker R-2 Challenge Race Car and 1988 Lamborghini Countach.

In addition to these great classic cars, the evening guests were treated to champagne, hor d' vours and music in the midst of the beautiful "Gifts from Africa" exhibit currently on display at the center.  Live music was provided by B.J. Chorale and the Stateline Grocery Barbershop Quartet, in addition to dance music from Black Tie Events.  Guests were also invited to help complete a work of art on display throughout the evening - a paint-by-numbers drawing of the 1958 Studebaker Golden Hawk.

The finale of the evening was the raffle drawing for numerous beautiful and innovative gift baskets provided by local business sponsors and the live auction of other fabulous donated items.  All proceeds from the event tickets, raffle and auction support the continuing work of the Hudgens Center to promote fine arts in Gwinnett county.

Photos taken on 9/13/08 -

Original post on GwinnetDwellings.com

Incredible property about 60 miles northeast of downtown Atlanta and only 26 miles from Athens, Georgia and the University of Georgia.  This home and property has potential for a wide-variety of potential buyers including horse owners, musicians or recording professionals, artists, large families or anyone in love with country living and style.  Very unique property with an enormous amount of interior space.

Original post on ActiveRain.com

Here are a few fun photos from the many diverse communities of Gwinnett county showing the county's wonderful mixture of history, natural beauty, modern growth, entertainment and fun.  Photos include personal shots from parks, trails and natural settings throughout the county as well many photos from community special events such as concerts and festivals.  Other photos and logos are from the individual community websites and promotional materials.

Check out this video.

Original post on GwinnettDwellings.com

Communities included are Auburn, Berkley Lake, Braselton, Buford, Dacula, Duluth, Grayson, Lawrenceville, Lilburn, Loganville, Norcross, Rest Haven, Snellville, Sugar Hill and Suwanee.

Gwinnett county was officially established by the state legislature in 1818 and named for Button Gwinnett, one of Georgia's two signers of the Declaration of Independence.  The county covers 437 square miles of land about 30 miles north of Atlanta with the county seat in Lawrenceville, GA.

The is approximately one-million and growing.  Gwinnett county has been one of the most rapidly growing counties in the United States through the 70's, 80's and 90's when the population grew from 72,349 in 1970 to 700,794 in 2004.  Though the growth has slowed overall, there are still many rapidly growing areas throughout the county and a great deal of economic development. Many of Gwinnett's historic old towns have been aggressively pursuing renovation and revitalization projects surrounding their historic roots.

Gwinnett county includes 15 different with a broad range of style, history, personality and charm.  Several of these communities have recently or will soon complete major revitalization projects to restore and rejuvinate the historic old town squares and main street areas.  These projects include innovative developments such as mixed-use retail and residential combinations amid historic factories and/or main street stores, as well as adding modern shopping centers and business parks.  Buford, Duluth, Grayson, Lawrenceville, Loganville, Norcross, Snellville and Suwanee have the most prominent projects, but others are continually working to maintain a balance between modern growth and historic preservation.

Gwinnett's other major attractions and features include one of the best library systems in the country, a commitment to preserving green space in numerous , the area's premier facility for arts, entertainment and sports in the Gwinnett Civic Center and Arena,  recreational opportunities on Lake Lanier and close proximity to downtown Atlanta.  In the spring of 2009, Gwinnett will add the minor league's Triple A Gwinnett Braves to its list of exciting sports attractions along with the Georgia Force (arena footbal team) and Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL Hockey team).

Check out more fun and informative facts at the Gwinnett County website.

Original post on GwinnettDwellings.com

I wanted to share an application that I've been using which allows you to make very creative and attractive videos with music background in just a few minutes from photos you probably already have.  The application is Animoto and is one of the most innovative, easy-to-use applications that I've tried.  You simply upload your photos (resized to reduce the upload time), select the music you want, click create video and then after a few minutes (longer if you use a lot of photos) your video is ready to quickly post on social networks, YouTube or embed on your blog (just like the one posted here).

If you are interested in using Animoto, then this referral code (nbrumovq) to get a discount on their already very inexpensive ($30/year) fees.

This video shows the construction of the new City Hall building for Suwanee, Georgia in the background of the Town Center Park interactive fountain.  Enjoy!

Originally posted on ActiveRain.