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

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.

The City of Suwanee recently received an award and recogition for another area of exceptional city management.  The Government Finance Offficers Association (GFOA) presented the City of Suwanee with a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for the fifth consecutive year.  This certificate is the highest recognition for governmental accounting according to GFOA and signifies extraordinary accomplishments in governmental financial management.

The award is based on the judgement of an impartial panel evaluating the city's ability to meet the highest standards for clear communication of the city's financial status and full disclosure within the 2007 fiscal year.  GFOA is a nonprofit association serving approximately 16,000 government finance professionals.

This adds to the city's ever increasing awards, honors and recognition for the outstanding work being done manage, promote and grow the community in a responsible and productive way, including the recognition by Money Magazine as One of the Top 10 Cities to Live in 2007.  Just another reason consider Suwanee, Georgia for your next home or business expansion..Play hard, Live well, Smile more.