Bay Creek Estates subdivision, located in the eastern area of Walton County, Ga.

Bay Creek Estates subdivision, Loganville, Ga. is conveniently located in Walton County near Hwy. 78. The neighborhood is minutes away from fine shopping and dining at in Loganville while being a quiet rural neighborhood. Large all brick homes estate homes.

Bay Creek Estates is very close to outstanding amenities in Loganville Arena. It is very close to the Hwy. 78 with all the fine restaurants and all types of shopping. Great location for commute to work being 30 minutes from I-285, and 30 minutes from Athens. Bay Creek Estates is one of Walton’s most established and desirable neighborhoods.

The outstanding local schools that serve are Bay Creek Elementary, Loganville Middle and Loganville High School. The school buses make stops throughout the neighborhood.

Homes in Bay Creek Estates are typically priced from the $ 250,000 range to $ 300,000, so there really are homes in a choice of price ranges for any Walton home buyer.

CLICK HERE TO SEARCH FOR AVAILABLE HOMES IN BAY CREEK ESTATES

My wife Anne Lackey and I have renovated dozens of home in the past ten years.  The home almost always gets new flooring.  Sometimes we use pre-finished engineered wood, sometimes it is vinyl, other times we put down tile and in every home goes some carpet.

For our rental home we have used a base grade of carpet over the years and am now transitioning to a vinyl product that looks like wood and is installed in planks. It is similar to those Pergo type flooring products only the base isn’t a masonite type substance that can expand if it gets wet.

In the last major high end renovation we put Bruce engineered wood flooring on the entire first level, plush heavy pile carpet up stairs in the bedrooms and a smooth commercial type carpet in the terrace level.  The master bathroom received travertine tile on the floors and in the wet areas.  The travertine even extends into the walk-in closet in the master bath area.

Nearly everyday we are involved in the repairs and maintenance of the rental homes we own and those we manage for others.  ‘Turnkey’ is the term we use for the work to be done when a tenant moves out to get the home ready for the next tenant.  Very often the carpet that has a 5-7 year life needs replacing and sometimes vinyl gets torn when the tenant moves the stove, washer or refrigerator.

When we do a turnkey or renovation to resell we always depend on one guy to handle the flooring.  That guy is Rob Lowder, the owner of Floor Creations. He has the best folks working for him from the person that come to measure to the crews who come to install your selection.

Rob has a showroom on the east side of town but don’t worry, they will bring the showroom to you so you can select the perfect color for your home in the comfort of your home.  They service all over Metro Atlanta.  You can reach Rob at 770-918-0043 and tell him Mark sent you.  Check them out at www.atlantahousingsource.com/

May 15th – Thrasher Park, Norcross

On Saturday May 15th at 6 pm in newly refurbished Thrasher Park in Downtown Norcross bring your dinner and relax to the music presentation of the Pinckneyville Middle School Music Department. Enjoy Pinckneyville Pops, with the Pinckneyville Middle School Pops Orchestra. The program will include a night of popular tunes showcasing students from the Band, Chorus, and Orchestra programs. 

The Music Department will be hosting a bake sale with all profits going to the VH1’s Save the Music, a non-profit that helps restore music programs in low income area. This event furthers the IB Community and Service efforts of the PMS Music Department. Pinckneyville is a IB World-School, and this event fulfills the Community Service Project for the PMS Music Department.

May 15 – 2nd Annual Charity Shrimp & Catfish Boil – Grayson

Held at Hail Mary Sports Pub at 1950GraysonHighway in Grayson the event runs 4 pm to 6 pm or 6 pm to 8pm. Each seating includes a shrimp & catfish low county boil, salad, bread and liquid refreshments. Proceeds benefit the Friends of Gwinnett County Senior Services’ senior meals programs. For more information call 770-822-8837 or email gary.galloway@gwinnettcounty.com

May 15 & May 16 is the First Annual Atlanta Asia Festival – Duluth

Held at Gwinnett Place Mall the festival includes a wide variety of food sampling form different Asian countries. Live performances by local Asian artists and Asian celebrities will be there representing Korea, Vietnam, Japan and China. The event benefits the Holt’s International Children’s Services.

Today the Peachtree Corners, Georgia neighbors of Peachtree Forest held their first annual garage sale.  Many neighbors participated and the streets were filled with cars and people walking from home to home to get some great buys.  They walked back to their cars with armloads of items.

Signs were standing at each entrance to direct traffic from Spalding Drive and Jay Bird Alley.  Folks came looking for bargains where the yellow balloons we waving in the wind.  What a wonderful way to start off spring by clearing out some unneeded items, turn them in money and provide a good buy for the savvy deal hunting buyers.

This year’s neighborhood wide garage sale was a big success.  I can’t wait until next year for the second annual garage sale.  Next year I will start planning and pricing my excess stuff over the winter to be better prepared.

Thanks you Peachtree Forest Homeowners Association for putting on such a great event.

I have seen far more activity as the credit come to an end as I did when the last credit came to an end in November 2009.  At that point last November we had 5 pending closing and as of today we have 10 pending closings.

Has the credit made a difference?  Yes.  Would those individuals have purchased anyway, most likely.  What the credit has done was created a since of urgency and lowered the inventory levels quickly.

I have had a few buyers that have not gotten under contract to qualify for the credit and the clock is ticking.  Most of them early on made the choice to find a home that they love no matter how long it takes to find it rather than rush just to get the $8,000 credit.  These are the wise buyers.

The buyers trying to get under contract have been involved in multiple offer deals where there has been intense competition.  Banks and individuals have been holding firm on their offer price.  The ones that have won the bids have offered full list price or more.

Think about it, just months ago you could get a bank or individual to negotiate, and now they are holding strong.  I think this will continue until April 30, when demand will drop off.  At that point, then they will be more agreeable to negotiate.

Is the $8,000 credit held prices artificially high? I believe that sellers felt that could get $8,000 more for their home with the credit. Those who didn’t sell will see the reduced demand equate into price reductions.

I am glad that the credit was not considered for another extension so the market can get around to self correcting.  Selfishly I want a normal market, not artificially stimulated.   Myself and many of my colleagues agree that letting the free market find its balance will be the quickest way to get back to normal.

New buyers after April 30 will be in short supply, but we will be busy getting all the homes to closing by June 30.  During this time we will have to work hard since any issues found during inspections that could kill the deal may cost the buyer $8,000. Expect sellers to be tough about making repairs or concessions since they know every issue after April 30 is a $8,000 issue.

Keep focused on keeping the relationship of protecting your clients during the next two challenging months.  Remember, our partners are getting ready to get real busy. Our inspectors, lender, appraisers and closing attorneys all need our support and patience.

Earlier this week, we were delighted to know that Atlanta Housing Source was selected as one of the top 50 Gwinnett County businesses out of more than 20,000 other businesses. We are looking forward to seeing if we actually made the Top 25, but we are thrilled we made it to the Top 50!

Here is the criteria for the award.

Every year Small Business Week honors the estimated 30 million small businesses in America that employ more than half the country’s private work force, create three out of every four jobs, and generate a majority of American innovations. In support of National Small Business Week, the Gwinnett Chamber of Commerce will honor Gwinnett’s top small businesses of the year at the Pinnacle Small Business Awards on Friday, April 23.

The Gwinnett Chamber’s 2010 Pinnacle Small Business Awards will select Gwinnett’s top entrepreneur as its Small Business Person of the Year as well as the top businesses in three categories (1-9; 10-99; and 100+ employees). The overall Small Business of the Year winner will be eligible to participate in Georgia’s Small Business of the Year competition. With the challenges facing small businesses today, this year’s process will focus more on the company’s response to adversity and service to the community

CRITERIA

Nominee businesses must:

• Be a Gwinnett Chamber member and be headquartered in Gwinnett
• Demonstrate an increase in sales and/or unit volume
• Demonstrate growth in number of employees
• Have been in business at least three years
• Show evidence of contributions to community-oriented projects
• Be the primary owner or major shareholder of the business
• Demonstrate original entrepreneurship
• Not be a bank or a financial institution
• Comply with the U.S. Small Business Administration’s size standards in defining a small business
• Not be a previous finalist for consecutive years

Top 50 Pinnacle Small Business Award Finalists:

Thank you to all our loyal clients and dedicated employees for making this possible!

Mark & Anne Lackey

I stumbled upon an interesting news release by FICO – the company that establishes credit scores and evaluates risk for borrowers that they released in late February.

In short, they are finding that people who have high credit scores are still paying their credit card debt, but defaulting on their mortgages. Calling these defaults – Strategic Defaults, it is making the ability to establish risk more difficult in years past.

More interesting was the difference in default in the various regions of the country. Read the full article.

Spring Arbor in Lawrenceville, Georgia is conveniently located in Gwinnett County near Webb Ginn Road & Hwy 20. The neighborhood is only minutes from The Avenues at Webb Ginn, Fine Dining and Gwinnett Parks and Recreation.

Spring Arbor is home to outstanding amenities like Swimming Pool, Tennis Courts and Clubhouse Facility.

The outstanding local schools that serve Spring Arbor are Sterling Elementary, Couch Middle, & Grayson High school. Gwinnett County schools are among some of the finest in the state.

Home in Spring Arbor are typically priced from the mid $ 200’s to the high $ 300’s, so there are homes in a choice of price ranges for any Lawrenceville or Gwinnett home buyer.

Click here to see homes for sale in Spring Arbor.

Wheatfields Reserve, Grayson, Georgia is conveniently located in Gwinnett near Grayson New Hope Rd & Hwy 20. The neighborhood is only minutes from The Gwinnett Fairgrounds, Vines Botanical Gardens and The Avenue at Webb Ginn.

Wheatfields Reserve is home to outstanding amenities like 2 Olympic Size Swimming Pools with Huge Water Slide, 2 Fully Furnished Clubhouses, 8 Lighted Tennis Courts and a Large Recreational Area with Playground and Sports Fields. Wheatfields Reserves is a gorgeous planned unit development and has a warm community feel. Once development is complete there will be more than 600 homes. Heavy Community involvement makes Wheatfields Reserves a great place to call home.

The outstanding local schools that serve Wheatfields Reserve are Sterling Elementary, Couch Middle, & Grayson High school.

Home in Wheatfields Reserve are typically priced from the high $ 200’s to $ 600’s, so there are homes in a choice of price ranges for any Grayson or Gwinnett home buyer.

Click To view homes for Sale in Wheatfield Reserves

Vanderbilt subdivision, Sugar Hill, Georgia is conveniently located in Gwinnett County off Level Creek Road north of West Price Road and close to E. E. Robinson Park. The neighborhood is only minutes from downtown Suwanee.

Vanderbilt is very close to outstanding amenities like shopping, fine restaurants, and Old Town Suwanee.

The outstanding local schools that server Vanderbilt are Level Creek Elementary, Lanier Middle, & North Gwinnett High School.

Home in Vanderbilt are typically priced from$225K to $330K, so there are homes in a choice of price ranges for any Sugar Hill or Gwinnett county home buyer.

SEE AVAILABLE HOMES IN VANDERBILT