Hoschton, GA

Gwinnett Daily Post wrote a small article today about the Squillance family and how more and more people are deciding to make the move to a "active" adult community. While these are popular in Florida there are very few communities like this in the Metro Atlanta area. The most popular community, Village At Deaton Creek, is not only the most popular Active Adult Community, but it's the most popular, best selling community in Georgia, period.

"It was very, very easy for me (to leave)," Squillace said. "It was more difficult for my wife."

So he and his wife Elayne sold their home in the Connemara subdivision in Snellville and moved to Hoschton. There, they settled in The Village At Deaton Creek, a subdivision for senior lifestyles, leaving behind the home in which they resided for more than 20 years and put three kids through Brookwood High School.

Their friends at Connemara threw them a going away party and joked about how far away they were moving. But it's a trek more and more people their age are making. As the population ages - the Atlanta Regional Commission's Lifelong Communities Study says that by 2030, 20 to 23 percent of the metro area's population will be over age 60 - those people are also becoming more active. And moving to places where others are active as well.

Squillace is 66 and says, "I've never been as busy as I am since I retired. It's actually not a joke. People have asked me to do things and I haven't had time."

This is not your father's retirement. Squillace stays busy with projects, trips, children and grandchildren. But he also stays active with bocce, senior tennis, bowling and trivia. Then there's softball. A self-professed softball fanatic, Squillace is not just a player in his league (a pitcher, of course) - he's the commissioner. And the league isn't just some pick-up deal. The teams are sponsored - just like you'd see in little league. "It's great," Squillace said of the softball. "It's people the same age getting out and still having fun. It's done socially as much as competitively. But it is competitive."

It may not look it, but Jackson County is growing in leaps in bounds. Just think back two years ago and no one had even heard of a city that sounds like you are clearing your throat (Hoschton).

Now, Hoschton is home to the fastest selling neighborhood in the Atlanta Area (Village at Deaton Creek).

This post isn't about that, it's about Jackson County, GA and how fast it's growing. Still considered rural, it offers many unique opportunities. It's roughly an hour and 15 minutes outside Atlanta, but only 30 minutes from Gainesville and Commerce and Jefferson are areas full of warehouse and logistical jobs. On the other side, Winder, GA is growing as well due to it's location between Atlanta and Athens.

Yes, one day, Jackson will be swallowed by the "Sprawl" of metro Atlanta, but for now, it's a footnote on a census report as the fastest growing counties in America. Third place to be exact.

All this with a population estimated at 55K or so.

Savoy buyer finds foreclosure deal October 20, 2008

Not everyone is having as difficult a time with the housing slump as we all may think. People with good credit and/or first time homebuyers are finding unheard of deals right now. Recently an owner of a house in Lawrenceville decided it was a good time to make an investment. He put his house up for sale, but soon realized he wasn't getting any acceptable offers. A friend told him about Linda Suidan of Result's Realty Services, and how she had just helped him close on a house. So he gave her a call, and she made some suggestions on how to make his home more marketable, how he could possibly offer a lease purchase or simply rent his current home. Within a month she had his home rented, and he was on the hunt. Suidan e-mailed him several active foreclosure listings in the area that he specified. After choosing the ones he wanted to see, she produced current sales in the neighborhoods and directed him on the best investments. With the choice made Suidan needed to negotiate with the bank on the price. The buyer was extremely impressed by her ability to make all the numbers on the HUD statement meet his requirements. Now in a bigger, better house, closer to his work and at an extreme discount, this new homeowner is proud of his wise decision. People are having success in the housing market. If you know the right people you can make a wise investment and improve your way of life at the same time!

Dana Casaccio 770-558-3074

Well if you are following these "Chronicles" then you must be wondering where the next update is. Well, Life happens.

(Note: Post is in Hoschton, GA today since I will be working from home today)

4:00 AM - Up with baby.

Around 5 AM - Done, tag the wife (the baby won't sleep without Mommy apparently), a few minutes of sleep needed....

after a few minutes

8:00 AM - Start of my day, rushing around to get started.

8:54 AM - Car with mechanic, 71 New E-mails, Had someone leave me a voice mail message last night asking why I called, my website was so good, I should never have to call her....gotta love the internet. Up to 28 followers on Twitter.

9:21 AM -Seriously considering the change of all my links to BUDURLs to track usage, need to read up on the SEO of the link though. Goals for the day is:

• 50 Calls
• Get mailing out to SOI
• Get in-house listing book finished for client
• Thank You cards sent out to "appointmented" people
• Cancel or renegotiate vendor contracts

10:32 AM - Email is cleared out, wrote a long blog post entitled, "What I believe" then realized it might offend everyone and even be seen as unprofessional.... we'll see. Follow up on a great project I'm working on. One SOI call, and a brief Pop-by was done - My mechanic is in my SOI and forgot to mention that!

On with the calls!

11:00 AM - Calls, right? Talked to loan officer may have a great "connection" for me. Talked with a buyer who is back in the market.

11:30 AM - Buyer appointment scheduled for today. Messes up my plans, but I'm happy to have it.

12:21 - Getting ready for buyer appointment, trying to squeeze in a few phone calls from my list of calls to do.

1:00 PM - Buyer needs to be pre-qualled at least (I thought I had already "walked them through the steps" but I hadn't). They decide to wait, considering all of the homes would require them to close this year.

1:30 PM - Back to phone calls - Talked to one person for 30 Minutes. Something really big for me coming up, potentially.

2:00 PM Back to phones - Talking with 2 buyers that will be looking next week.

3:00 PM OK, really, back to phones - 10 Calls

3:45 PM Call from a usability contractor for MyDealBook.com. He wonders why I'm not clicking on things I need to click on. This was a time sink, but I do enjoy these types of conversations. So technically it was goofing off, but I might have made a connection for someone else and I might have helped him, so it was worth it.

4:30 PM Gotta finish up my calls. All my interenet leads are called and a few more follow ups.

5:35 PM going over to finish up the calls.

Done.