The Home Source Group of Atlanta, LLC

The History of Ashford Park and Brookhaven

Brookhaven. Originally conceived as a golf club community in 1910, Brookhaven is a natural mix of early 20th century historic homes and cute 40's bungalows alongside new hometown and cluster home communities. As the northern neighbor of Buckhead, it offers the convenience of Atlanta but with a less urban character. The residential areas are within easy walking distance to shopping, dining and Marta mass transit.

It should not surprise anyone with even the smallest knowledge of Atlanta history that the Brookhaven area along Peachtree Road has developed rapidly in recent decades.

Located just north of Buckhead along the Fulton County and DeKalb County line, the sprawling neighborhood is home of a large train station in MARTA's rapid transit system, a grand country club development west of Peachtree dating from 1910, Oglethorpe University, numerous apartment communities and proliferating strip malls.

This and all the area between Brookhaven and the Central Business District have formed one of the most popular routes for prestige development since the days preceding the Cotton States Exposition of 1885.

From the beginning, the history of Brookhaven has been part of the history of DeKalb County. Before 1821 the land now in DeKalb County was a wilderness. The Creek Indians used it as a hunting ground and as "no-man's" land between their tribes and the war-like Cherokees north of the Chattahoochee River. In 1821, a treaty was made by the U.S. government with the Creek nation and the land in DeKalb County was dispersed by lottery to settlers. Some of the people who settled did so at a crossing of rough trails, which became known as Cross Keys. The site of old Cross Keys was located at a road junction near the Peachtree Golf Club and Nancy Creek Crossing.

What is now the business district of Brookhaven was once a small settlement known as "Goodwin's," presumably named after Solomon Goodwin, who built his home in 1831 at what is now 3967 Peachtree St. The house is still standing but is now located at 3931 Peachtree St., behind the family cemetery and by the present Steak Out restaurant. It is the oldest extant house in DeKalb County and was used to house Federal troops during the Civil War.

During the first two decades of this century, wealthy Atlantans began to build summer homes and estates around Buckhead and in the area known as Brookhaven. In 1910 the Mechanical and Manufacturers Club purchased 150 acres for the Brookhaven Country Club to include a lake, clubhouse, golf course and exclusive homes. Since many of the members of this Club also belonged to the prestigious Capital City Club, it was a logical step for that organization to purchase the Brookhaven Country Club for its own use in 1913.

Soon, the planned construction of grand homes started on the carefully laid out, curvilinear streets of the neighborhood. Some of Atlanta's wealthiest citizens moved to the development, their homes designed by the city's leading architects, including Neel Reid, A.F.N. Everett, and Pringle and Smith. The present clubhouse was built in 1927 in the Norman Revival style by Prestons Stevens. The golf course architect at Brookhaven, as well as for the Druid Hills golf course, was Herbert Barker of Garden City, Long Island.

In the 1980s, the Capital City Country Club development became a National Register Historic District as the first "planned early 20th-century suburb conceived as a golf-course/country club community." Significant development in Brookhaven continued in 1915 when Oglethorpe University reopened on land just north of the present MARTA station after being closed since the Civil War.

Most of the facility's oldest buildings were designed by Morgan and Dillon, one of Atlanta's oldest and best known architectural businesses. In the early 1900s, a commercial district began to grow along Peachtree Road to serve the increasing residents around the club and others moving to the surrounding neighborhood. In 1936 a community movie theatre opened with the film "Heidi" and by 1950 stores included a shoe store, drug store, hardware, filling station and an A&P grocery store.

In the 1970s Peachtree Rd. was widened to six lanes and the gentle curve of that thoroughfare in the Brookhaven community was straightened. Older businesses were eliminated by the expansion. Afterwards, the heavy rail lines and accompanying train station for MARTA came to occupy almost all of the land on the east side of Peachtree Rd.

As in virtually all other growth around Atlanta in this century, it was development of new means of transportation such as streetcars and automobiles that brought about the most change. These innovations in transport made it possible for areas like Brookhaven to emerge in the first place. The street scenes in parts of Atlanta, like Brookhaven, show the results of these ever present pressures of growth.

Brought to you by Wade Morris and the Home Surce Group

http://www.HomeSourceGroup.net

Home buyers are often surprised when a "rate quote" from the morning won't be honored in the afternoon. Sometimes, the assumption is that the loan officer is just being sneaky.

This couldn't be less true.

Rate quotes change in the middle of the day because mortgage markets are in constant flux. All day, every day -- just like stocks.

And like stocks, a mortgage bond's morning price will likely "expire" before the day ends.

One way to visualize this is to look at today's Microsoft's stock price:

• At 9:30 A.M. ET, the price was $28.46
• At 9:38 A.M. ET, the price was $28.72

Over the course of 8 minutes, the stock rose by 26 cents and the "9:30 A.M. quote" was no longer available. For example, you couldn't call your stock broker at 9:38 A.M. and place an order for the 9:30 A.M. price because the price had changed.

Mortgage rates behave the same way.

Throughout 2008, mortgage rates have changed mid-day more frequently than in the past. On more than half the days, morning rate quotes were no longer valid in the afternoon. And, on at least 5 separate occasions, rates changed 4 times in just one day.

It's not typical, but it does happen.

So, if you're talking with your loan officer in the morning about a rate quote, be prepared to do all of your shopping in a compacted amount of time, and then be ready to make a decision.

By the time the afternoon rolls around, after all, that rate quote may well be expired.

When a home buyer is gifted cash for a downpayment, there is a right way and a wrong way to receive the funds.

The right way includes:

• Completing an acceptable gift letter
• Documenting the withdrawal of funds with receipts
• Documenting the deposit of funds with receipts

The wrong way is to ignore the rules that mortgage lenders clearly spell out for you.

Mortgage lenders watch gifts closely because they want to make sure that the "gift" is not really a loan-in-disguise. If it's a loan, the total dollar amount must be counted against the home's total loan-to-value and higher loan-to-values typically increase lender risk.

If it's a gift, a signed and dated gift letter should accompany the home loan application. An example:

I am the [relationship to recipient] of [name of recipient] and this letter serves as evidence that I am gifting [name of recipient] [amount of gift] to be used for the purchase of the home at [complete address of property].

This is a gift -- not a loan -- and there is no expectation of repayment.

Signed,
[Signature of donor]

For additional evidence that the gift is legitimate, the recipient should make sure that deposited funds are not commingled at the bank. If the gift is for $12,000, for example, then the recipient's bank deposit receipt should indicate that a $12,000 deposit was made.

There may be legal and tax liabilities when gifting funds between family members so if you're unsure about how donating or receiving a gift may impact you, call or email me. If I can't answer your question, I can certainly refer you to somebody that can.

Radon is the number one cause of lung cancer among non-smokers and 1 out of 15 homes has elevated levels of the radioactive gas seeping into it.

Despite the risks, however, radon is a potential problem that many homeowners ignore.

Radon can enter a home at many different points. A partial list includes:

• Earth and rock beneath a home
• Joints in construction materials
• Gaps around pipes and wires
• Cracks in flooring and walls

But, because radon is odorless, colorless, and scentless, it's impossible to detect without the use of tools.

There are do-it-yourself, at-home radon testing kits which can be purchased at Lowe's for less than $20, or you can hire an EPA-approved professional to site-test for you.

If the tests are positive for radon, fixing the problem in your home can cost anywhere from $800 to $2,500, depending on the home's architecture.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly one million homeowners have taken radon-reducing steps in their homes over the years, saving 6,000 lives.

Source
My $1,200 Radon Job
Gwendolyn Bounds

We specialize in the following area's ... Atlanta Real Estate, Ashford Park, Brookhaven Homes, Chamblee Homes, Dunwoody Real Estate, Sandy Springs Real Estate. http://www.homesourcegroup.net/
The Wall Street Journal Online http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120855599410427459.html

There is no such thing as a "national real estate market".

Real estate is local.

We know this is true because even cities don't have their own real estate market.

This chart shows how home prices have diverged across adjacent zip codes over the last 12 months.

Some influencing factors:

• School systems
• Infrastructure
• Proximity
• Supply of homes

Stories about "The U.S. Real Estate Market" are irrelevant. In each city in America -- and on a street by street level -- real estate markets can be vastly different.

(Image courtesy: Wall Street Journal)

We specialize in the following areas ... Atlanta Real Estate, Brookhaven Real Estate, Chamblee Real Estate, Dunwoody Real Estate, Sandy Springs Real Estate, Ashford Park Real Estate. http//www.HomeSourceGroup.net