Bargain Waterfront homes near Atlanta

Aug. 11, 2009 - PRLog -- General Sherman slept here!!

At least that is the legend around Norris Lake, just outside of Atlanta.  Rumor has it that General William Tecumseh Sherman and his forces camped in the river basin that is now known as Norris Lake for a period after sucessfully destroying Atlanta and the extensive railroad system.  It is highly likely to be true because the Lake is mostly surrounded by high hills and would have offered great protection and looking at a map of Sherman's route, Norris Lake would have been right on his way from Decatur to Covington and on to Savannah.

But regardless of what happened 145 years ago, we do know that in 1936 the No Business Creek, which feeds the Yellow River was dammed up to create Norris Lake, for the purpose of building a fishing camp for the harried city slickers in Atlanta. Tiny summer cottages and little concrete block boat houses were erected on the waterfront. If fishing then was half as good as it is today, the developer had to make a ton of dough.  

Today, it is not unusual to tie-in to a 9 or 10 pound large mouth bass and certainly common place to take home a stringer of Brim and Cats in an hour or so. Recently the lake was stocked with stripped bass, a very popular sport fish that you are asked to release back into the wild.

Fish are just a small part of the wildlife population that helps you get away from the city.  A bird sanctuary peninsula is home to about every bird native to Georgia, Canadian geese, Peking and Moscovi ducks and of course white tail deer.  A family of beaver calls the No Business Creek home and Florida Soft Shelled turtles are quite common along with the usual painted turtles, snappers and Box turtles.  Owls of all varieties, hawks, heron and egrets are everywhere.

Water sports abound at Norris Lake.  It is the only lake in the area where you are actually allowed to "play" on the water.  There are no horsepower limits on the lake so you can actually water ski, wake board, sail, swim or jet ski on the lake.  With 96 acres of private water, there is room for everybody since only resident members and their guests are allowed boat access.  

On any typical summer weekend you seldom see more than 3-4 boats  on the water at a time and usually they are slow poking pontoon party boats anchored in a raft near the center of the lake while folks young and old drift in the cool lake waters.  There might be a wake boarder showing off his latest jump or fancy flip or some 8 year old just getting up for the first time on his own wake board.  Jet skiiers and wave runners are welcome but very scarce for some reason.

Most of the old original fishing cabins have been dozed and new, spacious water front homes have been built in their stead. There is nothing comparable to leaving the traffic on I-285, going home to your  waterfront home, uncorking a cold one and dropping a hook off your own dock and grabbing fresh bass for dinner.  

And the amazing part is that this hidden lake has not yet been discovered by Atlanta so you can still buy a waterfront home for under $150,000.Situated just off SR 124 about half way between Snellville and Stonecrest Mall on I-20, you would never know the lake existed if you didn't have a map.  

Just about 8 minutes to the new Wal-Mart Super Center at Centerville and the Publix, Norris Lake is only 15 minutes from Stonecrest Mall and downtown Snellville and Conyers.  Except at early morning drive time, it is only about half an hour to Buckhead.   Country living doesn't get any better than Norris Lake.Most of Norris Lake is in Gwinnett County, so most of the children are part of the award winning Gwinnett School System.  A brand new elementary school is presently being built on SR124 right at Norris Lake Road and is supposed to open next year.

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We are professional home buyers concentrating in the East suburbs of Atlanta. We frequently use pension funds and private investors to buy homes, paying above normal interest rates and offering very secure, safe mortgages as security.