Our next Sneak Peek Saturday Open House will be March 6 from 1 to 4:00 PM at The Neighborhoods of World Golf Village. This time we are doing it a little differently! Instead of touring homes in a neighborhood, we are focusing on homesites in the King & Bear.

There will be five featured homesites. On each of these sites, there will be a tent with refreshments, as well as a knowledgeable professional – including custom homebuilders, lenders, or a Realtor from Davidson Realty. They will share information with you on the advantages of building custom homes in Northeast Florida over buying existing homes. They also will be able to talk about the best ways to position a home on the sites to maximize views and solar efficiency, among other things.

If you visit all five of the featured homesites, you will be entered to win a $100 gift card to Donavan’s Pub – in honor of the upcoming St. Patty’s Day!

We also will provide a map of the neighborhoods so you can visit other golf course and preserve homesites at your leisure. Just let me know if you have any questions or suggestions about our next Sneak Peek Saturday!

Many years ago, before World Golf Village was even imagined, much of the land here was either pine plantations or dairy pasture.  The pastures were adorned with majestic Live Oak trees.  The trees, livestock and wildlife co-existed and the trees thrived in their native habitat.

All too often some of our most beautiful trees are sacrificed by the development around us.  There are many special preserved trees in World Golf Village, but the most famous of them all, a prestigious Southern Live Oak stands in Heritage Park, in the King & Bear neighborhood.  In pre-design and development plans for our St. Augustine master-planned community, the tree, known as The Heritage Oak, stood right in the path of a planned major thoroughfare, Oakgrove Avenue.  Through intrinsic design and environmental sensitivity, Oakgrove Avenue was re-designed to preserve the tree and make it a neighborhood landmark.  This was a major accomplishment and a testament to the commitment to excellence by Davidson Development.

Retirees and anyone nearing retirement age will not want to miss February’s Sneak Peek Saturday at The Cascades.  The popular active retirement community will host the Sneak Peek Saturday open house event on February 6 from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.  Sneak Peek Saturday visitors may enter to win a flat screen television, perfect for watching The Super Bowl, by signing up at the open houses.

The Cascades offers an array of amenities, including a grand 22,000-square-feet clubhouse, fitness center, indoor and outdoor swimming pools, walking paths, tennis and bocce ball court.  Homes in The Cascades start in the $100,000s. The Sneak Peek Saturday series invites the public to tour open houses throughout the master-planned community on the first Saturday of each month.  Home shoppers enjoy an up-close look at World Golf Village home offerings in an inviting and casual atmosphere. Complimentary refreshments are served.

You have fallen in love with your Northeast Florida new home? It is beautiful and comfortable, just what you always wanted.  You are happy to host guests and parties, and you are having fun with furnishings.  Your home is beginning to portray your interests, your style and your character.  You learned about what works well in your home during this past holiday season.  Is there anything missing?

Your home needs to “find its place” in the community.  By that I mean an attention to your home’s landscape can provide the finishing touch.  Once you start to consider the “design” of your yard – not just a random or formula approach to planting – you can extend your personality and show your pride in your neighborhood.  A well-designed landscape, together with a quality-care, maintenance program can add immense appeal to your home and signal your commitment to preserving and upholding your neighborhood’s desirability and values.

The stars seemed to align to get Davidson Realty agent, Pauline Cake, to World Golf Village. Pauline moved here from San Diego in 1996 and recalls the daily articles anticipating the World Golf Village. On her first trip to Anastasia Beach, she drove past the I-95 exit and said, “That’s what I see in the newspaper every day. That’s where I want to work!” At this point, World Golf Village was in the beginning stages of construction.  She became the third employee hired at the World Golf Village Resort Hotel (now Renaissance) and held various positions from Sales & Catering Manager to Executive Assistant & HR Administrator. She watched World Golf Village grow from the ground up.

In 2002, she called Davidson Realty President, Sherry Davidson, and joined the Davidson Real Estate sales team. She had 5 years experience selling real estate in San Diego, where she sold new construction, so she knew selling in the master-planned community would be a perfect fit. In 2004, her husband, Woody Cake, joined Pauline to make the dream team of Realtors! Pauline says to this day, she couldn’t and wouldn’t want to do it without him.

New construction is heating up in The Neighborhoods of World Golf Village.  In fact, four new projects have either already started or are planned to start this quarter in The Crest, Laterra Links, GroveWood and The Cascades. The activity is good news not just for our own premier golf community, but for the entire North Florida real estate market. Says Sherry Davidson, President of Davidson Realty, Inc., “We started seeing a recovery to the real estate market in mid 2009 and the trend continues.  In January 2009, there was not a single new construction project on the horizon, but we’re starting January 2010 with several different projects.”

Under construction in The Crest are two new custom homes.  The Crest is one of the exclusive neighborhoods of The Estates where home prices start in the $600,000s.  Homesites in The Estates are generously sized, dotted with ancient oaks and loblolly pines, and ideally situated nearby the King & Bear Clubhouse and the Swim & Tennis Center.

Scheduled to be completed in February 2010, a new spec home is being built by Providence Homes in GroveWood. The 2,559-square-foot home will have four bedrooms and three baths, and is priced in the mid-$300,000’s.  GroveWood is a family-oriented community where young children learn to ride their bikes along oak canopied sidewalks.

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and, unfortunately tight budgets may be preventing you and your significant other from celebrating the romantic holiday. Well, we are definitely feeling the love at World Golf Village and want to ensure that residents of our St. Augustine golf community are excited about cupid’s pending arrival as well. To help get everyone in the spirit and give you the opportunity to win a romantic Valentine’s Day date night, we are hosting a Happy Couple Photo Contest for World Golf Village residents.  Send in your most romantic couple photo by Monday, February 1st.

We want to see how in love you are (or were, as the case may be) but please keep it G-rated! We’ll let our Facebook fans vote on the most “loving” couple.  Invite your friends and family to vote.  The winner will receive a $100 gift certificate to Le Pavillon restaurant in St. Augustine. This romantic restaurant is housed in a lovely historic Colonial Revival home on San Marco Avenue.

If you haven’t made it to one of the free Davidson Speaker Series events, you’re missing out on some great information and insight from local experts.  So grab a friend and join us at the Davidson Realty office, complete with complimentary wine and snacks, for the following upcoming sessions:

Thurs, Jan. 21 @ 7:00 pm: Health & Fitness with Doug Duggan

A former Olympic weightlifter, Duggan will cover a variety of fitness topics, including how to fit fitness into a busy lifestyle, and how to achieve a balanced physical fitness program. In addition to competing in weightlifting from 1955 to 2000, Duggan spent 11 years as a certified personal trainer and owner of a gym in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia.  His more than 150 personal training clients included six professional golfers. His areas of expertise include yoga, running and weightlifting. 

Each month, we are going to introduce a World Golf Village resident to you. This month, golf member, 6-year King & Bear resident, family man and friend, Larry Flahardy (pictured left with wife, Linda) shares a little about himself with us…

1. What is your favorite thing about The Neighborhoods of World Golf Village?

• Golf courses, trees, serenity, family oriented.

2. What’s your best golf story?

• I had my first hole-in-one on #3 at King & Bear on August 24, 2004 – one day before my birthday. Linda and I were playing with Dan and Donna Yadon, who also live in the King & Bear. We had to seek cover after eight holes due to a bad storm. We resumed play because you must finish nine holes for the hole-in-one to count. We decided to continue to play the back nine and Dan Yadon got a hole-in-one on #14. The kicker is we were both playing Callaway clubs and we each used our six iron. A rainbow came out later. It was magical!

3. What is your worst golf story?

Nestled amidst World Golf Village‘s beautiful natural landscape, tucked under majestic oak trees and surrounded by a lush blanket of green space, GroveWood feels like a personal discovery. It’s that rare gem of neighborhoods: cozy, inviting and centered around family. It’s a place where quality family time is around-the-clock. A place where neighborly comes naturally. A place where bird songs and kids playing fill the air.  And a place where trees outnumber, well, most everything.

Kristen, her husband, Austin, and their daughters Audrey and Lauren moved to GroveWood from Jacksonville about two years ago, drawn by its “small town atmosphere” and “natural setting.”  They quickly realized they found home. Kristen loves the impromptu get-togethers with neighbors and Austin has found the winding drive through The Neighborhoods of World Golf Village to GroveWood helps him decompress and recharge after a long work day.