It's well known that Fayette

is an affluent county filled with fine, expensive homes.

With an average home price

of $197,000, the county is well above the average for the Atlanta/Fulton

County area, at $173,092.

But even in a county filled

with expensive homes, there's expensive, and then there's expensive .

Some of the finest homes in

Fayette County stand out for all to see. They're on major highways.

For instance, drive along Sandy

Creek Road anytime and you can see the home that World Changers Church

International recently bought for its well-known pastor and televangelist,

Creflo Dollar.

Others are tucked away in subdivisions

or along back roads.

Some are owned by celebrities,

others by people who are lesser known.

Using the county's new property

tax database, The Citizen has compiled a list of the 50 most expensive

residential properties in the county, has further narrowed that to the

ten most expensive homes, and has gathered as much information on those

as possible for this "Life-styles of the Rich and Famous" series of articles.

The list may not be entirely

accurate, because it's based on the tax assessors' best guesses, which

may or may not coincide with exactly what a home would sell for. But it

includes the largest taxpayers in the county.

Some are large tracts of land

being held for future development, but most in the top 50 are homes, ranging

in value from Evander Holyfield's highly visible mansion on Ga. Highway

279 to number 50, a $719,030 home.

Like similar homes across the

country, most of Fayette's most expensive homes are not paid for with

so-called "old" money, according to Beverley Mobley of the Board of Realtors.

"Most of them earned it," she

said, "and mostly through hard work."

Two of Fayette's most expensive

homes are owned by sports figures: Holyfield's and the home of baseball

star Delino and Tisha Deshields on Shady Brook Walk near Fayetteville.

Also in the top ten is the

home of Deborah Lenox and her husband, Peachtree City Mayor Bob Lenox,

on Bradford Point.

Valued by the tax assessors

at $1,262,000, the Lenox home is a labor of love, as attested to by a

plaque placed by Bob Lenox on the exterior wall: "This home was built

with hard work and her blood, sweat and tears. I am proud of this home,

but prouder of her. With love, admiration, pride and deep respect, Bob

1994."

Rounding out the ten most expensive

homes in Fayette are:

Harry and Cindy Peaden's $1,564,140

home on Ga. Highway 92 south of Fayetteville.

The home of Lou Seals on Redding

Ridge, at $1,470,000.

Patricia Hamrick's Brooks home,

valued at $1,393,020.

The home of Carol J. and Michael

Brady, valued at $1,243,000, on Vanderwall in Peachtree City.

Greg and Rhonda Lloyd's Pebble

Beach Drive home in Fayetteville, valued at $1,211,000.

Jesse and Belinda Campbell's

home on Wimbly Point, Fayetteville, assessed at $1,169,700.