Thursday, January 24th is opening night at the Red Clay Theatre in Duluth, Georgia.Come and see "Arsenic and Old Lace" - on Main Street in Duluth.The play runs from January 24th through February 18th - Ticket prices are:  $15 for students, $18 for seniors and $22 for general admission.Go to www.redclaytheatrearts.com  for details."Your Duluth Realtor"  Deb KirkbrideCentury 21 Findley2862 Buford Hwy.Duluth, GA  30096770-823-0502  Cell770-476-5238 Office www.debsellsfast.comdebsellsfast@charter.net      01/23/2008

Would you believe that in the Heart of Dixie one can join a Hockey League?  What about Ice Skating lessons or practice Figure Skating? The Duluth Ice Forum is Gwinnett County's hottest place to get cold.  From beginner Ice Skating to Figure Skating competitions and kids or adult Hockey Leagues, the Ice Forum hosts it all... and public skating.  The Ice Forum is also the practice facility of the Atlanta Thrashers NHL franchise.  Not only are the practices here, but they are open to the public and free.  It is a great opportunity to get a close up look at the game, as well as possibly pick up some autographs or shake hands with the players.  NHL players are quite approachable, and many of them will hang out and chat with fans and sign autographs until the crowd is gone.  My son is going t... 01/23/2008

Sixth Post Game Party at Dave & Busters Wednesday, January 16, 2008 After the Gladiators take on the Mississippi Ice Pilots this Saturday night, head down to Dave & Buster’s off of Venture Boulevard for our sixth Gladiators Post-Game Party! Bryson Busniuk, Myles Stoesz, Jamie Milam, and Ryan Mahrle will be on hand to sign autographs and answer questions. Plus - other Gladiators players and staff members will be on hand to join the fun! While you’re there - register for great giveaway items from the Gladiators, Dave & Buster’s and Heineken. You can also register for your chance to win the Official Gladiators Post-Game Party Autographed Jersey. The Gladiators have planned 12 Post-Game and Viewing Party Events throughout the season and fans that attend each one and register will be entered... 01/17/2008

Duluth Georgia homes sales declined 51.75%, and also saw the average 19% sales price decline for November 2007. November was the last full month of real estate statistics for reported closed sales in First Multiple Listing Service FMLS.As of today January 8, 2007 there are currently 592 homes for sale in Duluth Georgia in Gwinnett county.  The average list price of a home for sale in Duluth is $ 544,696.  66 homes in Duluth are currently pending sale and have an average list price of $ 399,482 an average market time of 104 days on market.  We have about 9 months worth of single family homes for sale in inventory.November 2006 saw 87 homes sold with an average sales price of $ 326,378November 2007 saw 42 homes sold with an average sales price of $ 264,046That is a drop in sales for Dulut... 01/08/2008

Happy New Years to everyone in North Metro Atlanta!  Just wanted to give you a brief update:The median single family home price in DULUTH, GA this week is $369900. The 707 homes have been on the market for an average of 107 days.Click on this link to download Lucia Brooks' FREE real estate Market Update for Duluth, GA week ending 12/30/2007!FREE Real-time Market Data!In the market to buy a home? Thinking of selling? Ask yourself this: How's the market in my neighborhood? We've all heard about the Bubble. But is it popping? Wouldn't you like to know before you buy? Ask yourself another question: What kind of home can you afford in the town you want to be in? What's it like? How big is it? How old is it? How will you know a good deal when you find it?These are the types of questions that ... 01/01/2008

There's two easy sides to this story, either you do or you don't.  You may think it's cheesy or agressive or flat out tacky.  You might think that it's just a friendly reminder that you are in fact, still in business. Christmas is a time when we all have to check the things we do, and frankly, we may have a bit more time as Realtors to analyze the situation. Do we send presents to good clients, do we worry about offending someone with the appropriate holiday greeting (just for the record, it's Merry Christmas from me), do we send cards at all?So my question to you is, Do you put your business cards in with your Christmas Cards? 12/11/2007

Are you a newbie? Maybe you're familiar with blogging but you don't think you have the time or maybe the know how or maybe it's a bit daunting.  You'd like to take advantage of blogging but are not sure where to start.  As TJ McCue says, "it's not an all or nothing proposition." Much like a calling in to a talk radio show can sometimes lead to a career in Radio, commenting on blogs is a great way to create content in digetstable chunks as well as build your visibility through others.  Here's a few tips: Pick a few keywords or terms related to your area of expertise. Then visit a Web site like Nichebot to see which similar words pop up most often in online searches. Ideally, you would pick a set of blogs that are popular to comment on.  Newspapers now offer comment lines, so this is a go... 12/04/2007

Hold on to your hats boys and girls, but Goolge has done it again.  Have you checked your page rank lately?  How about your search engine position?  .... (pause to allow time for those who opened windows and are doing the checking) ....Yep! Time to rework and re-connect to site and for some re-think their strategy.  In particular those that have paid links and advertising with certain key places and some paid link or paid content might want to review their net strategy. "Our goal is to provide users the best search experience by presenting equitable and accurate results. We enjoy working with webmasters, and an added benefit of our working together is that when you make better and more accessible content, the internet, as well as our index, improves. This in turn allows us to deliver mo... 12/04/2007

Duluth is quickly becoming the "Marietta" of the East side of Metro Atlanta, only with better schools and more affordable options and newer homes.   So maybe they aren't alike all that much.  However, with an average price of a home for sale in Duluth being $610,435 it's no wonder I might draw comparisons to the two cities.   It's also no wonder, that Duluth, being surrounded by other cities in Gwinnett with access to the same schools and even more affordable housing, has 941 homes for sale. It's also no wonder that only a handful of these are selling, with 66 selling and closing in October.   The average price is more in line with what residents have come to expect, $365,881.  It's worth noting that homes in this elite group are selling at around 94 days and that sellers are giving up ... 11/18/2007

Some more tidbits from the Weekly KW newsletter.  These are from the most recent MASTERMIND "Camp." Where top agents get together to share what's working and what's not.  This is different than the Family Reunion which has training but also is a time to present awards and direction of the company. Agent Mastermind is designed to help agents who have hit a plateau, break through it with sound advice from the industry's top agents, Keller Williams Agents or not. "There's a difference between the reality of the market and the financial opportunity that you have," emphasized Gary Keller during Agent Masterminds last week. To survive and thrive within an onslaught of negative news about real estate, you need to serve as your local market's economist and real estate expert. Among Keller's key... 11/12/2007

Keller Williams beats other national industry players to the punchAccording to recent reports from AOL, and with more than 74,000 Keller Williams listings currently feeding into their real estate search engine, Keller Williams Realty is the only major player capitalizing on the search engine powerhouse.That means, when online shoppers go to AOL to search for a home, they are bombarded with our Keller Williams listings, giving your listings yet another edge over other industry players. Distributing your listings in the KWLS to AOL, and other search engine powerhouses including Trulia, GoogleBase, Cyberhomes, Homescape and more fits in with our overall strategy to drive quality traffic to your listings - you and your sellers benefit from the increased exposure to your properties.Source: K... 10/29/2007

Cherokee Indians once inhabited the land all around what is now known as the city of Duluth. Even after settlers came in the early 1800s, Duluth did not see its first surge of growth until the north-south railroad made its way through the town connecting it to its namesake, Duluth, Minnesota.  The railway brought instant growth to Duluth.  Within a few short years, the city had a new school, Baptist and Methodist churches, and several banks.  And in 1922, Duluth made political history by electing Georgia's first female mayor, Alice Harrell Strickland.Today, Duluth is the second largest city in Gwinnett County, with 22,000 residents.  Even though it is almost 25 miles northeast of Atlanta, it is part of the Atlanta Metro area and considered a gateway to the city with convenient access fr... 10/23/2007

Michael Vick listed his home yesterday for $4,500,000.  It would seem that he's leaving Atlanta. Here's the description from the MLS courtesy Waters Realty: STUNNING CUSTOM HOME WITH PRICELESS LAKE VIEWS.2 STORY FOYER FEATURES DOUBLE CURVED STAIRCASE,2 STORY STUDY,MASTER W/DOUBLE SIDED FRPL.& SITTING RM,ELEVATOR,WETBAR,REC.RM,WORKOUT RM W/SAUNA,THEATRE RM,FULL BAR,LEVEL PRIVATE BACKYARD,2 OUTDOOR FRPL.The home, which was originally purchased for $3.775 Million in 2005, has 14,886 Square Feet listed on the tax records, this may or may not include an additional 6000 square feet in the basement. With Eight bedrooms and seven full baths and four acres of land, this home is definitely a fixture in Sugarloaf Country Club.It will be interesting to see who moves into it.  Will it be another cel... 10/19/2007

As competition increases online for the potential buyer's attention it also increases the number of situations that warrant some tough questions.I had a client the other day ask me if another agent e-mailed her a listing, did that mean she would have to use the agent.  While states differ on Agency and procurring cause, I can answer that one with a simple no, especially if that's all the agent was doing.I e-mail listings to people in a 10,000 person database.  If I was due a commission for every person in there, I would have retired a long time ago. Georgia is a procurring cause state and commission issues are resolved the agent that can prove they procurred the sale to the buyer.  More than any other evidence, SHOWINGS, are what the courts/arbitors typically rely on as the single most ... 10/09/2007

I usually don't repost what KW sends us in our E-mail, but I thought this was a great Story!  I looked but could not find the video for the today show. Last week on the Today Show, during a segment on the national real estate market, CNBC's Jim Kramer uncompromisingly stated, "now is the absolute worst time to buy!" Concerned that remarks such as these from so-called experts might be pushing potential buyers to the sidelines?Here's what Gary Keller, co-founder and chairman of Keller Williams Realty has to say about waiting out the current market: First, residential real estate is not a national market product - it is a local one. To say from a national position that this is either a good time or a bad time to buy real estate is like saying the national forecast for the U.S. today is 92 ... 10/01/2007

As a member of NAMAR (NorthEast Atlanta Metro Association of Realtors), the local Association in Gwinnett, I received this announcement.  Maybe they weren't aware of the RPAC's (Realtor Political Action Committee) quiet opposition to the Fair Tax:" We have no formal position on the tax base and system included in the National Retail Sales Tax (H.R. 25, the Fair Tax), but we are dismayed that the sales tax rate of that model would likely range between 30 - 45% of the price on a tax-exclusive basis."  NAR Stance on Tax ReformDo we really give (it's taken in some states) money to an organization that has such a niave view of a new tax option? " As we understand many of the consumption tax models that have been presented, the incidence of a retail or transaction tax would generally fall on... 09/26/2007

Duluth Real Estate is always bustling with new developments, enhancements to old developments and large projects going on. Right now, in Duluth, there are 1002 homes for sale at an average price of a whopping $611K, this is a large number for normally affordable Gwinnett County.  This of course is helped in large part by the nearly 7.5 Million Dollar estate sale of Mr. Nguyen in Sugarloaf Country Club.Currently, there are 119 homes under contract with an average price of $412K.  These homes like the rest of Gwinnett, feature 4/3 and one half baths. Last Month, 74 Homes Sold in Duluth.  At approxiamately $475K, these homes took only 65 days to sell.  We've now dipped below the 10% mark.  Your home really needs to be in the Top 5% for the area to sell this year. SEARCH ALL DULUTH REAL ES... 09/11/2007

Anyone know of someone looking for an easy care cluster located just off Peachtree Ind. Blvd near Sugarloaf Pkwy? This is a great first time or retirement home. It features tile flooring in the Living, Dining and Kitchen. There are two bedrooms and two baths. The kitchen features a breakfast bar, stainless sinks, beautifully appointed tile backsplash. Laundry room is off the single garage. Disappearing stair with storage. Beautiful fenced backyard with flower island and two patios. This is a great Value.Call Pat to see! 770-256-6446 From the $140s. 09/04/2007

Situated on more than 45 acres on the northeast side of Duluth, Bunten Road Park provides something for everyone. Offering soccer fields, baseball fields and football fields, tennis courts, playground, bike and walk paths. The City of Duluth has received outside funding for other areas of the park development. The Georgia Department of Community Affairs, Governor's Discretionary Fund and the Duluth Youth Baseball and Softball Association (DYBSA) helped to fund the four baseball/softball fields; Atlanta United Soccer Association (AUSA) helped to fund the soccer fields, grassing and sprinkler system; and a grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources helped to complete the paved trail within the park consisting of 1.08 miles. Bunten Road Park is located at 3180 Bunten Rd., Dulut... 08/19/2007

Don't miss the next "Flicks on the Bricks" sponsored by the city of Duluth It's Saturday, October 27 - the movie is "Monster House and Halloween on the Green". The movie begins a dusk - admission is FREE - come early to enjoy other Halloween activities. www.duluthga.net for more information.  08/19/2007