People often ask me why I chose to work at Keller Williams Realty here in Smyrna Vinings. Other Realtors often want to know what our secret is for being so successful. New real estate firms start up and try to imitate us.

But ultimately Keller Williams is the only firm that is Keller Williams because it is driven with the most amazing leadership from national to the local level and there is such an inspiring culture present here that you can’t find at other real estate companies. This resonates with our clients and in the marketplace.

How do I know? Just check out the graph above. In metro Atlanta, Keller Williams is the only real estate firm above to have grown market share every year in each of the last five years. FYI - the red line that is on a collision course to becoming #1 in metro Atlanta is Keller Williams.

So as we continue to paint the town red with Keller Williams signs, rest assured that you will receive the highest level of professional service from what is clearly the most educated and highly trained real estate force in the market.

Rest assured, we are ready to serve you so don’t hesitate to contact us.

Technorati Tags: Vinings Academy, Smyrna Vinings Preschool, Smyrna Vinings Education Programs, 30080

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I know it’s been awhile and I know you’ve missed these featured photos, but I think you’ll find this one worth the wait.

I mean, first of all, what is with the warped out picture. Is this supposed to accentuate this lovely bathroom or just completely distort everything. And then, of course, you have to love that the agent has so prominently featured themselves in the picture.

But, in reality, the first time I saw this picture an image instantly appeared in my head.

And that image was, of course, the classic James Bond pose at the beginning of the 007 movies. I can even imagine that the agent has a slogan like “License to Sell” or perhaps “Live and Let Buy”.

What do you think?

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Real Estate, Vinings Real Estate, Bad MLS Photo of the Week

West Village, Monte Hewett Homes’ unique community of single-family homes and townhomes is the right place for new homebuyers looking in Cobby County. The luxury townhomes are now priced from the $460,000s and the single-family homes from the $500,000s, making West Village a very good value.

West Village is unlike any other new community you will come across in your search for a new home in Atlanta. The homes are an updated Craftsman style and specifically designed for their particular homesite. Monte Hewett Homes goes above and beyond to provide a quality built home that is convenient for the homebuyers.

But offering more than a quality, green built home, West Village is a 60+ acre mixed-use development between I-285 and Atlanta Road. The quaint “downtown” of West Village is full of unique restaurants, boutique shops, a coffee bar and one-of-a-kind finds.

Also, residents at the Monte Hewett community benefit from an exceptional list of amenities, including: a swimming pool, clubhouse, fitness center and outdoor fireplace. If you are looking to purchase a new home in Smyrna, you owe it to yourself to visit West Village because no other community even comes close to giving you everything that West Village does: all homes are built to ENERGY Star and EarthCraft standards, it is a mixed-use development with exceptional amenities and every house was uniquely crafted to promote an enjoyable home life.

Monte Hewett has been building quality homes in the Smyrna Vinings community for years and are builders of such neighborhoods as Stonehaven at Vinings, Greenwood, Rileys Walk, and Oak Hills.

If you have any questions about West Village or any of Monte Hewett’s other neighborhoods or homes, don’t hesitate to contact us. We’ll be glad to help you.

Technorati Tags: West Village Homes, Smyrna Real Estate, Smyrna Homes, Monte Hewett Homes, EarthCraft Homes, 30080

The Smyrna Soccer Club, a member of the Georgia State Soccer Association, will be holding tryouts for the Academy and Select soccer teams.

Scott Snyder has recently been named Director of Coaches for Smyrna Soccer, responsible for both the Select/Academy and the Recreation divisions. This newly created position brings one of the top soccer coaches to the Smyrna Academy and Select programs and the community is excited about the future of the program.

If you have an aspiring soccer player, be sure to attend tryouts this week. Tryouts will be held at Campbell Middle School (directions) at the corner of Atlanta Road and Campbell Road. The schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, May 27, 28 and 29, 2008

U-10 Co-ed and Girls 6:00-7:30 pm

U-11 Co-ed and Girls 6:00-7:30 pm

U-12 Co-ed and Girls 7:30-9:00 pm

U-13 Co-ed 7:30-9:00 pm

Don’t forget to bring your soccer cleats, shin guards, soccer ball and water. If you have any questions, be sure to contact Scott Snyder at ScottSnyder@Westminster.net.

Information about Scott Snyder

Scott brings over 20+ years of coaching experience to the club. He has coached at the high school level for 15 years, winning 5 state championships and having an overall record of 191-79-39. He has been recognized as the state coach of the year 6 times and was named the Southeast Regional coach of the year and a finalist for National Coach of the Year in 2006. Scott is currently head coach at The Westminster Schools.

Scott started out working in Tennessee (Oak Ridge Soccer Club, Premier Soccer Academy; amongst others). He also worked with Tennessee’s Olympic Development Team (ODP) for two years as a head coach while in Tennessee.

He moved to Georgia in 1999 and immediately began working with AFC Lightning, where he coached for 3 years and won promotion to Classic 1 with his team there. He then worked for Metro North/Silverbacks/NASA for the next 4 years, while training teams from Marietta and Smyrna.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna Soccer Club, Smyrna Academy Soccer, Smyrna Select Soccer, Georgia State Soccer Assocation

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Thinking about selling? You’ve been reading all the negative press and are probably worried about whether your house will sell or if you even want to try. In reality, if you want to sell, you need to get your game face on and get ready to rumble.

The key to getting your home sold is working with a local experienced Realtor, knowledgeable about the Smyrna Vinings community, who can help you to price and market your home appropriately.

What happens if you just throw your home on the market and hope?

If you look at the analysis above, your listing will likely FAIL. In fact, in the first quarter of 2008 in metro Atlanta, for every 100 listings, 70 failed to sell. Thirty did sell, but 15 required a price reduction.

The end result, only 15 out of every 100 listings were priced properly and as a result sold at 96.6% of list price and within 40 days. The other 15 required longer to sell due to mispricing, taking 116 days to sell and sold at only 87.7% of list price. And the other 70, well, they’re still sitting on the sidelines hoping to get in the game.

Hopefully, what you can take away from this, is homes that are priced properly are selling and they’re not sitting on the market. However, too many properties are being priced based on comparable sales from 2006 and 2007 and I hate to break it to you, but we’re in 2008 right now.

If you’re ready to get an honest assessment of what your home is worth, feel free to contact us and we’ll be glad to sit down with you and discuss how we can get your home sold, even in today’ market. It’s merely a question of whether you’re ready to get in the game.

GuildQuality recently honored Atlanta new home builder Traton Homes by giving them the 2008 GuildMaster Award. GuildQuality is a service for building professionals who are interested in using customer feedback to monitor and improve the quality of their service.

The organization provides customer satisfaction surveying and performance benchmarking for builders, remodelers and real estate developers that value quality. This is a good piece of information for home shoppers because if the builder you are looking to purchase a home from is a member of GuildQuality, then you know that they take pride in their product and care about customer satisfaction.

The GuildMaster Award is given to only a handful of GuildQuality members for exemplary quality and customer service. In order to even be considered for the award, the GuildQuality member must have achieved a recommended rate of 90% or greater with at least 70% of their customers completing a satisfaction survey. These are very high standards to meet, and speaks volumes about Traton Homes.

Traton Homes has been active in the Smyrna Vinings real estate for years and has built such neighborhoods as Covered Bridge at Barnes Mill, Cooper’s Glen, King Valley at Vinings, Collier Gate, The Retreat at Old Vinings Lake, Carriage Hill and Reed Place.

If you’d like to learn more about either new or resale homes built by Traton Homes in Smyrna Vinings, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna new homes, Vinings new homes, Traton Homes, GuildQuality, 30080, 30082, 30126

John Wieland is working to build confidence in new home purchases with his “Value Protection” program. Five years after closing, if the homeowner’s new John Wieland home does not appraise for at least the purchase price, John Wieland Homes and Neighborhoods will pay them the difference. The complete program conditions and procedures are included on an enrollment certificate that is completed at the time of closing.

John Wieland says, “With more than three decades of homebuilding experience across the Southeast, I have seen the market rise and fall. I am so confident that our homes retain their value that I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. Our new no cost Value Protection program lets customers buy with confidence, regardless of market conditions.”

The program began in April. Value Protection will be included on each and every new John Wieland home at no cost to the homebuyer. Offering peace of mind to the homebuyer against any decline in value, this program is unmatched in the homebuilding industry. Best of all, this program does not require homeowners to sell their home in order to make a claim; they simply order an appraisal from an agreed upon list of appraisers.

Current John Wieland new homes include Olde Ivy at Vinings, Vinings Estates, One Ivy Walk in Smyrna Vinings.

John Wieland Homes has been building in the Smyrna Vinings community for years and are the builders of such other neighborhoods as Paces Point, Market Village, The Ridge at Vinings Estates, The Cove at Vinings Estates, Paces Green and Heritage at Vinings.

If you have any questions on the Value Protection program or are interested in John Wieland Homes, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Technorati Tags: Smyrna new homes, Vinings new homes, John Wieland Homes, Value Protection, 30080, 30126

With the weather getting better, it’s time to get outside. On the patio, that is, and enjoy dinner. Time for a new Smyrna Vinings poll and we want to know what your favorite outdoor spot is to dine. With the generally lovely weather we have in metro Atlanta, there should be a huge amount of options. But very few restaurants actually make it a key option for their diners.

Here are some great options for you to consider. If you’d like to vote, the poll is on the left sidebar. So be sure to check it out and place your vote. Consider this a nice warm-up for the election in November. Here are some of our favorite Smyrna Vinings outdoor dining spots.

Zucca Bar and Pizzeria

Atkins Park Tavern

Garrisons

NY Pizza Exchange

Mellow Mushroom

South City Kitchen

Technorati Tags: Smyrna restaurants, Vinings restaurants, Smryna Vinings Best Outdoor Dining

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That was the overwhelming response to our recent poll asking, “Are you For or Against the use of TADs” in redevelopment projects in the Smyrna Vinings community. Over 50% of the respondents didn’t vote for or against, rather they didn’t know what a TAD (Tax Allocation District) is. Which is rather perplexing given how much press there has been over tax allocation districts, tax increment financing, etc. over the last few months.

With the Georgia Supreme Court ruling in February, tax allocation districts in Georgia, as we know them, got a giant roadblock. TADs have been a huge point of contention in the area as the City of Smyrna has been trying to use them for Jonquil Village and Belmont Hills.

The state politicians were quick to act on this issue and actually managed to get approved an additional referendum for the November ballot that will allow the voters to have a say in the matter. So I guess we’ll be doing some more education on the matter in the coming months.

Technorati Tags: Tax Allocation Districts, Tax Increment Financing, City of Smyrna, Jonquil Village, Belmont Hills