The panel proposed replacing the valuable mortgage interest deduction with a much more limited home credit equal to 15 percent of the interest paid on a principal residence. The ceiling on the credit would be based on regional housing costs and range from $227,000 to $412,000.

• Dee Baker is a new sales associate with the Conyers/Rockdale County office of Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty. She has over 30 years of banking and finance experience and comes to Coldwell Banker from The Atlanta Red Cross Credit Union in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, where she served as president/CEO. A Rockdale County resident, Baker is a member of Springfield Baptist Church in Covington.

Palmetto family receives unique Thanksgiving gift

Tuesday, Nov. 22 — two days before Thanksgiving — was a time for Tracy and Johnnie Jones to be especially thankful. That’s the day they received the keys to their new home in the Wilkerson Mill Park community in Palmetto.

The Home Builders Association of Midwest Georgia has scheduled a meeting on how to become a Licensed Builder Thursday, Jan. 19, at the Wyndham Peachtree Hotel & Conference Center in Peachtree City.

As it embarks on the most growth-oriented period in the company’s history, Pathway Communities has recruited Curtis Smith, one of Atlanta’s most experienced real estate executives, to help the company expand more rapidly throughout the Atlanta region.

Century 21 Southern Crescent in Fayetteville has named Terri Kellerman the new vice president and managing broker of the company.

Home loan professional Todd Allen has recently joined national lender First Horizon Home Loans. Based at the First Horizon branch office at Peachtree City, Todd brings 13 years of experience in the loan mortgage industry to his new position.

Immediately after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf coast, Prudential Georgia Realty and its more than 1,300 sales associates wanted to do something to assist the Hurricane Katrina victims. Many offices and individual sales associates began collecting money, clothing and furnishings to donate to area charities. Several people took vanloads of supplies to affected areas. Others opened their homes to family, friends and complete strangers.

Legacy Square at Centennial, a John Wieland neighborhood in the heart of Peachtree City, has opened a new designer townhome model that demonstrates the beauty of a lock-and-go lifestyle. Priced from the high $200s, Centennial’s three-bedroom luxury townhomes are protected by the Wieland 5 Year-20 Year Warranty and feature elegant brick exteriors, modern interior designs and a variety of options to personalize each home.

Gene Barber, president and owner of Gene Barber Contracting in Fayetteville, was recently elected as a senior life director of the National Association of Home Builders.

Lee Johnson, a Realtor with Century 21 Southern Crescent, has been awarded the prestigious Certified Residential Specialist designation by the Council of Residential Specialists, the largest not-for-profit affiliate of the National Association of Realtors.

Jamie Upchurch was recently honored at both the December Women’s Council of Realtors meeting and the quarterly Metro South Association of Realtors meeting when she was presented the 2005 Barbara Segner Award.

At the beginning of the holiday season, Gramm & Associates, Inc. made a commitment to two struggling families in Henry County, promising them that this would be a very merry Christmas. At this time of year many families wonder how they will provide presents for their kids; for the single moms of these two families, the possibility of gifts this year was slim.

Re/Max Around Atlanta Results in Peachtree City and Century 21 Southern Crescent in Fayetteville joined forces this holiday season to ensure the children of the Fayette Youth Protection Home had a good Christmas.

Forty minutes east of Atlanta and ten minutes off of I-20, a unique group effort has brought together five builders who would normally be competitors at Lionsgate East in Rockdale County. Their cooperative venture combines a wealth of building expertise and has created extensive economies of scale, resulting in exquisitely designed and crafted executive style homes at surprisingly affordable prices.

Clark Bowcock is the new manager of Coldwell Banker Bullard Realty’s Jackson/Butts County office. He succeeds Loy Hutcheson, who is remaining with the office as an associate broker.

Gramm & Associates, Inc., a full-service real estate development and marketing company specializing in new home communities, is pleased to introduce the new Craftsman-style homes built by Scenic Homes.

Writer and television producer Sherri Smith Brown has been named editor-in-chief of the new real estate-oriented consumer magazine 20 South by the magazine's executive editor, Dan Langford.

In a concerted effort to help its Gulf States market centers recover from Hurricane Katrina, Keller Williams Realty Inc. and its public charity, Keller Williams Realty Cares (KW Cares) has raised $4.4 million.

The Homeowners Association of Arbor Springs Plantation gathered Nov. 12 to meet the new owners of Arbor Springs Golf & Resort. The residents were treated to breakfast prepared by Chef Tim Wade of Kelly’s on the Green restaurant.

Move over, “Extreme Makeover Home Edition” and “Trading Spaces,” there’s a new player in town.

The Home Source Realtors, the top-producing real estate company in Fayette and Coweta counties, is now offering designed to sell/home staging services through its partnership with Splendid Source Home Services, a Fayetteville-based home staging company.

New home sales are nearing the 45 percent mark in Stoneridge, Tim Jones Communities’ 301-home community on Old National Highway in the Riverdale section of South Fulton County.

The popular Persimmon Creek new home community in Coweta County announces the opening of a new phase of neighborhood construction. The new North Phase is located near I-85 on Canongate Road.

Patrick Malloy Communities, greater metro Atlanta’s most innovative and active homebuilder, was recognized with two awards at the recent Atlanta Homebuilder’s Association Annual Sales & Marketing Awards. Patrick Malloy Communities won the Gold Award for its architectural design, elevation and floor plan for a single cluster-home priced under $199,999. The Company captured the award for its Summerport home plan at Harmony on the Lakes in Holly Springs, Cherokee County.

Aroung 157 residents of Arbor Springs Plantation attended the community’s annual Christmas Party held at Kelly’s on the Green, the upscale restaurant at Arbor Springs Golf & Resort.

Pathway Communities recently won six Professionalism Awards for excellence in advertising and website development from the Greater Atlanta Home Builders Association at its annual awards dinner.

This year an estimated 2 million Americans are expected to build a new home. As with any home decision, the choice of a home builder will largely be based on three popular criteria: neighborhood location, cost and design style.

The shorter days and crisp temperatures that signal the start of fall are upon us, and there is no better time to take stock of your lawn and landscaping as you prepare for winter. Tackling a few lawn and home care activities now can pay long-term dividends.

Sophia D. Allen is a new sales associate with Coldwell Banker American Land Mart in Conyers.

Allen, a DeKalb County resident, has been in real estate for four years and recorded $4.9 million in sales in 2004. She is Quality Service-certified, and she has completed a New Home Sales Seminar and several home building classes.

Seber Associates, Inc., a real estate brokerage firm based in Lake City, Fla., announced the establishment of operations in the State of Georgia. Dave Main, a licensed agent, will head up the Georgia operations from a branch office in Peachtree City.