James and Irene started Duffey Realty in 1982 with a single guiding principle-treat each client with honesty and respect. For founders James E. Duffey and his wife, Irene, it was simply a matter of applying the Golden Rule to business-an approach that has been a formula for success for three generations.

The Duffeys met as students at West Georgia College (now the University of West Georgia) in the early 1950s. Mrs. Duffey worked in the campus post office, and Mr. Duffey, a Carrollton native fresh out of the U.S. Navy, always made it a point to check the mail every day. As a result of such diligence (and a little courting), he proposed to her on the steps of Adamson Hall, and they married in 1954.

The young couple first moved to Mrs. Duffey’s hometown of Decatur, Georgia. It was there that Mr. Duffey made his first real estate sale. After three years of gaining experience in the real estate market, he received an invitation from his brother to work alongside him in the meat processing business. Mr. Duffey accepted the invitation-putting his real estate career on hold. The Duffeys moved back to Carrollton in the early 1960s where Mr. Duffey worked alongside his brother growing their business over the next 20 years. In the early eighties, the meat processing company was sold, and Mr. Duffey returned to real estate and established Duffey Realty.