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James Monroe Homes Making National Television Debut on HGTV!
October 12, 2011
By John Day

Set your DVR! It’s a very exciting week in the office as one of our very own builders, James Monroe of James Monroe Homes (formally Via Vitae Development, LLC), is going to be hitting the broadcast airwaves as a contestant on HGTV’s Bang For Your Buck.

HGTV's Bang For Your Buck airing October 15th, 2011 at 2:30pm EST

HGTV's Bang For Your Buck airing October 15th, 2011 at 2:30pm EST

The premise of the show is simple – HGTV pits three renovation projects of a similar cost, area and room against one another with an expert judging a winner based off of who produced the biggest return of investment with their project and ultimately who used their money wisest. For this particular episode area this Saturday, the three contestants were from Midway, Lexington and Nicholasville. James Monroe had renovated his basement in Stuart Hall subdivision January of 2010 and is one of the subjects of this particular episode.

When asked about the experience James had the follow to say,

“This would give visitors an opportunity to see and evaluate our work, imagine my work in their home, and hopefully choose me to build their next home or perhaps they might share with friends who are looking for a custom home builder.”

James Monroe Homes offers an abundance of services whether you are building a new home, buying your first home, or need to remodel or repair your existing home.  Currently with two subdivision in Lexington (Kearney Hall and Equestian View) and numerous floor plans to choose from, you’re sure to find a home that fits perfect in to your way of life. Their slogan explains it best, “Where ever you are on the road of life we are here to build your next step”. If you have any questions about James Monroe Homes please don’t hesitate to contact Janet Royer here at Milestone.

This episode of Bang For Your Buck entitled “$100,000 Social Entertainment or Social Area Renovations” will be airing October 15th, 2011 at 2:30pm EST. Check your local listings for your channel line-up and in case you miss the initial airing any re-runs. We’ll also be posting a link to the episode once it airs.

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Rising Star Award – Meredith Lane!
September 23, 2011
By Becky Locknane

Milestone is proud to announce that Lexington Milestone agent, Meredith Lane, was recently selected as a 2011 Lexington Young Professionals Association Rising Star!

Meredith was recognized at the LYPA Awards Banquet Wednesday, September 21, 2011 at Sal’s Chophouse.  She was selected for her many accomplishments and contributions to the Lexington community.

2011 LYPA Rising Star - Meredith Lane

2011 LYPA Rising Star - Meredith Lane

Meredith specializes in residential sales and new construction of Lexington homes.  She represents one of Lexington’s up and coming builders in the area, Webb-Beatty Homes and is a Ball Homes specialist.

In addition to her Real Estate career, Meredith is very active in the community.  She is currently a board member of the Hollywood/Mount Vernon Home Owners’ Association and a member of the Young Realtors of the Bluegrass and the Lexington Junior League.  In addition, she volunteered on the board of directors for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light the Night Walk in 2010. Prior to becoming a Realtor, she graduated from the University of Kentucky with a Journalism degree.She worked in the broadcast news industry both as an on-air reporter and behind the scenes for FOX News Channel, LEX 18 News and WKYT-27 Newsfirst; in publishing as a magazine editor and writer for The Lane Report and BG Magazine.

Milestone is very proud to have Meredith as a member of our team and we want to congratulate her on this outstanding award! Thanks Meredith!

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An Affair to Remember!
May 23, 2011
By Becky Locknane

The Fayette County Repair Affair took place May 12th and 13th. The Repair Affair is the largest of the annual projects done by the Realtor Community Housing Foundation of the Lexington Bluegrass Association of Realtors.  The project is done in partnership with the Remodeler’s Council of the Homebuilder’s Association of Lexington.

RCHF Repair Affair 2011

RCHF Repair Affair 2011

The Repair Affair provide exterior home repairs for low-income elderly homeowners.  Approximately 200 volunteers participate in repair affair and 15-20 houses are repaired during the project.

Milestone Realty Consultants and Walden Mortgage Group sponsored one of the homes to be repaired.  The team captains were Todd Back of Milestone and Jeff Sharp of Walden Mortgage. They were great organizers and coordinators for the project. The main scope of this Lexington home was scraping, painting, yard work, window repair and cleaning debris.

It is great to know you are helping someone that would not be able to afford to hire someone to do the repairs.  While most of the volunteers are not skilled laborers, the Remodeler’s Council assigns a skilled Remodeler to oversee and do the work that requires expertise. It is a great two days of working together as a team and getting to spend time with your fellow agents.  There is a lot of laughter and fun times while giving back to the community.

Additional photos of Milestone’s site can be viewed on our Facebook page at RCHF Repair Affair 2011.

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Building Louisville Houses, Relationships and Communities One By One
March 21, 2011
By Sherry Spanyer

I had the opportunity to visit the corner of 41st and Market Street to see the Fuller Center for Housing in action today. They came in one by one, tired, hungry and all smiles. There were kids of all ages taking their Spring Break and giving our fine City something to smile about. There were also many adults visiting for the sole purpose of helping us build Louisville houses. I was there as part of our local chapter for Women’s Council of Realtors to sponsor their lunch. This however, is only part of the story.

Fuller Project in Louisville

Fuller Project in Louisville

The real story is about the relationships that are built, the Community benefiting by the build and most importantly about Juanita and Caroline. I was amazed by the camaraderie between the workers. Most all are from different states and different backgrounds who come together to achieve something very wonderful. Mary from New Jersey, Tim from Minnesota, a couple from Florida and the many many others.

It was quite a joy walking down the sidewalk and seeing house after house being worked on. There was new vinyl, fresh paint, a new roof and then across the street, a brand new house was going up. The City of Louisville is a little brighter today because of all the work, rehab, and cleaning up of the area. Our Louisville houses are being blessed and our community is a little stronger.

Fuller Project in Louisville

Fuller Project in Louisville

And then there is Juanitta and Caroline. I met them both today at lunch. Caroline is getting a new home for her and her daughter and grandchildren. She smiled from ear to ear and praised God for her fortune. Juanita has the brand new house that is almost complete. She was an absolute delight. Both women were warm, inviting, and absolutely grateful.

I was honored to be a small part of something wonderful within our Community! I am sending good wishes to Juanita and Caroline, to Greater Louisville Women’s Council of Realtors and to all that participated in the Derby City Fuller House Build. I am certain Louisville is a better place because of you!

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New Home & Remodeling Marketplace
February 23, 2011
By John Day
Kentucky house

Kentucky house

This weekend is the Home Builder’s Association of Lexington New Home & Remodeling Marketplace and we at Milestone are getting ready for our booth as we try to reach out to new home buyers and show off what we have to offer.

Our booth is going to be technology focused and display just what exactly Milestone does to promote your Kentucky house if you list with us. Points of emphasis range from our television commercials to what our website does behind the scenes to get your home in front of potential home buyers. We will also be giving away an $500 Apple Gift Card to one lucky registrant, so we hope booth #201 will be crowded with excitement!

In addition to Milestone, a few other companies in the Milestone family will be in attendance including Ball Homes, Walden Mortgage, Via Vitae and Azalea Properties LLC. The Marketplace is being held February 25th – 27th out at the Kentucky Horse Park Exhibit Hall. The hours are 5-9 pm on Friday, 10am-8pm Saturday and 12-5pm Sunday.  Admission is $6 per ticket or $10 for two tickets with free admission for all children 12 and under. For more information on the Marketplace please check the Home Builder Association of Lexington website. We hope you can make it out!

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12 Opportunities to Network
February 5, 2011
By Sherry Spanyer
Louisville houses

Louisville houses

The Louisville Chapter of Women’s Council of Realtors® meets on the 3rd Thursday of every month at Wildwood Country Club. Our local organization was proud to accept national awards in 2010 for membership retention.  Women’s Council offers many opportunities to travel and educate you with some of the top Realtors® in America.  Among more than 700 U.S. women organizations, WCR is the 12th largest.

We have an exciting year planned.  Our new officers for 2011 are Debbie Hassman/ President, Sherry Spanyer/ Vice President of Membership and Lynda Hines/ Treasurer.  Some of our highlights this year will include a Fashion Show (April, the Magic of Derby Fashion), the return of our Business Expo (October, over 75 Vendors), and Mayor Greg Fischer as one of our Guest Speakers.  Louisville houses are in great hands with our professional agents!

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Pins For Purpose
January 25, 2011
By Sherry Spanyer
Louisville houses

Louisville houses

Greater Louisville Association of Realtors Community Task Force is having their 2011 Charity Bowl-A-Thon at King Pin Lanes in J’ Town.  Real Estate Agents will be spilling out of their Louisville houses and heading to the lanes.  All donations this year will go to a member of our GLAR community that has been ill.  This year on February 15, instead of showing Louisville Houses, our agents will be knocking down Pins for a Purpose.

We are expecting a full bowling Alley with all lanes taken.  Our wonderful Affiliates donated door prizes of gas cards and restaurant gift certificates from across the city.  We have a DJ playing our favorite music and a hot lunch is provided.  Most companies will sponsor several teams.  Milestone Realty has two teams and ready to compete!

Many agents give back to their community through volunteering, raising money and hard work.  This task will be great fun!

Get well Mike!

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Chili Cook-off to Benefit the Needy A Huge Success
December 17, 2010
By Becky Locknane

On Tuesday, December 14, 2010, Milestone Realty Consultants’ Louisville office hosted the annual Chili Cook-off to Benefit the Needy.

Agents that sell Louisville houses from various Brokers around Louisville were in attendance. Everyone looks forward to coming by to taste the different chili that are prepared by Milestone agents.  This year we had five batches of chili to choose from – there would have been six but Michelle Schnell’s chili ended up in the floorboard of her car!

Reigning Chili Cook-off Champion, Dennis Miller

Reigning Chili Cook-off Champion, Dennis Miller

The agents that made chili this year were Sherry Spanyer, Dennis Miller, Danielle Dugan, Sally Ford and yours truly.  The attendees paid $6 to taste all the chilies and then vote on their favorite. Once again, Dennis Miller of The Miller Team was the proud winner of his award winning chili!  Rumor has it that he paid people off to vote for his chili.

Proceeds from the chili cook-off totaled $350 and were donated to two different charities.  One was Family Scholar House which is a community of families, volunteers, staff members and donors that believe education offers opportunities and hope to disadvantaged single-parent families.  By providing supportive housing, academic advising, childcare, case management, mentoring, tutoring, basic needs and development programs for all ages, Family Scholar House makes it possible for very low-income single parents to continue raising their children while completing their college degree. All families seeking assistance from Family Scholar House are homeless or in unstable housing and over 90% have been victims of domestic violence.  Education offers a way to transition from poverty to self-sufficiency and to offer a brighter future for their children.  Many of the graduates end up buying Louisville houses which, in most cases, is their first home.

The other charity that received a donation is Rosehaven which is an organization that provides transitional care for women and children in crisis.

A great time was had by everyone and the Christmas spirit was very much alive!   

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The National Association of Real Estate’s National Convention
December 4, 2010
By Louise Miller
NardiGras 2010!

NardiGras 2010!

What an exciting time for eighteen thousand Realtors across the USA and Japan to come together and share experiences, learn new tools and techniques and have a great opportunity to network. This year’s event was in a great location; New Orleans. It has been five years since the devastation of Katrina and you can see that the buzz in the French Quarter has returned with the beads, bars and Bourbon Street leading the way, not to mention a Muffaletta sandwich at the Central Grocery.
Besides the great trade expo with an overwhelming number of displays, the short presentations of all the new products available today were mind boggling. I would say wireless and mobile computing is here to stay and I often wonder how I managed without it. In the past 10 years, this has most likely become the most powerful tool in business and leisure.

I was fortunate enough to attend many leadership training sessions due to my elected position at my association and the two biggest challenges that were discussed time and again was the return to business as usual and how soon Realtors can expect to see the changes in lending and of course the impact of social media. This industry has forever changed the way we market to our associates and the consumer. We saw presentations on the latest flip cameras for use with U-Tube videos, how to maintain an ongoing Tweet, making sure your fan page on Facebook is up to date, etc.

I came back to Kentucky with an even greater appreciation of the prices of our Louisville houses along with the conservative market that has allowed Realtors and home buyers and sellers to still survive in this tough economy.

As Ron Phipps, the new President of NAR said in his closing remarks at our general assembly “We need to not merely be the voice of Real Estate but the architects and the engineers of the future of Real Estate.”

Louise Miller 

Milestone Realty Consultants

President Elect Greater Louisville Association of Realtors

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Leaving My Old Kentucky Home for the National Women’s Council of Realtors Convention for 2010!
November 19, 2010
By Sherry Spanyer
Shannon King, Speaker

Shannon King, Speaker

New Orleans, LA hosted to the National Women’s Council of Realtors Convention for 2010 from November 3 – 7, at the Marriott on Canal Street.  I had a great visit! Not only did I see that New Orleans had returned to all its’ glory, but because I also had the opportunity to network with Realtors from all across the country.  There were many questions raised at the convention about newest selling strategies, best practices for working with buyers, and promoting our listings.  The answer was always “technology, technology, technology”!

Amy Chorew, Speaker

Amy Chorew, Speaker

I took classes on Twitter, Blogging, Business Pages for Facebook, Smart Phones and all the new apps to help me sell more Louisville houses.  I was especially impressed with one pair of speakers; Shannon King and Amy Chorew, both experts in the field of Technology. Shannon is a recipient of NAR’s distinguished 30 under 30, a co-founder and an owner of two different Real Estate Companies. Amy Chorew is currently Director of Education and Training at the Social Media Marketing Institute as well as a nationally acclaimed real estate strategist and instructor. After four days at the convention and their words of wisdom, I returned to selling Louisville houses armed with a tweeked business design, more tools for my trade, and an action plan made for success!