logo
Great Homes... Great Neighborhoods!
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!

image link is broken
February 2, 2011
By Becky Locknane

The Annual Home Builders Association of Louisville Sales and Marketing Council Awards of Excellence Luncheon was held on January 25th at the Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville, KK.

This is a very special luncheon where members of Homebuilders Association of Louisville are recognized by their peers for accomplishments of the previous year.  There are many different categories for Homebuilders and Associate members.

Some of the categories are marketing and selling Louisville houses while some categories recognize builders for their different designs and projects.  Realtors are recognized for the personal sales achievements for new construction. 

Find Kentucky Bluegrass homes for sale

Find Kentucky Bluegrass homes for sale

Milestone won the award for “Best Overall Website-Realtor” (with the help of Active Website) this year. The new Milestone website was launched in December 2009 and has proven to be one of the best Real Estate websites in Kentucky. John Day and April Roe, Marketing and Advertising Specialists for Milestone, were present to accept this prestigious award.

Several Milestone agents that are Ball Homes specialists, were recognized for the personal sales achievements.  Included were Bob White, Sherry Spanyer, Louise Miller, Krista Wilson, Jennifer Ater and Bob Middleton.

New construction of Louisville houses continues to be a driving force for Ball Homes and Milestone Realty Consultants.

image link is broken
January 25, 2011
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!

image link is broken
January 14, 2011
By Becky Locknane
Request a Career Interview

Request a Career Interview

With 2010 behind us and 2011 getting off to a great start, Milestone Realty Consultants is looking for a few good agents in the Central Kentucky area as well as agents that sell Louisville houses.

Milestone Realty provides agents the opportunity to grow their business by providing many more advantages than most other Real Estate firms in Kentucky.  Milestone is locally owned and operated which allows us to make decisions locally and compensate our agents without any mandatory “add on” fees to the agent or the client.

We have a full service Real Estate Company and we are able to provide agents with all the tools they need for their “tool box”.  Milestone is a friendly company with a hometown atmosphere while always remaining on the cutting edge of the latest trends in Real Estate.

If you or someone you know is interested in becoming a Realtor® for a company that is well established and strong, feel free to Request a Career Interview or give me a call at (859) 514-5417.  Happy New Year!

image link is broken
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!   

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

image link is broken
December 1, 2010
By Becky Locknane
Home Ownership Matters, We Can Help!

Home Ownership Matters, We Can Help!

“Home Ownership Matters” is NAR’s current campaign which was launched in late September.  Its purpose is to overcome and counter negative claims about home ownership in the national media, according to NAR President, Vicki Cox Golder.

Critics have said that home ownership is no different from renting, as far as benefits are concerned.  While they are a minority, it is important for consumers to know that it is still better to own than rent, in most cases. 

The average sales price for Louisville homes is up from 01/01/09-10/31/09 for the same period of time in 2010. The average sales price in 2009 was $158, 927 compared to $165,252 in 2010. This is a huge indicator that all Real Estate is local.

Another important finding is that The National Association of Realtors estimated the impact for renter and home owner households through mid-2010 taking home price and stock market performance into account. The result suggests that despite declines in equity and housing markets, homeowners have a net worth greater than renters. Homeowner net worth ranges from 31 to 46 times that of renters over the last 12 years, according to NAR.

Louisville houses are still a great investment and the benefits of owning continue to outweigh the benefits of renting.  Homeowners and prospective homeowners must remember the value of being a homeowner and the value it lends to their community and their country.

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!

image link is broken
November 18, 2010
By Judy Craft
Prepare Your Home for Winter

Prepare Your Home for Winter

Preparing your home for the Holiday Season and cooler temperatures includes more than hanging the wreath on the door and cooking the turkey!  Several important items must be addressed to keep your home in the best condition possible as we go into the winter months. 

1.  Make sure your outside hoses are disconnected from the hose bibb.  This will eliminate the possibility of your hose bibb freezing and bursting which will require the services of a plumber to repair.

2.  Check your gutters for debris and clean if necessary.  Clogged gutters will impede the flow of water elimination from your roof which will cause your gutters to overflow rather then travel through the downspouts to be distributed in an efficent manner.  This could cause pooling of water around your foundation and even basement and crawl space leaks if not monitored.

3.  Change your furnace filter(s).  You should change your furnace filters every month or at least once a quarter to keep your HVAC system operating at peak performance.  It is also a good idea to have your HVAC system serviced each year by an licensed HVAC technician.

4.  Replace smoke detector batteries.  Don’t wait until you hear the annoying beep, beep, beep signifying a low or dead battery in your smoke detectors.  Be proactive and change your batteries at least once, preferably twice a year.  It could save your life.

These are just a few tips to keep our Bluegrass homes in tip top shape for the winter!!

image link is broken
November 17, 2010
By Becky Locknane

Agents and staff at Milestone Realty Consultants in Louisville, Kentucky had a great time getting together to decorate a tree for the 21st Annual Festival of Trees and Lights benefiting Kosair Children’s Hospital- Kentucky’s only full-service, free-standing pediatric hospital. 

Milestone decorates for the 21st Annual Festival of Trees and Lights benefiting Kosair Children’s Hospital

Milestone decorates for the 21st Annual Festival of Trees and Lights benefiting Kosair Children’s Hospital

The theme of Milestone’s tree was “Beach” decorations.  We all had fun picking out cute ornaments relating to the beach. Lunch was provided and everyone was in a festive mood while listening to Jimmy Buffett Christmas Carols. (How appropriate to go along with the theme).  There was a section at the Festival that was “Realtor Row” and many Real Estate Brokerages that sell Louisville houses participated, including Milestone Realty Consultants. 

The Festival took place at Louisville Slugger Field November 12-14 and there was a special preview event on November 11th.  Many turned out to  see  the beautifully lit trees and enjoyed lots of goodies from the Sweet Shop. 

The proceeds from this year’s event will benefit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit expansion at Kosair Children’s Hospital.