In the following interview, Judy Craft, principal broker of Milestone Realty Consultants in Lexington, Ky., discusses the challenges and opportunities in the market, and how the right marketing strategies help maximize both.
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Twitter: @milestoneky
Maria Patterson: How did you first get into the business, and what led you to where you are today?
Judy Craft: I’ve been in the real estate business for 31 years. A friend of mine was a real estate broker and I thought it sounded like an interesting career. I took the classes, passed the test and worked for a real estate appraiser for a while. I also worked for a developer and home builder, so I had quite a bit of experience in a lot of different areas of real estate before I came to Milestone.
Milestone Realty was opened in 2003 by the Ball family—Ray, Lisa and Mike. Their parents (Don and Mira Ball) opened Ball Homes in 1959, a family-owned and -operated home-building company. They had thought for some time that they wanted to open their own real estate company to sell their own developments, and others, as well. In 2003, they had the opportunity to do that and started Milestone Realty Consultants, a full-service real estate company. We do market Ball Homes, but the majority of our business is non-Ball properties—resale homes and other builders’ homes.
Today, I co-manage the firm with Managing Brokers Becky Locknane and Mike Wheatley.
MP: What region does the firm serve?
JC: We have two offices; the main office is in Lexington, Ky., and we also have an office in Georgetown, Ky. Toyota Manufacturing is located in Georgetown, and it has a thriving community. It’s slated to be our largest growing area over the next year. We have 95 agents who serve all of central Kentucky.
MP: How would you describe current market conditions in your area?
JC: We actually have a tale of two markets. In the price range of $250,000 and below, it’s a seller’s market. It’s a very difficult first-time homebuyer market—it has dried up here. Anything that fits their price range is unavailable. There’s more demand than there is supply. When you get to $250,000-plus, there’s more imbalance and it’s more of a buyer’s market. One thing I really like about this company is that we sell everything in all price ranges.
MP: What are some of the biggest challenges your firm and your agents are facing?
JC: First and foremost, the competition from Zillow is real. The second issue is inventory. We have people who are ready and willing to purchase, but no inventory that meets their criteria. That’s exacerbated by a lack of new construction. We’ve had urban service area boundaries for 40 years to prevent sprawl into horse farm country, which we’re for. The fear is that if we expand too rapidly and too haphazardly, we threaten the very thing that makes us so special and unique. But we’ve run out of land and have very few acres left in our urban service area for expansion. …read more
From:: Real Estate News