Jessica Gaines - Louisville Gaines Real Estate

See the 10th green of Indian Springs Golf Course from the Pergola deck of your beautiful 3 bedoom home. This home is in such great shape, you move in without doing a thing!

WELCOME TO THIS WELL-MAINTAINED BRICK RANCH IN AN ESTABLISHED NEIGHBORHOOD! Home features NEW WINDOWS, ceiling fans, & a nice layout throughout. Formal Living Room offers a bay window for lots of light & opens to Formal Dining Room. Eat-in Kitchen features pantry, built-in cabinet broom closet, & stove & dishwasher to remain (refrigerator negotiable). Kitchen opens to backyard & window at kitchen sink overlooks it. Spacious Main Bath offers tiled tub, white vanity, & updated tile flooring. Seller believes there is HARDWOOD UNDER CARPET IN BEDROOMS. Master Bedroom includes HIS/HER CLOSETS & half bath. Nicely Finished Basement features NEUTRAL CARPET & BRICK WOOD-BURNING FIREPLACE flanked with built-in bookshelves. Finished area offers lots of space for Family Room, game room, play area, or office. Unfinished space includes laundry & lots of storage. Exterior offers 1.5 CAR GARAGE (built in 1996) & a private backyard. Home is conveniently located in a desirable neighborhood that shows pride of ownership!

Life goes on for many of us in the Louisville area, but for those in nearby Henryville and Maryville, IN, whose lives were blown apart by recent tornadoes, it won’t ever be the same. Henryville, the birth place of KFC founder Colonel Harland Sanders, was heavily damaged on Friday by a tornado, while nearby Maryville was destroyed. Though the tornado struck Henryville High School, miraculously, no one in the school was injured. Only two buildings in town remain standing. The current death toll is currently stands at 3 in Henryville, with an estimated total 14 in Indiana and 19 in Kentucky.

These two little towns were caught in a group of at least 44 tornadoes that cut through the south and the Midwest, leaving a path of destruction in Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ohio. As 2012 enters its third month, the year could rival 2011, when over 550 died and damage exceeded $25 billion in insured losses. So far, the storms this year in the US are unusually powerful and long-lived, according to Greg Corbin, the warning coordinator meteorologist Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Storms like this make you think. Especially in Louisville, where tornados have been part of our history, you realize that had the winds blown in slightly different direction, you might have gotten caught up in them too. Even as you emphasize with the victims, now coping with homelessness or at least great loss, you feel gratitude that you or your family were not affected. All you can do is reach out to the victims.

So what can you do? If you have money to give, the Red Cross will put it to good use to help victims. You can donate today by visiting www.redcross.org, calling 1-800-RED CROSS (1-800-733-2767) or texting the word REDCROSS to 90999 to make a $10 donation. However, according to Pastor Phil Cheek of the Henryville Community Church, people are in great need of “survival items,” such as food, blankets, paper products, plastic ware, diapers, etc. The Voice-Tribune collected and delivered supplies from the community on March3. You can contact Managing Editor Angie Fenton at angie@voice-tribune.com or 502.551.2698 to see if they are still accepting them.

Cheek’s church has been a leader to in helping those in need in the community and beyond. The members work with Dare to Care to feed the hungry in Louisville, and last year travelled to eastern Kentucky and Alabama to help tornado victims. This year, with no power from the storm, Pastor Cheeks and his congregation will fire up grills to cook food donated by Wick’s Pizza, The McMahan Group, and others and will help distribute donations.

The disaster has caused another problem that also concerns me deeply. Many people with pets either lost them or are unable to keep them in the shelters or other temporary housing they have. The Eastside Animal Hospital has stepped up to offer shelter to animals whose families without a home after the storm. (You can reach them at (812) 282-3855.) However, their space is limited, so if you can volunteer to board a few pets, call Eastside or any local shelter.

Shamrock Pet Foundation and No-Kill Louisville have stepped up with free pet food that will be distributes at St. Francis Church, U.S. 31 and Ind. 160, Henryville, and Pekin United Methodist Church, 244 S. Shorts Corner, New Pekin. If you would like to donate food, contact these organizations, and watch for news of other businesses and organizations who are collecting food for distribution.

If you have lost your pet in the storm, checkout http://www.facebook.com/KyInOhLostAnimalsFromFromTheTornadoes, which seeks to matchup owners and finder of missing pets. The page is also a forum to match up other needs, such as burial of animals killed by the storm.

As Henryville rebuilds, there are plenty of ways to reach out to your neighbors. Based on the past, I know Louisville citizens will again show the generosity and compassion that has matched their response in past disaster.

For information about buying and selling homes in this neighborly area, contact me, Jessica Gaines, your Louisville real estate resource, today.

There is no end to the features in this beautiful home. Beautiful main floor apointments. Huge walkout basement has rooms that can easily be converted to 4th & 5th bedrooms. As is, the basement has a huge family room, bar, office, and game room - and a 3rd full bath.

With St. Patrick's Day fast approaching, it is time to plan your strategy to enjoy the variety of holiday events right here in Louisville. Though the day itself is on March 17, Louisville citizens enjoy the wearing of the green for over a week.

True St. Patrick's Day lovers prepare for the day beginning on March 3, with the annual Wearin’ of the Green Dinner Dance and auction at the Boys and Girls Haven Gymnasium. Since drinking is usually associated with St. Patrick's Day revelry, you won't want to miss the Blessing of the Beer on March 8 at the Bluegrass Brewing Company and Brew Pub. A parade will lead the way into the pub, where a Catholic priest will bless all the official beer of the St. Patrick's Day parade, Bourbon Barrel Stout, on hand in the brewery. The group will then proceed to up O’Shea’s on Baxter Ave. for the Tappin’ of the Keg. A representative of the Ancient Order of the Hiberians ( AOH) lead the crowd in prayer before the cask is tapped and served until it's gone. Let the holiday officially begin! Beer connoisseurs may sneak back to Bluegrass Brewing Company, for a taste of Celtic Hell, a beer aged in bourbon barrels for over a year.

The traditional St. Patrick's Day Parade is on Saturday, March 10, 2012. Prior to the parade, you can enjoy breakfast at St. Lewis Bertand’s O'Brien Hall, complete with entertainment by the McClanahan Irish step dancers and good food, followed by Mass at St. Louis Bertrand’s at noon. Winners of the St. Patrick's Day coloring contest will be announced at the breakfast as will the winner of the I wish Person/s of the Year.

This year’s parade theme is SHAMROCKS & SHILLELAGHS. Bands, decorated cars, and organizations will join the parade at 3 PM that goes from the corner of Broadway and Baxter and down Baxter to Bardstown Road. The AOH is still taking applications for entries in the St. Patrick's day Parade.

On the day following the parade Sunday, March 11, you can combine holiday fun with a good cause. At The Saint Baldrick's Shaving Event at Fourth Street Live, you can shave your head in solidarity for children with cancer as Louisville participates in the world's largest volunteer driven fundraising event for childhood cancer research. You can volunteer to be shaved or participate as a barber, volunteer, or donor and then enjoy the festival like atmosphere of the day.

Throughout the week, Louisville has plenty of Irish bars where you and your designated driver can celebrate St. Patrick's Day, but you won't want to miss the big annual tent party on the 17th at Irish Rover Pub in Clifton- Crescent Hill.. You can enjoy traditional live music Irish dancing, food, beer, Irish whiskey, and "Cead Mile Failte" – “One Hundred Thousand Welcomes.” If you're in Oldham County, you can visit the Irish Rover Too in Lagrange.

Whether you're Irish or not, there is plenty to enjoy in the weeks before St. Patrick's Day and throughout the year in Louisville. If you're interested in making the lively Louisville area your home, contact me, Jessica Gaines, your Louisville real estate resource, a call today. Whether you need a starter home for your first job or a mansion that proclaims your success to the world, we have it all in Louisville. I'm a Louisville native and I can lead you to your new home.