by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Millie Kanyar, the new Jacksonville Women’s Council of REALTORS® president, wants to shake things up a bit and have a little fun in the meantime.
“I want us to have fun,” said Kanyar, a REALTOR® with Watson Realty. “If I’m not having fun, then I’m not doing it. Life is too short.”
Fun activities, such as happy hours, are being planned for the upcoming year. The first one will be held on January 23 at Max’s International in Jacksonville Beach after 5 p.m.
In addition to having fun, Kanyar wants to improve programming so that WCR members can grow personally as well as professionally.
“We have to do things that will help people grow, not just as an individual, but in business,” she said. “The programs will have value and teach the members something they can walk away with and implement which will help them increase their business.”
Bringing affiliates to the forefront is a way she intends to do that. There are a lot of things REALTORS® need to know that the affiliates could share.
“Too many problems come up in transactions that could be avoided if someone knew the system and how it worked,” said Kanyar. “We are not loan writers, that’s not our job, but we need to understand what happens and we need to be able to shortcut things when someone is in a hurry.”
Other valuable programs will include learning how to pay taxes correctly, treating real estate as a business and other ways to do the job better.
Kanyar has spent the last two years attending national and state conventions and wants to bring some of what she experienced there back to the local chapter.
“When you attend the national conventions you feel a lot of energy and a lot of excitement,” she said. “They are doing things. I think we need to do likewise. I think when you go to the national conventions and see the professionalism there and the networking that they do you see that that has not filtered down to the local chapters. It seems to be a problem all across the country, not just in Jacksonville.”
She said she will focus on fixing that problem by helping members communicate better.
“Here locally, we don’t have the same communication that is set up on the national level, and that takes time to build,” she said. “My number one goal is to get it established. I am going to set up the building blocks and Jeanne Denton-Scheck, who will be president next year, will massage them a little bit and from there on out, the chapter will continue to grow.”
Some of her goals include creating a website for the chapter.
“They are very functional and handy,” said Kanyar. “It gives the members a location to go in and focus on what events are taking place, links to the affiliates and it will provide a venue for the sponsors to promote their individual products. I think we will make some strides in the direction I would like to see the organization go. Like anything else, we want it to grow. We want more members and there’s no reason we shouldn’t have more members. We also want to do something for the community and we will be announcing the organization we are going to help this year after the first of the year.”
The meetings will continue to be held at the San Jose Country Club, but a few meetings may be rotated around the city to allow people from other areas to attend easier.
Kanyar has been in real estate with Watson Realty for six years.
After graduating from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in advertising with a minor in accounting, she went to work for Oscar Meyer and Company in sales.
“That’s where I got my sales training,” said Kanyar.
When her husband was transferred to Florida with Vistakon, a division of Johnson & Johnson Vision Care Inc., she decided to be a stay-at-home mom.
Eventually, she decided to get back into the workforce and opened Millie’s Food Store on 10th and Liberty street in Jacksonville. After that, she took over the University Swim and Tennis Club for a few years.
One day she got a card in the mail from her current office inviting her to become a real estate agent. Since she had always had an interest in real estate, she decided to attend real estate school and get her license.
She works all over Jacksonville and does not specialize in any one particular type of real estate.
“If it has dirt under it, it’s for sale,” she joked. “I live in Arlington, but I have never limited myself to this area.”
After the Florida Coastal School of Law opened, she decided to attend law school while selling real estate. She was admitted to The Florida Bar in 2000.
She is a member of the Jacksonville Bar, Northeast Florida Association of REALTORS®, NorthEast Florida Builders Association and the Jacksonville Women’s Golf Association.
She is currently not practicing law, but one day intends to open her own real estate law office when she has fulfilled her duties with NEFAR, WCR and Watson.
Her daughter is currently a political science major, and is planning on taking the LSAT and, maybe one day, the two will practice together.
Kanyar has been married to Stephen for 23 years. They have two children, Diana, 21 and Stephen II, 20.
When she is not working, she enjoys golfing, walking, biking and reading.